Marketing Your Consulting Services.pdf - epiheirimatikotita.gr

If you have not conducted this kind of research in the past, expect to be pleasantly
surprised at the wealth of knowledge housed in your library. If you can’t find
what you are looking for, ask your friendly local librarians. They are sure to assist.
In Other Places There is no shortage of data sources. You could contact the trade
or professional associations that serve a particular industry. Most associations will
provide a membership list either free or for a small fee. The amount of information
will vary, but if you have targeted a specific industry, this is a good reference
tool. Gather information whenever you attend a trade show or a conference. Speak
with your best clients and ask them directly for referrals or ask about the kind of
publications they read.
If you have a specific city in mind, be sure to check the business development
department and the city’s Chamber of Commerce. You could gather lists of companies
as well as specific information about the companies you have targeted. Both
probably have newsletters and you should ask to be added to their mailing lists. If
you anticipate having lots of work in a particular city, you may even want to join
their Chamber of Commerce.
Remember your personal network. Do you know anyone who works in the
company? Do you know anyone who knows someone who works in the company?
Anyone who is a customer or vendor of the company? Any of these individuals
may be able to give you some inside information that is not available in print.
Now use the company profile to organize all the information you found.
By the way, at this point you may not have all twenty of the candidates you
started with. You may have dropped some because you found out they had filed
for Chapter 11 or that they were in some other turmoil that was not conducive
to the kind of consulting services you offer. On the other hand, perhaps restructuring
organizations is your specialty and that is exactly the kind of work you desire.
You may have dropped some organizations because you could not find
enough information about them. I would not toss their company profiles just yet
for lack of information. Place them in a pending file and try again during round
two. I only toss ideas once I am absolutely certain that I will not want to research
in the future.
You also may have added organizations. As you read interesting articles or conduct
searches on the web, other names will pop up that interest you. You may as well at least
Prospecting in All the Right Places: How Do You Find Clients? 147