Marketing Your Consulting Services.pdf - epiheirimatikotita.gr

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add value for your clients? Do you have vendors that add value for you? Do you
welcome those vendors’ calls? If you answered “yes” three times, the message should
be clear. If you view yourself as a pest, it will undermine your persistence. This
book will show you how to help your clients see that you add value.
Do all consultants have the same attitude? Absolutely not! Although I do remember
when I fell into this same uninformed category. In business for five years,
I made a sales call (though I refused to call it that) to Coopers and Lybrand. I
scheduled the “visit” with Ian Littman by phone and corrected him when he called
it a “sales call” by saying, “I don’t do sales and marketing, but I will come and talk
to you.” After we reached an agreement on what we would do for them, Ian said,
“Well, that was the best non-sales call sale I’ve ever been a part of.” His tongue-incheek
comment felt like someone had dumped a pail of cold water over me! I got
it. I had a great sales and marketing routine going and I needed to recognize what
I was doing. As consultants, our main job is to help our clients. However, we can’t
help them if they don’t know what we can do, or even that we exist! And that’s what
marketing is all about.
My real estate consultant, Marianne Scott, has a very healthy attitude about
marketing and selling her services. When she learned that I was writing this book,
she said, “Marketing is all about selling yourself and you need to use what you do
best to market. Some real estate consultants are good at baking chocolate chip
cookies, some are good at cold calling, and some know how to hang a banner
from an airplane to drum up business; I know people who have done all of those
things. I don’t do any of them because I’m not good at them. I am knowledgeable
about the real estate market and the area, and providing service. My marketing
strategy is to go after referrals and repeat business by providing excellent service.”
And it must be working, because 90 percent of Marianne’s business is from referrals
and repeat clients.
Marketing for Consultants Quiz
1. Marketing is a peripheral part of consulting; the only thing that’s important
is doing the best work for your clients.
2. A marketing plan is critical for large consulting firms, but I can get along
without one since I practice alone.
Marketing Your Consulting Services