Marketing Your Consulting Services.pdf - epiheirimatikotita.gr

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To complete the form, first identify everyone who is competing for your clients.
Yes, you will list all the consultants who live in your geographic area, but remember
also those who come from out of town, out of state, perhaps even out of the
country. Also remember universities, colleges, and other schools that may conduct
classes or offer services that may take potential clients away from you. Remember,
too, the professors who have sideline businesses that compete with you. Sometimes
your professional association may offer similar services.
Next, briefly describe the position of each competitor by identifying a couple of
attributes for each. You may use some of the information that you gathered on your
Competitor Comparison Form in Exhibit 3.1. That might include how the service
is delivered: fast, inexpensively, high quality, and so on. Identify who receives the services:
a specific industry, level in the organization, and so forth. Describe the basis of
the service: research based, experience based, creative, customized, repeatable. Consider
also how the competitors are perceived, such as their image, size, or reputation.
Examine the attributes you defined in the second step and determine which
ones clients seem to use most often to select consultants. You will use these in the
next step to create a grid for consultants in your area. For example, one axis might
be high quality or price. A second axis might be to whom services are provided
with executives at one end and line workers at the other.
Now select the attributes as names for the two axes. Estimate where the consultants
you listed in step one would be positioned.
Identify your unique strengths and place yourself on the grid. You may need to
try this a couple of times before you discover what’s unique to you. Some of the
things you might consider include your time in the market, number of prestigious
clients you serve, your business philosophy, your industry experience, your community
involvement, and your professional affiliations. If you have difficulty pinpointing
your position, you have probably not been specific enough about your
niche. If this is the case, you may want to revisit your vision and mission. If you
think you just need to do some tweaking, move to the next step.
Next examine the consultant’s positions and what they offer to clients. Is anything
missing? Do you hear clients requesting attributes that are not being met? If
so, is this a “hole that needs to be filled”? Is it a potential niche for you?
Last, describe your proposed niche. What benefits do you offer your clients?
This can be a takeoff of your elevator speech (describing what you do in sixty seconds
or less), but may be shorter and has a marketing twist to it. It identifies what
Marketing Your Consulting Services