Marketing Your Consulting Services.pdf - epiheirimatikotita.gr

FOREWORD
If consultants did not have to market and sell themselves, I am sure
that the number of consultants would at least quadruple. Just the
thought of submitting our work and ourselves to the judgment of others
scares many people away from making a living as an independent
consultant. Marketing and sales helps define the boundary between
those who choose to consult and those who do not. I’ve been on my
own for years, and I am still uneasy about new encounters with potential
clients. The phrase “standing naked before strangers” captures
my worst fears.
Elaine Biech wrote this book to provide me and you with some of the consultant
clothing we need. And not just our outer attire (yes, she does tell us how to
present ourselves in person and in print), but also the “inner attire”: the habits of
mind and heart that give us the confidence we need to present ourselves in the
marketplace. I dearly needed this guidance twenty-five years ago when I was starting
my business in the basement coal-bin-converted-to-office that was the “world
headquarters” for my new consulting firm. I found it very difficult to get out of
that coal bin and go find the clients. Elaine deals directly with these new consultant
dilemmas by telling you what you could do, helping you decide, and then getting
you up off your laurels to do something about it.
You will not read long before Elaine puts you to work. She is particularly good
at offering many actions for you to choose from, or add to. In her immediate,
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