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The
Guerrilla Consultant -
a newsletter dedicated to applying the principles
of Guerrilla Marketing to the work and lives of
consultants.
Checking for Cracks
 By now, you may feel inundated by all the advice on resolutions for the New Year and how to set "breakout goals" for yourself and your business.
Tiresome as that can get, what better time to look back over the past year and decide what you'd like to do differently?
Instead of thinking about big changes you might make (which you've probably already done), I'd like to talk about small changes that can pay big dividends, no matter what time of year it is.
That's the subject of this month's newsletter.
Enjoy the article, and
let
me know what you think.
Michael
McLaughlin
Author, Winning the Professional Services Sale
Coauthor, Guerrilla Marketing for Consultants
Principal, MindShare Consulting LLC
Stay in Touch:
How's Your Foundation?
If you've ever bought or sold a house, you know that, as part of the deal, a home inspection will have to be done so buyers know what they're getting into.
The inspector assesses the foundation of the house, the walls, floors, plumbing, and so on. Then, you get a report on ways to shore up the place.
As you kick off the New Year, take some time for a structural inspection of your business. In many cases, you'll find that the key to better performance is in making small changes to how you do business, not in implementing some grand new strategy.
To find those opportunities, turn your attention to three parts of your business: your intellectual property (or content), your marketing approach, and your service offer.
What Are You Saying?
You've probably got a storehouse of content, including web site pages, articles, speeches, blog posts, white papers, and newsletters, which influence how clients view your ideas, qualifications, and your business.
| Like perishable goods, most of your content has an expiration date. |
Like perishable goods, most of your content has an expiration date. You don't have to look far to find consultants still using faddish business terms from the 1990s in their featured content. Your prospective clients deserve and demand better than that.
Given the importance of high-value content, check your storehouse and ask yourself these questions:
- How would a client rate the relevance, quality, and currency of your content?
- Does your content help solve specific problems? Does it advance new, interesting ideas? Does it show your mastery of the subject matter?
- Can you envision clients using the information to improve their businesses or change their way of thinking?
It's not easy to evaluate your own work objectively. After all, you wouldn't publish it if you thought it wasn't up to par. Still, what was good last year (or before) may no longer serve you or your clients.
So be tough in your assessments. Then decide what content needs to go, what can stay, and what new areas you need to explore to bring better ideas to clients.
If you want a fertile source for new content, look no further than your past year of client experiences. You've probably got lots of material for potential new articles, blog posts, speeches, special reports, or whatever other content you create.
Is Your Marketing Plan Up to the Task?
While your storehouse of content contains what you have to say to the market, your marketing plan guides how you say it and to whom you say it.
Reflect on last year's marketing program. Are you satisfied with the results? Specifically, did you generate leads for work with the clients you want? Given your level of effort, were you happy with how the market responded to your marketing?
If you answered no (or somewhat) to any of those questions, your marketing approach needs renovation.
Maybe you just need to pay more attention to marketing. Once you immerse yourself in client work, you can lose focus on marketing tasks. As clients soak up the bulk of your time and energy, marketing may fall to the bottom of your to-do list.
In that case, your goal is to make marketing a real priority. Remember, the longer you put off re-arranging your priorities, the harder it will be to regain your marketing momentum.
If you are actively marketing your business and still not getting results, the problem is either timing or targeting.
| If you are actively marketing your business and still not getting results, the problem is either timing or targeting. |
Sometimes, you have to be patient and wait for your marketing to take hold. We'd all like our efforts to pay off immediately, but it doesn't always work that way. Be patient. Your time will come.
On the other hand, if you've been toiling away on your marketing for a long time with little or nothing to show for it, you need to rethink how you're reaching your target market.
Maybe you need to be more precise about the markets you want to work in, the projects you want to do, and the people you want to work with. Some consultants' marketing is notoriously vague, which makes it difficult for clients to know what they really do.
To sharpen your focus and gain new opportunities, be clear about the four "Big Ws" of services marketing: Who, What, When, and Why. Who do you work with (or aim to)? What do you do for them? When do clients need your help? And Why do clients need you?
You Do What?
There's truth in the cliché that change is the only constant in the world. That definitely applies to the services you offer to clients--they must change with the times.
I'm not saying that you should throw out everything you do for clients and start over. But I am suggesting that you take a close look at how you present your services to the market. Is your service offer keeping pace with recent changes in our world?
| Can clients see the depth of your thinking in the description of your services? |
I recently read a technology consultant's service offer for helping clients "navigate the complex task of IT strategy development." The service description emphasized the process of strategic planning, which is the consultant's specialty.
But it didn't even mention how the planning process dealt with pressing issues like cloud computing, mobile applications, and social networks. The consultant had an opportunity to show relevant expertise in a service description, but didn't take it.
I'm sure that consultant is competent to confront these issues, but how's a prospective client to know?
As you discuss your services, do you show evidence that you make use of the best old and new strategies to deliver results? Can clients see the depth of your thinking in the description of your services?
For more details on the subject of your service offer, have a look at my article: A Service Offer Clients Can't Refuse.
I'm all for making strategic changes in how you run your business. And this is a good time to launch major initiatives. Sometimes, though, small changes in the foundation of content, marketing, and your service offer make the biggest difference.
When was the last time you checked your foundation?
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