Marketing Your Consulting Services.pdf - epiheirimatikotita.gr

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How Much Time Can Referrals Save?
Many consultants suggest that you should regularly spend 25 to 40 percent of your
time in marketing activities. During the first six to nine months of business, I
spent about 35 hours each week in marketing activities. At first glance that appears
to be over 80 percent of a normal work week. However, keep in mind that
I was working 60 to 80 hours each week as well. That early investment in marketing
resulted in new customers. During the mid-years, I personally spent a full
day on marketing activities each week. In addition, other members of our team
conducted marketing activities. Now I spend less than 10 percent of my time marketing,
and most of that is of a very personal nature—personal notes, cards, or
phone calls.
Why the decrease and should that be a goal? The decrease is because customer
satisfaction has led to a large portion of repeat and referral work. Clients are satisfied
and hire us back or refer us to another organization. Should it be a goal? It
depends on the kind of consulting you do and the kind of work you want to do.
Although I love to stay in touch with my clients, I don’t see it as much marketing
as trying to continue a positive relationship.
How Can You Measure Retention Success?
You might guess by this time that I am going to suggest that you measure your retention
success by how much repeat work and how many referrals you receive.
Repeat Work Are your clients bringing you back for more work? The best measure
of your marketing success may very well be how many clients you keep, not
how many you acquire. I believe there is a fine line between trying to keep a client
for life to line your own pockets and keeping a client for life because you continue
to add value to their organization. For your own sake, know the difference. If it is
new work, or continued work that no one else in the company can do, it is valueadded.
If it is repeat work that you should train someone internal to the organization
to complete, it may not be value-added. Only you and the client can
determine this. You should at least discuss it with your client.
Repeat work is a wonderful measure of the confidence your clients have in you
and the satisfaction they have in your work. Examine your workload today. How
much of it is repeat work from the same clients? Are you satisfied with that level?
Marketing Your Consulting Services