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WHO IS THIS FOR? AND WHY?
Let’s get straight to the point.
This report is for consultants and coaches who want to get
more clients.
If you want to escape from the constant worry in the pit of your
stomach over where your next client is coming from - then
you’re in the right place.
If you want to build a thriving consulting or coaching practice
where you’re able to relax, knowing your “marketing machine”
will bring in a regular flow of high quality leads - then you’re in
the right place.
If you want to attract and win the kind of high-end clients that
allow you to do interesting, innovative, high margin work - then
you’re in the right place.
Most consultants and coaches are great at what they do. They
deliver real value to clients, and establish highly productive and
mutually beneficial relationships with them.
But when it comes to marketing and selling ourselves, most of us feel uncomfortable.
We’re not really sure which marketing strategies actually work
for our specific niche and services.
We’re not consistent in our marketing and business
development. We flit from networking to direct mail to doing presentations. And we stop completely when we have client
work on. As a result we live in a constant “boom-bust” cycle.
While we’re often great at building relationships with our paying
clients - we’re poor at nurturing those relationships after we’ve
finished our work with them. And we’re even worse at building relationships with prospects who aren’t ready to buy quite yet.
And although we’re great at discussing clients’ problems and
solutions with them - when it comes to closing sales we feel
neither confident, nor competent.
Above all, what we’re lacking is a system. A clear set of processes and methods to tell us what to do and when to succeed at
marketing and business development.
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The Client Breakthrough System will give you that.
It’ll teach you how to identify and target your ideal, high paying
clients.
It’ll show you how to find them. How to communicate and
engage with them. How to nurture your relationship with them
so that they’re ready to buy.
And, of course, how to close the deals to bring them on as
clients.
Most importantly: it’ll show you how to do this in a systematic,
repeatable way. A system you can work day-in, day-out. Week-in,
week-out. A system that will give you confidence, knowing you have a steady stream of prospects and clients flowing in to your
business.
How to use this report
This report and the accompanying video series will take you
through a structured approach to to developing and
implementing effective marketing and sales principles for a consulting or coaching business.
It’ll show you how to build a deep understanding and
connection with your ideal target clients. Which marketing
approaches and lead generation tactics will work for you. How
to nurture leads so they’re ready to buy, how to close sales, and how to manage all this week-in, week-out
Ultimately it will show you the steps to getting more clients,
more quickly.
Of course, no book, system or course can cover everything and
every situation. But it will give most consultants and coaches what they need to set them firmly on the growth track.
But a report or training course alone can’t grow your business
for you.
You will need to put the lessons from the report into place. And
that will require three things:
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1. You will need to set aside time to properly digest and work
through each section of the report. You’ll need to gather
information, to complete the exercises thoughtfully, and to
reflect on your answers and in many cases keep coming back to
them until you fully “crack” the right strategies and actions for
you.
My suggestion is that you print out a copy of the report and
keep it with you. Make notes in the margins, re-read important
sections regularly and keep working at the exercises.
2. You’ll need to actually put the strategies and actions you
develop into practice. None of the approaches in the report will
require significant expenditure: but many will require significant
effort. Some will also require you to adopt new thoughts, new
ideas, and new ways of working. And this will feel uncomfortable
at first. But always remember, if you keep doing the same things
as you’re doing today, you’re going to keep getting the same
results as you’re getting today.
3. Finally, you’ll need to keep “sharpening the saw”, to keep looking
at and improving the way you market and sell your services.
Your clients will continue to change and evolve. Your
competitors will continue to change and evolve - and so must
you. It doesn’t need to be every day, but at least quarterly you
must review whether your selected marketing and sales
approaches are still working or whether you need to revisit and
update them.
Why did I develop the Client Breakthrough System?
Well, primarily, it’s because I’ve been there myself.
Although I make my living today helping other professionals
grow their marketing and business development skills - I’m far from a natural salesperson myself.
When I first became a consultant in the early 90s I was a fresh-
faced MBA whose experience of business had all been in
technical roles. I knew that I wanted to do high end strategy
work for the biggest and best names in the business - and I was sure I had the skills to do it.
But what I had no idea about was marketing and selling. It came
as a huge shock to me to find out that if I wanted to progress
and do the kind of work I was interested in I would have to sell.
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Luckily, through study, experience, and having some of the best “rainmakers” in the field as my mentors, I learned what it takes
for even the most reluctant of professionals to become highly
effective at selling.
I had a similar shock when I first set up my own business over
three years ago. I discovered that marketing and selling for a sole practitioner with no brand name or support team to rely on is a
whole new ball game. Once again, I had to learn “what works”
for my new situation.
So believe me, if you’re currently feeling uncomfortable or even
overwhelmed by the challenge of bringing in new clients - I’ve been there.
And partly the reason for creating the Client Breakthrough
System is that I'm confident that for every reader of the report
a certain percentage will decide they need my help to progress
even faster, even further in growing their business.
If, after reading the report and working through the planning and
preparation you decide you're one of them, then you can
contact me in the UK on 0161 408 0984 or email [email protected]. You can also find out more about my
consulting and coaching services here.
But that's more than enough about me – let's get on to figuring
out how to get you more clients.
Ian Brodie
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N e w s l e t t e r
CONTENTS 1. Who is this for? And why?
2. Contents
3. The Client Breakthrough System
4. Business Development Strategy
5. Core Business Development Processes
6. Management Systems
7. Taking Action
8. Who am I, and how can I help?
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N e w s l e t t e r
THE CLIENT BREAKTHROUGH SYSTEM
Above all else, the Client Breakthrough System is simple.
Simplicity works.
A simple system is a system that gets used. And the key to winning clients is not clever tactics or complex procedures. It’s
doing the simple things that work. Doing them consistently well.
Doing them week-in, week-out.
There are only 3 components to the Client Breakthrough
System.
Figure 1: The Client Breakthrough System Core Components
The first is your Business Development Strategy.
For consultants and coaches, your business development strategy is about your choices in three primary areas:
1. Which clients you focus on.
2. Your value proposition to those clients.
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N e w s l e t t e r
3. How you position yourself in the marketplace.
Your Business Development Strategy is the thinking component
of the Client Breakthrough System. You typically revise this on an
annual basis. After that, the key is execution.
The second component is your set of Core Business
Development Processes: Lead Generation, Lead Nurturing and Selling.
These are the day-in, day-out processes that win you clients.
Your lead generation approaches (for example: getting referrals,
direct mail, using the web) are the methods you use to bring you
into initial contact with high potential prospects.
Your lead nurturing approaches (for example an email
newsletter) will keep you front of mind with those prospects not
ready to buy yet - so that when the time is right, you’re the first
person they turn to.
And your sales approaches (for example an initial diagnostic meeting) are the way you turn prospects who are ready to buy
into paying clients.
The final component of the Client Breakthrough System is your
Management System. It’s the way you track progress and ensure
you’re doing the right things every week to maximise your
chances of winning clients. It’s where you plan in the next week’s activities to make sure you’ve got the right balance of Lead
Generation, Lead Nurturing and Selling.
That’s it. Three simple components.
But if you get them right. If you focus on the right clients, with
the right value proposition. If you pick the right business development approaches and execute them well. If you manage
tightly and keep on track.
Then you’ll have more clients than you can handle.
Let’s look at each component in turn.
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BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY
Strategy in business - as it is in war - is the art of concentrating
your forces where they will have the most impact.
This ability to focus is even more important for consultants and
coaches where your most precious resource is your time. Since
most professionals have to deliver client work and often manage
the firm in parallel with winning new business, it’s crucial that
every business development activity is high payoff.
The most important factor in ensuring this high payoff is to focus
your efforts on a “hungry market” - clients with a high
propensity to buy.
This means identifying and targeting clients with a strong need for what you have to offer, the money to pay for it, and the
desire to make improvements.
Without those elements, you’ll be “banging your head against a
brick wall”.
So how do you find those hungry clients? The key is to know what they look like. And that means focusing your efforts.
FOCUS YOUR APPROACH
Only the very largest firms can afford to position themselves as
being "all things to all men". Smaller firms and sole practitioners
need to be much more focused in their approach if they want their marketing and business development efforts to have bite.
This is an area where many consultants, and coaches struggle.
Many have a very general market position. They provide a broad
range of services to a broad range of clients. They fear that by
being "too specific" in their marketing and lead generation they
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will miss out on potential business from prospects outside the narrow specifications.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
CLEAR FOCUS STRENGTHENS YOUR MARKETING
The reality is that by being too generic, you significantly weaken
the impact of your marketing efforts.
Our clients are bombarded with marketing messages from all
angles – and they filter most of them out. To get through those
filters your marketing needs to grab their attention. But that
doesn't mean you should be using the aggressive, shouting
headlines so beloved of low-end copywriters. Instead your marketing needs to resonate with the issues and concerns of
your clients.
The primarily filter clients use to decide what to pay attention to
is: “is this relevant to me?”
If your marketing messages focus on their particular industry niche, or on the specific problems or opportunities they face –
then they'll listen.
Not only that, but specialisation implies expertise. Who would
you rather have as your accountant, for example: a generalist, or
someone who specialises in working with consulting firms? Most of us would prefer to deal with a specialist. We assume that they
will better understand the specific of our business – the
economics of consulting firms, the typical forecasting horizons,
etc.
And we're not the only ones. In Raintoday.com's How Clients Buy study, "experience in my industry/business" and "experience
in my specific area of need" were the first and third most listed
factors when buyers of consulting and other professional
services were asked what most influenced their selection of
service provider.
That's not to say the generalist can never win. But the specialist
has the advantage.
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Figure 2: Most nominated highly influential factors in selecting a professional service
provider – Source How Clients Buy Survey 2009 from Raintoday.com
Think it through from your own experience. At the last chamber
of commerce meeting or networking event you went to, how
many marketing consultants or business coaches were there?
Probably quite a few.
And while each would argue that once clients got to know them, they would see how they were different and better, the
reality is that clients don't have the time to get that deep into a relationship with all the potential service providers they meet.
They filter early, and only get into deep interactions with
consultants whose focus resonates with their needs.
Sales training, for example, is a commodity. Sales training for non-
salespeople, sales training for the complex sale, sales training for financial advisers – these are all niches which tell potential clients
that you understand them and have something specific for them.
FOCUS SPURS ACTION AND HELPS BUILD YOUR BRAND
In addition, specialising simplifies planning and spurs action. In my
many years in marketing & sales consulting I've worked with a number of different industries. But once I started specialising in
working with consulting and other professional firms I found it
much easier to focus my efforts, to develop high value tailored
services and thought leadership, and to quickly identify target
clients to pursue.
A further advantage of specialisation is that it allows even small
firms to build strong brand reputations. When I was managing a
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Experience in my industry/ business
Overall cost
Experience in my specific area of need
Overall Value
Variety of Services Offered
0% 20% 40% 60% 80%
47%
59%
68%
74%
75%
% of Buyers Ranking Factor as a Top Influencer
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major multinational client account for consulting giant Capgemini, we lost a huge piece of supply chain work to a tiny
outfit called JCIT (now DemandPoint).
Despite the fact that we had about ten times the number of
supply chain and lean manufacturing experts as JCIT, it was only
one of many areas we covered – whereas it was their entire focus. As a result, they had built up a powerful reputation based
on investment in a unique methodology, a published book, and
an appearance on the front of Fortune magazine. All driven by
their specialisation in one specific area which they became
famous for.
Within my own niche of business growth for consulting and
other professional firms, I've been able to use a blog and regular
newsletter to build an international reputation. More locally,
because of my specialisation, I get asked to speak and run
seminars by professional groups who wouldn't dream of inviting more general marketing & sales consultants. This raises my
profile with potential clients and gives me a significant head start
when it comes to winning business.
HOW TO IDENTIFY YOUR NICHE
How you narrow your focus is
dependent on the clients you
primarily serve and the services
you deliver. Typical specialisations
might include:
‣ Industries or client types: financial services firms, female
executives
‣ A functional area: finance, procurement, online marketing
‣ A specific client situation: new start-ups, post-merger situations,
companies approaching bankruptcy
‣ The sorts of problems you help clients solve: dysfunctional
teams, turnaround situations, cost reduction
‣ New trends, technologies and "hot topics": social media, RFID,
visualisation technologies
In fact, most professionals will focus on a combination of these
areas – procurement cost reduction for manufacturing firms; RFID implementation for retailers, for example.
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The area you specialise in then determines many of the other components of your business development: the services you
offer, how you position them, the messages you use to
communicate with clients, and which lead generation approaches
you use to reach and engage with them.
Of course, it doesn't mean you'll never do work outside that specialist area. It's quite common for clients to ask specialists
who they know and trust from working in one area to help
them out in areas outside the specialism. Especially if, once
engaged with the client, you demonstrate your broader business
knowledge. However, it does mean that you'll focus your pro-active marketing efforts to new clients in your specialist area.
It's also possible to do "temporary specialisation". Focusing on
one specific niche for a period of time before moving on to
marketing efforts for other niches.
A colleague of mine who's a successful business coach found he was able to generate many, many more referrals using this
temporary specialisation than he ever got as a generic coach for
small businesses. One month he'd announce to his networking
group he was running a seminar for therapists and he'd get multiple referrals. A few months later he was running a campaign
for financial advisors and again, the referrals flooded in. But back
when he'd been running events for the more general category
of small businesses, he'd struggled to get even one or two
referrals. Small businesses were simply too broad a category. Members of his networking group knew literally hundreds of
small businesses – but they couldn't feasibly pass on all the
names. Without any way of discerning who the event was
particularly appropriate for, they referred him to no one.
This clear, specialist focus will form the heart of your approach – so you need to invest time to get it right.
When deciding on your area(s) of focus, it's important to
consider not only which areas are potentially the most profitable
or in-demand from clients, and which you have the most
expertise in; but also which areas you are most interested in and have the most passion for..
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If you're going to invest in building a reputation, developing thought leadership and tailored service offers it absolutely must
be an area for which you have a passion.
Your selected niche(s) will form the foundation of your business
development system. But they're not cast in stone. As you get
out in the field and actively market your firm you'll find out what works and what doesn't. And you'll get feedback which will allow
you to refine your niche.
DEVELOPING PEN PICTURES
Effective marketing requires you to really understand the needs,
wants, motivations and situation of your target clients. The better you understand your target clients, the better you’ll know how
to connect with them and how to communicate with impact.
One of the best ways of doing that is to develop "pen pictures"
of typical client profiles.
Take each of your target segments and try to visualise a typical potential client in each segment.
In my case, rather than marketing to "owners of medium sized consulting firms" I think of Barry.
Barry is 45, and married with two
children. He runs a 15 person
consulting firm based in the
Midlands, specialised in manufacturing process
improvements. He founded the
firm 5 years ago, and it's grown
reasonably well based on repeat business and recommendations
from satisfied clients.
But Barry is now beginning to think of the future – and he
knows he needs to grow the business much faster to get where
he wants to be (and to be able to retire comfortably in 10 years
time). He's read lots of material on marketing and spoken to
many people who all advise him to do different things. He's not really sure what will work for his business and doesn't want to
risk a lot of time and money until he is clear what is going to
have the biggest impact on growth.
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By drawing this pen picture (and the full one is a lot more detailed) I'm able to really "get inside the head" of my potential
clients. To understand their hopes and fears in a way that "owner
of a medium sized consulting firm" just can't do.
And that lets me do more compelling marketing. When I write, it
resonates with them. When I talk to them I'm able to speak in language that's meaningful to them and hits the right buttons.
For your business you'll probably have to develop 3 or 4 pen
pictures for the typical clients you serve. You can even base them
on existing clients.
Don’t get overwhelmed. Start with one profile. You’ll quickly see how much richer your marketing will become as a result.
BUILDING A POWERFUL VALUE PROPOSITION
In marketing, circles you’ll often hear heated
discussions about the importance of having a
USP - a Unique Selling Proposition.
In my experience, this search for
uniqueness is misguided.
It starts from the wrong point.
Proponents of the USP approach
agonise over how to position their business as being unique -
completely different from any other business.
But do your clients care if you’re unique?
Your clients primarily care about whether you’re bringing them
value. Whether you’re solving their critical problems or helping
them achieve their greatest ambitions.
Whether you’re the only person who can do that is very much
secondary. It means you’ll have no competition when it comes to selection time.
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But you know what? I rarely have much competition anyway. By the time I’m speaking to a potential client, their choices are
usually to hire me, to try to do it themselves, or to do nothing.
it’s rarely a head to head battle with another consultant or
coach.
I bet it’s very similar for you too.
My experience is that if you focus intensely on the value you can
create for your clients, and if you have a tightly defined niche -
then you rarely have to worry about what makes you unique.
A great way of clarifying this value is to create a Value
Proposition.
Now creating a value proposition is not about wordsmithing. It’s
not a cleverly polished statement you use in your external
marketing. A value proposition is simply a concise statement of
why a client should hire you.
It’s used to clarify your own thinking and guide your marketing. Not as a sort of “mission statement” you frame and hang on the
wall.
A powerful value proposition is one which resonates. It
addresses the big issues which your clients worry about.
And it’s also one with proof.
The nature of consulting and coaching work is that anyone can
make bold claims about how great they are and how much value
they bring to their clients. Effective marketing for consultants
and coaches is about demonstrating and proving - not just
claiming.
So you must understand how you can prove your value in
advance. Through thought leadership, testimonials and
guarantees, for example.
To develop your value proposition, start with the pen picture
you’ve developed of your ideal client. Then review their critical business issues, needs, challenges.
Flesh out the value, benefits, and end results they’ll get from
addressing those issues (for example, having a more profitable
business may result in more financial stability for them and their
family).
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Now describe your solutions and capabilities which deliver those results - and elaborate on how specifically they deliver them.
Finally, collect the evidence to “prove” you can deliver.
Pull those together. Review and rework. Read it from your ideal
client’s perspective. Rework it again until the real value that your
client will feel in their gut jumps out from the page at you.
Then you’ll have a powerful value proposition.
Here’s a worked example for a procurement consultant:
Target Clients • UK based manufacturing companies with a turnover of >5m and an estimated spend on indirect procurement of >500K
• Limited in-house indirect procurement expertise (likely to be
focusing on raw/direct materials)
Business Issues • Excessive spend on purchased overheads (travel, stationery, printing, etc.)
• Costs fluctuating, unpredictable and feeling out of control
• Feeling at mercy of suppliers - unable to negotiate effectively• Not wanting to divert energy from core business to
overheads
Benefits • Significant cost reduction - up to 40% in printing, 25% in freight, etc.
• More control, more predictability
• Visibility and knowledge of competitiveness of supplier pricing• No disruption or extra work needed from core business
Solutions and Capabilities
• Initial assessment, analysis and recommendations• Supplier consolidation and renegotiations• Ongoing management of contract
Proof • Examples/testimonials from previous clients• Case studies/benchmarking results• Previous “Poacher” and “gamekeeper” experience
• Pre-existing relationships with suppliers• Results of initial assessment
POSITION YOURSELF AS AN AUTHORITY
Now we’ve identified our target clients, understood their needs
and clarified the value we’ll deliver to them we can decide how
to position ourselves so that we’re seen as a highly attractive
partner to work with.
There are many viable market positions you can take - being a
low-cost provider, the strength of your relationships, the quality
of your service delivery..
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But in my experience, the most effective position you can take is
to establish yourself as as the expert or authority in your field.
As the authority in your field you’re the natural choice for the
big, important issues your clients have to deal with. It’s those big,
important issues that clients are prepared to pay a premium to
address.
Becoming an authority takes work. But you don’t need to
become the world’s leading authority. Just the authority in your world. In other words, with the clients you target, and in
comparison with the competitors you come up against.
Becoming an authority requires you to invest in developing your
thought leadership - and in making that available to potential
clients. And it means that your marketing and lead generation activities should be biased towards those that establish your
reputation.
CORE BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT PROCESSES
Now you’ve established your client needs, value proposition and
ideal market positioning, you can select the business development approaches which will turn prospects into clients.
There are three main steps in acquiring clients for consultants
and coaches.
Firstly, you must generate leads. In other words you must make
initial contact with prospects to bring them into your “pipeline”.
The output of your lead generation activities will usually be face
to face meetings or telephone calls with potential clients. If
you’re taking a heavily online approach to business
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development, it could also be that a lead is a potential client who signs up for your newsletter and automated business
development emails. Or perhaps even someone connecting with
you on Linkedin.
In every case though, you will have established permission to
actively communicate with them (either in the meeting/call and follow up - or via email or Linkedin).
This is absolutely crucial. I can’t stress it enough:
The goal of your lead generation activities is not only to make
contact with high potential clients - it’s to get permission to
proactively communicate with them.
Why am I putting so much emphasis on this?
The nature of consulting and coaching services is that they’re
almost always costly, complex, intangible and high impact.
In other words - it’s a big deal when clients hire a consultant or
coach.
It’s rare that they’ll make that decision after just one interaction with you. It usually takes multiple interactions over time before
they gain the trust and confidence in your capabilities needed to
feel comfortable hiring you.
In addition, because most consulting and coaching services are
discretionary and aren’t needed all the time - with most lead generation approaches you can’t be sure that you’ve contacted a
client at a time when they have that need.
Depending on your type of service, it’s typical that between 70
to 90% of the time, when you initially contact a potential client -
even one who otherwise is highly qualified - the time won’t be right for them to hire you right now.
But the majority of them will hire someone like you in the next
few years.
What that means is that in order to be top of mind when they
are ready to buy., and in order to ensure they’ve built the necessary confidence and trust in you by that time - you must
communicate with them on a regular basis.
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And that’s why I say it’s crucial to get permission to communicate proactively at that first contact point. Because if
you don’t, you’re relying on luck to get that regular
communication.
You have to hope they come to your next presentation.. Or that
you see them again when you’re out networking. Or that they remember to come back to your website.
But if you get permission to proactively communicate, you can
call them, write to them or email them to keep in touch and
nurture that relationship.
Then your relationship is in your hands.
LEAD GENERATION
My advice to clients is always to
use a portfolio of lead generation
approaches.
By that I mean three things:
‣ Firstly, different clients respond
to different types of approaches.
‣ Secondly, some clients are inherently more valuable than
others. With higher value clients you can use more time-
intensive approaches.
‣ Finally, some lead generation approaches work well to broaden
your circle of contacts - others work well to convert existing
contacts into leads.
You need to select lead generation approaches that meet three key criteria:
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1. They have a high probability of connecting with your target clients. It’s no use going networking to events that you’re
clients don’t attend, for example.
2. They allow you to demonstrate you meet the criteria clients
will use when hiring a consultant or coach. More on this in a
second.
3. They’re methods you’ll be able to do well. It may be that
running seminars and doing presentations would be the
perfect method to attract your ideal clients - but if you shrink
in fear from the very thought of speaking in public, it’s unlikely
to be a method that will work for you right now.
In terms of demonstrating you meet the criteria clients use
when hiring - the exact details will depend on your clients and
your pen pictures are the best guide to this.
But generically, clients are looking for three things when hiring a
consultant or coach:
4. They want to be sure that you understand them and the issues
or challenges they face.
5. They need to know you have the capabilities and experience to
help them address those issues.
6. They must be sure they can trust you and that they (or their
team) will be able to work with you effectively.
Now these factors aren’t easy to prove in a short interaction. That’s why it will usually require multiple contacts over time to
nurture your relationship.
And in terms of your lead generation approaches - the initial
contacts you have with a potential client - the most effective
methods are usually the “face to face” methods which allow you to get these factors across.
Survey after survey has show that the approaches clients prefer
to use, and that consultants report work best for gaining new
business are these face-to-face, personal approaches. For
example:
‣ Previous work with, or personal reputation of the consultants
‣ Referrals from people clients trust
‣ Seeing the consultants in action at a presentation or seminar
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It's those personal interactions (or personal recommendations) that allow clients to make a judgement on whether the
consultant will understand their problem, have the capabilities to
solve it, and whether they will be able to work well with them.
For any consultant or coach, developing relationships and
expanding business with existing clients, pro-actively getting more referrals to target clients, and using speaking engagements
and seminars must be at the top of the list their lead generation
approaches.
However, although these approaches have the highest impact,
they are also amongst the most time-intensive. They also have a lower reach: developing relationships with clients and referral
partners happens one client or partner at a time. In-person
seminars and presentations reach only as many people as are in
the room.
So for a balanced portfolio of approaches, you also need to put more "scalable" tactics into the mix.
Websites, articles, sales letters and cold calls may not have as high a hit rate as the in-person tactics – but they can reach more
people, and they do not require so much face-to-face time. In
addition, they can often be great approaches to lead-in to more
face-to-face activities. After all, how does a potential client get to
know of a seminar the consultant is running? Often by direct mail or email, promotion on a website, or good old-fashioned
PR.
Following is a list of potential lead generation approaches.
Review each approach and score them on a simple High,
Medium and Low basis on how likely each is to allow you to reach your target clients, how much each one will allow you
demonstrate the capabilities your clients are looking for, and on
how competent you are at each approach.
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ApproachAbility to
reach targets
(H/M/L)
Demonstrate
capabilities
(H/M/L)
Competence
(H/M/L)
Existing Client
Development
Referrals
Networking
Public Speaking &
Seminars
Direct Mail
Cold Calling
Hospitality/
Sponsorship
Traditional
Advertising
Articles
Research Project
ApproachAbility to
reach targets
(H/M/L)
Demonstrate
capabilities
(H/M/L)
Competence
(H/M/L)
Website
Social Media
Other: __________
Other: __________
Other: __________
Make sure you document the logic behind each choice too.
In video 3 of the free video training series you get with this
report I’ll be giving tips on when each approach is most
appropriate ing through each approach in more detail - highlighting the pros and cons and how to make each one work.
But for now, base your initial assessment on what you already
know.
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For most sole practitioners, you’ll want to have 3 or 5 approaches in your portfolio. Larger firms can afford to do more
- but be wary of spreading your message and your expertise too
thinly across approaches.
Once you’ve selected the best approaches, the secret is to
execute them consistently. We’ll cover that in the Management System section of the report.
LEAD NURTURING
As we’ve already said, almost no
one buys high value consulting or
coaching services after their first interaction. You need to have
multiple interactions with them
over time to build their trust and
perception of your capabilities.
If you don’t do this, you’ll end up in the trap that many consultants and coaches find themselves in. They focus only on
short-term leads. Potential clients not likely to buy in the next
few months are "qualified out of the pipeline". And qualified out means dropped – usually with no further attempt to follow-up
or keep in contact.
The end result is that the consultant or coach finds themselves
constantly hunting for fresh leads with urgent needs. Whereas if
they’d nurtured their "not so hot" leads over time, they’d not only have hot leads – but would have been able to build their
credibility and trust over time to position themselves more
effectively for a win.
Lead nurturing is all about turning a one-off interaction into an
ongoing relationship. And in particular, a relationship which grows deepen and stronger over time.
It needs to be a planned, systematic activity. Some of the things
you will do will be one-off, specifically tailored activities for high
value potential clients. But mostly, you will be executing pre-
planned nurture strategies.
LEAD NURTURING IN PRACTICE
In practice, there are two phases of lead nurturing.
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Immediate Follow-Up
The first is the immediate follow-up phase. For each of your
selected lead generation approaches think through what a
natural follow-up would be that could initiate an ongoing
communication between you and the potential client.
For example, if you use seminars and presentations as one of your main tactics then rather than simply giving out copies of
your slides at the event or getting the organiser to send them
out; write a more detailed report and ask for people to give you
their business card if they want you to send them a copy.
By the way: a quick tip here. If you want more people to give you their business card, ask in the workshop “I have a detailed
report available with more information and practical tips on this
subject. Raise your hands if you’d like a copy. OK, drop me your
business card at the end and I’ll email you a copy”. Most people
raise their hand – and by raising their hand, they’re more likely to give you their business card at the end.
Once you’ve started the dialogue by sending the report, you can then either keep communicating with them via manual emails
(perhaps sending further thoughts, asking for feedback, etc.) or (if
you ask for permission) subscribe them to your email newsletter.
One of the simplest follow-up tactics is via email – but it's so
easy to get this wrong. Frequently after meeting someone at a networking event I'll get a standard "Nice to meet you, if you
ever need our services…." email. Not surprisingly, I tend to hit
the delete button pretty quickly.
But what would happen instead if someone took the time to
think about what we spoke about at the event and refer to it? Or maybe suggest a useful link or resource for me. Or at least
say they'll keep a look out for whatever I said I was interested
in. Then I may well email them back and begin a relationship.
Personally, after every event, I type the details of the interesting
people I met into my contact management system myself. When I do that, I recall what we talked about, and I think about what I
might be able to do to help them. And I then drop them a short
email with something relevant in. it's a good habit to get into.
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You need to figure out what the right follow up to each of your main lead generation activities is. After that initial follow-up, you
bring the potential client into the second phase of lead
nurturing: your ongoing relationship building programme.
Ongoing Relationship Building
Your ongoing relationship building programme is a planned sequence of activities you carry out with potential (and existing)
clients over time to strengthen and deepen your relationship
with them. The objective is to build the client's perception of
your capabilities so that when a need for your services arises,
you're the first on their mind.
It could be as simple as a regular email newsletter. And some
consultants are masters at keeping in touch and furthering
relationships with a simple phone call.
In other cases it can be more elaborate. Personally, I keep a list
of my top current and target clients (whom I've initiated contact with). I classify them into A/B/C depending on their potential for
long term, profitable business relationships.
Every week I review that list and think through: is there something I can do for them this week that will deepen our
relationship? I might be able to source a useful article for them,
or put them in touch with someone useful or invite them to an
event that would be valuable to them.
Simply reading the list and actively thinking about them is enough to put them in the front of my mind so that if something
relevant to them pops up during the week I'll notice it. For my A
clients and prospects I'll try to make sure I'm contacting them in
some form at least every 2-3 weeks. For my B clients and
prospects it's 4-8 weeks. And for the C category it's every quarter.
More sophisticated still: you can pre-plan a whole sequence of
"nurture funnel" activities designed to gradually build your
relationship. In the online world, this is often done with email
autoresponders. After a potential clients signs up (for example to download a free report) a sequence of timed emails is initiated.
The first may thank them for subscribing. The second might ask
for feedback or highlight a section of the report you recommend
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they study thoroughly. The third might showcase a case study of work you’ve done with a recent client - and gently suggest the
prospect gets in touch to discuss further. The fifth might run
through a specific coaching service you provide in the area
covered by the report.
But while these planned sequences are mainly found online, there's no reason why they can't be done offline too. After
attending your seminar, you might send a potential client a copy
of a related article you've written one week. Maybe then a call
to see if they found it useful. Perhaps you follow that with a
guest invitation to a networking event you regularly attend which they might find useful. Maybe the next step is to post them
clippings of useful articles in their field. And then maybe a letter
or call to ask if they'd like to meet up to see how you could help
them.
Both offline and online nurture funnels share three key characteristics:
They're time independent. Whenever you make a new contact
you can start the sequence with them and it will work "on
autopilot" – you don't need to think of the next step at every stage, it's pre-planned.
They build the relationship by adding value over time.
They culminate in an offer. In other words, you’re not just
developing the relationship to make friends, you have a clear
business objective in mind.
In practice, the sequences could be shorter – or much longer.
And they are likely to continue well beyond the initial offer.
The key is that they deliberately develop a relationship in a
sequence of small steps – rather than trying to jump
immediately from an initial meeting to a sales offer in one go.
Automation
Smart business developers have always nurtured client
relationships – whether formally planned, or just something they
did naturally.
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However, nurturing activities have traditionally been reserved for the very highest potential clients. It requires a big investment of
time to do all these activities manually and tailored them to each
specific client.
Thanks to the internet, and the increasing capabilities of contact
management and CRM products, nurturing can now be extended to even more clients.
Semi-automation – is where sequences of activities are
automatically planned once a potential client is flagged in your
system. For example, a task to call the client or mail an article
will be sequenced and appear in the consultant's to-do-list a
certain number of days after the client has been entered as a new contact in the system. Some of the activities (usually emails)
may be done automatically by the system, while manual tasks
appear as to-do items for the relevant team member at the right
time.
Full automation – is where the relationship begins online (for
example when a potential client signs up for a free report) and a sequence of emails is initiated via an autoresponder service.
Semi-automation increases the efficiency of traditional lead nurturing and because of this allows you to do it for perhaps
double the number of potential clients as before.
Full automation means that you can nurture almost all potential
clients since it's happening automatically. Of course, you can only
do it when the client opts-in to the approach – so you need an incentive for that. And it's not as effective for very high potential
clients as when you tailor your nurturing activities to the specific
client.
But it works. Surprisingly well.
Sophisticated clients realise it's a pre-planned automated sequence. But as long as each message is adding value and
building the relationship it works anyway. With email, somehow
we forget. We read it and if it's well written, we respond like we
would to a human being.
Some consultants have said to me "I don't want to send a standard sequence – I want to uniquely tailor and personalise it".
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And that's great – a personally tailored interaction will have more impact than a standard sequence.
But you can only personalise for a small number of potential
clients. So they'd better be your best ones.
The real choice for the remaining clients is not between a
standard sequence and personalised messages – it's between a standard sequence and no messages at all.
SELLING
Most consultants and coaches feel
uncomfortable in sales situations.
And it's no wonder; the dominant stereotype we have of salespeople
is of aggressive extroverts. Pushy,
manipulative Ricky Roma types.
But that type of selling just doesn't work for consulting or
coaching services. You can't push or manipulate someone into buying a highly expensive service which is likely to impact some
of the most critical areas of their business. Before they buy they'll need a high degree of confidence that their challenge is worth
addressing, that you understand it, that you know what you’re
doing, and that they'll be able to work with you.
That confidence won't come from the pushy tactics of the
typical salesperson.
It will only come from a constructive dialogue with a
knowledgeable professional who puts the client's best interests
at heart.
But that doesn't mean you need to become a "pushover". An
effective professional is a peer level partner to their client. And that's the role you need to adopt when selling. You will need to
set the agenda and challenge your client when needed.
Clients will make major judgements about what it will be like to
work with a consultant or coach based on their experience of
them during the sales process. They want someone who will act as a trusted advisor and partner to them, and so you must
behave in that way right from your initial meeting.
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In my experience, most consultants and coaches need to work in three areas to improve their sales capabilities:
1. They must develop a positive mindset towards sales.
2. They need to develop their “intelligent questioning” skills.
3. They need to grow the confidence and capability to close.
DEVELOPING A POSITIVE MINDSET
Many consultants and coaches view selling as manipulative, and
they're uncomfortable doing it.
For them, a little mental exercise can help overcome this. I
sometimes ask people who express this view to play a little
game:
"Pretend for a moment you don't get paid for consulting. You're an
expert in your area, but you make money some other way.
Let's say you meet a business person and you talk about his
business. If you spot an area where he could significantly improve his
business – would you feel OK highlighting it to him?"
Often the answer is not only Yes, but the consultant or coach often insists it would be their duty to point it out.
"And if they didn't really understand, or see it as a big problem –
would you feel it was OK to discuss it with them and demonstrate to
them how important it was?"
Again, they almost always say it would be their duty to do so.
"And if you knew someone who could help them fix that problem –
would you see it as wrong or unethical to recommend that person?"
"Of course not" is always the answer.
"So why is it a problem if the person who can help them fix the
problem is you?"
It's not an infallible method. And for consultants or coaches with
a deeply ingrained dislike for selling it takes a bit more to
persuade them.
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But a simple conversation like this can begin to get them thinking about their attitude to selling and whether it's really helping
them.
There are other negative attitudes to selling, of course. Some
view selling as somehow "beneath them". They worry about their
image as a professional and what others (including clients) will think of them if they engage in sales activities. Others fear the
inherent rejection that comes with sales.
Some of these beliefs are harder to shift than others. But almost
always, it's possible to work with the consultant to help them
overcome their particular mindset issue.
INTELLIGENT QUESTIONING
Without doubt, the key to selling for consultants and coaches is
questioning.
Through smart questions, the professional learns about the
client's problem or opportunity, is able to clarify the size of the issue, and finds out enough to propose a compelling solution to
the problem.
But questioning is about much more than finding out information:
‣ Smart questions which focus in on the key topics establish a
consultant's knowledge and credibility much more than any
claims or monologues could.
‣ A question-based approach shows the client you are interested
in them and their issues. It shows you'll try to understand them,
and develop solutions tailored to their needs rather than
shoehorn in canned answers. The number one complaint clients'
have of consultants and coaches is that they just don't listen to
them.
‣ Asking good questions brings new insight to the client. It
shouldn't feel like a grilling. They should come out of the
meeting with you inspired with new ideas and fresh thinking. In
essence, you're giving them a free sample of what it would be
like to work with you.
Perhaps the most important thing questioning does from a sales
perspective is motivate the client to buy.
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For most consultants and coaches, their #1 competitor is not another consulting firm. It's simply the client not doing anything,
or trying to muddle through themselves.
Why do they do this? Because although they know they have a
problem or opportunity, they're not convinced it's big enough to
warrant hiring an expensive consultant or coach to address it.
Typically this happens because as soon as the professional hears
the client talk about their problem or opportunity they jump
straight to the solution they can provide. It's an almost Pavlovian
reaction. Talking about their solutions, their methodologies and
their results is comfortable and safe ground for consultants and coaches. And it feels like they're adding value and demonstrating
their expertise.
But if they do this before they've explored with the client the full
scale of the impact of their problem or opportunity then the
chances are that the client won't see just how big it is. And that means they simply won't buy.
When you’re planning for a sales meeting (and yes, you must plan every sales meeting!) you need to develop a series of
questions to ask which will allow you and your potential client to
jointly discover:
‣ The priority issues they have
‣ The full business impact of those issues
‣ What a potential solution might look like
‣ The potential barriers to a solution
‣ The reasons why they need you to help
In addition, for larger, more complex sales, you need to ask
questions to help you understand how to navigate the client’s
buying/decision-making process.
GROW THE CONFIDENCE AND CAPABILITY TO CLOSE
Most salespeople try to close too early, too often, and too hard.
They've read too many "27 Surefire Closing Secrets" type books
and have come to believe that by using clever language or
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manipulative methods and attempting to close at least 5 times in a call they can somehow win more business.
In fact, for anything other than small sales, trying to manipulate
people into signing-up backfires. If people aren't yet convinced
that they really need a product or service, and they're not sure
that your particular one is right for them; then using closing techniques like asking if they'd like delivery on Tuesday or
Thursday will push them further away.
The evidence on closing is clear. The optimum number of closes
per meeting you should use is 1.
However, for consultants and coaches, the challenge is a different one.
Where product salespeople try to close too often, most
consultants don't even attempt to close once. Some get so tied
up in the client's business problems that the meeting overruns
and they end weekly. Others feel that asking for the sale or next step would come across as pushy. Others simply don't know
what to say to progress to their target next step.
Effective closing is much more than something you tag at the end of a sales meeting. To close effectively at the end, you need
to make sure that through your whole sales discussion, the client
is building confidence that their problem needs a solution
urgently, that you understand them, that you know what you're
doing, and that they will be able to work with you.
I advise consultants and coaches to follow three-phase process
for closing:
1. Set the stage for a positive close through the whole sales
process:
‣ Confirming agreements through the discussion.
‣ Addressing client concerns as they arise rather than
"steamrollering" through to the next point.
‣ Ensuring you drill for impact – it's understanding the full
implications of the issue which will motivate the client to buy.
2. Close first at the Concept level (i.e. first get agreement on
what the client wants to achieve):
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‣ Summarising the client's priority needs, the impact of the issue
and the outline of what they are looking for.
‣ Reviewing your solution - what you propose to address their
needs and how it will deliver the outcomes they’re looking for.
‣ Checking for any outstanding concerns – and addressing them.
‣ Proposing the next step – usually to move on to agreeing the
practical details.
3. Then move on to Close at the Practical level (i.e. get
agreement on what you will do). This may need a second
meeting and some further work from you to prepare an
outline plan. But it's crucial that you and your potential client work together to finalise the scope and plan.
‣ Jointly discussing and designing the approach to the project/
engagement – but remembering that you are the expert.
‣ Checking for any outstanding concerns – and addressing them.
‣ Proposing moving forward together.
Of course, that's a simplified representation – more complex
sales situations require a more complex, multi-stage sales
process. And if there's an RFP or formal presentation stage you won't close in the meeting. But the key phases leading up to that
still apply.
At the end of the day, selling is simply building a relationship with
a potential client. It’s working with them to identify their
potential issues and challenges, to figure out the impact of those challenges and whether it’s worth fixing them, and agreeing a
path forward together.
Relax, and treat it just as you would if you’d already been hired
and you were just figuring out how to best help them.
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MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS
Right at the start – a whopping 30 or so pages ago – I said that
the underlying issue for a great many consultants and coaches is the lack of a clear and rigorous system for developing new
business.
So far, we've looked at the components of such a system. The
strategies and processes that will deliver a consistent stream of
new clients and sales for your business.
The greatest trap you can fall into now is to treat this as a one-
off exercise. To launch a programme, focus your approach, beef
up your lead generation, nurturing and sales – and then step
back and expect it all to work.
The truth is that the first time you try out your new strategies and tactics, some of it will work and some of it won't. And some
of it you just won't be able to tell for a good while.
In order to keep momentum and to adjust the approaches that
aren't working, you need to put in place the final piece of the
jigsaw – a robust management system.
Like many things in the Client Breakthrough System, I advise
simplicity.
Firstly, you need to create plans to implement any “startup”
activities you need to do to get the system up and running.
For Lead Generation, these might be to investigate high potential networking events, or to create the material you need to do a
series of presentations or seminars. Or to update your website
and produce thought leadership for it.
For Lead Nurturing you might need to review your recent
contacts and create a high potential prospect nurturing list. Or to buy and set up an email marketing system.
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And for Selling, you may need to put thought into the structure of a typical initial sales meeting and the questions you;re going to
ask.
Create actions plans for each startup task. Then do them. Don’t
overcomplicate and aim to create perfection - just get some
basic processes up and running in each of the three areas.
Once these plans are underway and you’re beginning to
implement your Lead Generation, Lead Nurturing and Selling
processes you need to move into steady state management.
I recommend a simply weekly planning and review session,
focusing on:
1. Reviewing progress with your recent activities:
‣ Progress vs your action plans (e.g. have you developed
your seminar material? Have you run as many seminars as
planned? Did you get as many attendees as targeted? Was
the feedback good?)
‣ Progress vs Lead Generation targets (e.g. how many sales meetings have you booked?)
‣ Progress with Lead Nurturing (e.g. how many contacts did
you make with your A/B/C clients and prospects - and
what was the outcome?)
‣ Progress with Sales (e.g. how many sales meetings did you have? What was the outcome of the meetings? How much
business did you close?)
‣ Identifying any shortfalls and gaps in your pipeline - do you
need more lead generation? Or to convert more leads
into sales meetings?
2. Planning for the upcoming week’s activities:
‣ What are the key Lead Generation activities you need to
perform?
‣ Looking at your A/B/C clients and prospects and planning
in activities to nurture the relationships.
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‣ Confirming timing of sales meetings and planning in preparation time.
Rigorous implementation of this simple management system is
the key to the Client Breakthrough System. Even a weak initial
plan and faltering execution can be corrected by a good
management process.
But lacking that process, even the best start will come off the
rails.
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TIME FOR ACTION
We've concentrated so far on strategising and planning. But now
you need to take action.
As consulting guru Alan Weiss is fond of saying:
"Imperfect action beats perfect conceptualisation."
Your first step is to go through the system step by step and take
notes. Print it out and don't be afraid to scribble ideas in the
relevant sections.
Then sleep on it.
Come back to it a day or so later and review again. This time prioritise and highlight the areas you need to focus on.
Over the next few days I’ll be sending you a series of short
training videos going into some of the key areas in more detail.
If you follow the steps in this report and in the videos you'll be
up and running in a few weeks.
And you should be able to see a significant difference in your
business within a few months.
I promise you: implement this system and you will see results.
If you want to go faster, or you need someone to coach you
through setting up the system then I provide consulting and coaching services to help you and your business. You can read
more on the next page.
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WHO AM I, AND HOW CAN I HELP?
My name is Ian Brodie, and I specialise in helping consultants, coaches and other professionals to attract more clients and win
more new business.
For the last 16 years, I’ve been working with some of the world’s
leading corporations to help them with their marketing and sales
challenges. For the last 3 years I’ve focused exclusively on helping small and independent consultants, coaches and other
professionals.
I wrote the chapter on “Selling for Independent Professionals” in
the recent Amazon bestseller Mastering the World of Selling
(published by John Wiley).
And my website at www.ianbrodie.com was recently named as
one of the Resources of the Decade for professional services
marketing and sales by Raintoday.com.
If you’ve enjoyed this report and found it useful - then please
drop me an email - it’s always great to get feedback.
And if you feel you need a little more hands-on help
implementing the ideas you’ve
read, then do get in touch. I
provide face to face and
telephone coaching services to help consultants, coaches and
other professionals get more
clients - fast.
If you get in touch, we can have
a brief chat to see whether working together would be a good fit. There’ll be no pressure, and no hard sell. Just an exploration
of your needs.
You can call me in the UK on 0161 408 0984, email
[email protected] - or click here for details of my services.
Best of luck!
Questions? Feedback? Email me on [email protected] Ian Brodie