Brought to you by BAB, The Business Advisory Bureau Limited, the authors of top selling 'The Essential Guide to Earning a Living From Independent Consultancy'.

TEN TIPS FOR SUCCESS AS AN INDEPENDENT CONSULTANT

1. KEEP A CONTINUOUS MARKETING CYCLE GOING; NEVER LET IT STOP

  • Don’t fool yourself into believing that promises of work will turn into contracts, that early or existing clients will last forever, or that something will turn up. Successful consultants market better than the rest.
  • You’ll need a continual activity cycle that creates prospects on which you can work. You will develop some of these into clients who, in turn, will give you referrals or new contacts which you will turn into more prospects.
  • Think of marketing as a daily activity; not weekly, monthly, or when you feel like getting a newssheet out.
  • Our guide concentrates most on winning business and keeping it, because we know from 18 years experience and thousands of independents we’ve helped, that this activity and associated skills will make or break your business.



2. FOCUS ON YOUR OFFER AND KEEP IT UNDER REVIEW

  • When we spend two days coaching new independent consultants, nearly a day of this can be spent in helping them to get their offer right. Think about exactly what services you are offering to prospective clients and how these services will benefit them and their business?
  • Can you say what you do in 30 seconds?
  • Keep reshaping and repackaging your offer for different target groups and to get in tune with new trends.

3. ACCURATELY ESTIMATE THE NUMBER OF FEE DAYS YOU CAN CHARGE IN A YEAR

  • One reason many consultants find it increasingly difficult to succeed, is because they are just freelancing, rather than setting up a sustainable business model which accurately estimates the number of days they can spend fee earning, winning business and organising the business.
  • The fee days you can charge in a year and the business income you need to generate, should determine the average fee rate you charge.

4. LEARN HOW TO SELL

  • Even if you think you have all the skills needed to win business contracts, review them, tune them up and make yourself better than the rest.
  • Consultative selling is more like negotiating than selling a product. It can be fun, since you are selling both you and your business. Best of all, it makes your client feel great about both you and your service.
  • Having confidence in your unique selling proposition, (see ‘Focus on Your Offer), will give you confidence in using your skills to agree a brief, to present and write your proposal and to secure the contract.

5. WRITE WINNING PROPOSALS

  • Once you’ve ‘opened the door’ by great marketing and excellent selling, it is your proposal that will give your client confidence that you can do brilliant work and that you are the one your client wants to work with.
  • Each proposal must be tailor-made for your client for this project, even though you can use a professional format and template time and time again.
  • Even if you don’t have to tender, or there is no competition, always approach each proposal you write as if you are competing with the leading consultancy in your field. After all, you’re often competing with client insecurity, where the client can decide to do nothing at this stage if your proposal doesn’t persuade them.

Hundreds more tips and practical ways to take actions to enable your success are in 'The Essential Guide to Earning a Living From Independent Consultancy'.

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or click the forward icon for the next 5 top tips, 'USEFUL NEWS ITEMS FOR INDEPENDENT CONSULTANTS' and
'WHAT CONSULTANTS AND CLIENTS ARE SAYING'.

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