If you read my earlier article, you know that to figure out how to get clients, you need to choose a niche–otherwise, you’ll lose credibility and won’t be found by prospects who are looking for the services you can provide. However, once you’ve identified a consulting niche, you need to go further to narrow down your ideal client.

How does understanding your ideal client help you understand how to get clients in general?

Just to be clear, when I say “ideal client,” I’m referring to an imaginary client–not necessarily one of your current clients.

Understanding your niche is a huge part of the foundation of your consulting business, but without deeply understanding who your ideal client is:

• You won’t have the specific focus that will make your marketing easier. 
• You won’t be able to automate your marketing so that clients come to you instead of you having to seek them out.
• You’ll have far more difficulty converting prospects to clients.
• You’ll waste hours, days, weeks–even years–chasing the wrong kinds of clients.

An example

Say you’re an IT consultant who specializes in network security (controlling access to networks, managing user permissions, limiting the flow of data to/from outside a network, etc.).

Most businesses have proprietary information and data that they want to protect. And, of course, though they might want employees and/or contractors to have access to digital resources, a business generally wants to make sure that only the right people have access to what they need for their job function.

After all, you don’t want to be take the fall if someone gets access to sensitive information, then leaks it to the press, your competitors–or leaks it to the world.

Anywho, in building your consulting business, maybe you’ve decided to focus on biotech firms, since proprietary data is one of their biggest assets.

So biotech firms might be your niche (that’s still a bit too general, but it’s a start).

But here’s where you need to get even more specific.

Maybe you want to focus on local biotech firms in your city, and think that the sweet spot for your services is with small, growing firms that realize the value of their proprietary data, but haven’t taken sufficient measures to protect that data. Maybe they’re too busy with R&D, marketing, forming partnerships, etc.

But having a big security hole is keeping them up at night–especially with all the recent news of current/former employees/contractors leaking sensitive information.

Maybe these are biotech firms that:

• Have technical founders who developed proprietary technology or processes, and are still mired in much of the technical work of product development, etc.
• Are concerned that by not having appropriate network security, the future of their company is in jeopardy.
• Have no in-house expertise to address the problem.
• Have outside funding, and therefore have a budget to spend on beefing up their security infrastructure.
• Have higher-than-average employee turnover.
• Have been undergoing lots of hiring, or management changes, or their employee morale is shaky from the company’s rapid growth. Those employee-related factors could increase the risk that a current or former employee could leak, share, or take advantage of proprietary information.
• Have founders who don’t want to be concerned with the details of how the problem gets fixed–they just want the problem solved.

See where this takes you?

Now you have a much more specific picture of your ideal client.

This doesn’t mean that ALL your clients will look exactly like this, but your ideal client is the one you’ll target.

And once you have a clearer, concrete picture of your ideal client, that profile will lead you to the types of questions you’ll ask prospects, where you’ll look for prospects, and virtually everything else you need to do for how to get clients.

Right now

Even if you don’t have any clue who your ideal client is, post it in the comments, tweet it, or e-mail me.

There’s no shame in not having an ideal client profile–knowing where you need to take action is one of the best steps you can take.

And if you DO have a general or specific idea of your ideal client, go ahead and post it in the comments, tweet it, or e-mail me.

Start My Consulting Business

Judging from the e-mails you sent, it was painfully clear that you’re struggling with how to get clients. People who e-mailed said that on a scale of 1 to 10 (10 meaning that getting clients is a huge problem for them), they were between 8 – 10. So, yes, getting clients and consulting work is a huge problem.

Let’s get right to it: one of the primary reasons that most people struggle getting clients and getting consulting work is that they haven’t identified a niche.

“Wait, but I’ve already done that–I know what I offer and who I’m targeting,” you might be saying.

Let me explain. If you don’t currently have a consistent flow of clients and consulting work, then you’re doing something wrong.

Even if you THINK you’ve identified your niche, chances are high that you’re making one or more of the following mistakes:

• You mistakenly think your skills are a niche. (A niche is actually about a MARKET).
• You haven’t sufficiently narrowed your niche.
• You haven’t researched your niche to know what your prospects care most about.
• You haven’t researched your niche to know if your prospects are BOTH willing AND able to pay for your services.

Has this happened to you?

• You call/e-mail/meet with a prospect, tell them about your services, and they say some variation of: “Not interested”, “Not for me”, “Get lost”.
• You ramp up your efforts, and make more calls, send more e-mails, schedule more meetings with prospects, but STILL have no clients and no consulting work.
• You send e-mails to prospects, and never hear back.
• You’ve built a website to promote yourself, but have no visitors, and no one calls you or fills out your Contact form.
• No one sees the value of your skills and experience.
• Or, you have no idea how to find prospects.

Whatever the case, you can’t seem to land any clients and don’t have any consulting projects. You haven’t cracked the code on how to get clients.

You feel stuck, discouraged, and maybe even ready to give up.

Generally, if any of the above has happened, the first place you should investigate is your niche. I’ve talked about what a niche is here and here and why a niche is important, so I won’t go into that at the moment.

But think about this: if you needed knee surgery, what would you do? Look for a general surgeon or a knee surgeon? Of course, you’re going to want a knee surgeon, not just any surgeon–or heaven forbid, a tree surgeon.

Your prospects are the same way. If you’re targeting a niche that’s too general, or not specific enough, you’re not going after people who care most about how you can help.

What you can do

First, remember, a niche is NOT about your skills. A niche is a market. And for consulting, a niche is people who are looking for something: answers to a question, a solution to a problem.

In real estate, the saying is that there are only 3 things that matter: location, location, and location.

For your niche, think: market, market, market.

For the moment, you may even want to ignore your skills and expertise, since in many cases, your skills and expertise can probably be used in many market niches.

To go even further on this point, you likely have a broader skillset than you realize. To use myself as an example, my main technical skills are in SQL and VBA programming. However, I also have skills in marketing, writing, product development, education & training, and behavior change. Those skills can be applied to a much wider variety of niches than the one I’m currently focused on (my current niche is small and mid-sized law firms which use a specific enterprise software product). Even within my niche, I can use my other skills to solve a much wider range of problems for my clients than my typical software/technical projects.

So, instead of focusing on your skills, identify a niche market where your skills & expertise might be valuable. Here, you want to think NOT about WHAT you can do, but WHO cares about the kinds of problems you can solve?

An example

Let’s get specific. Say you’ve been working in human resources for several years, and want to start consulting. So, you create a website where you detail your experience and skills, and offer your services–maybe review hiring practices, rewrite employee handbooks, create benefits packages, etc.

Nobody calls.

So you do some research on companies in your city similar to where you used to work, and call or e-mail them to let them know your an HR consultant and what you offer.

No one cares.

What next?

Well, forget feeling discouraged and frustrated. You haven’t yet identified your niche. You’ve been focused on your skills instead of a market.

You can do this. Changing your strategy will give you different results.

Instead, you start thinking about what kinds of problems you can solve.

From your work experience, you know that for companies to grow, they need to hire, train, manage, and retain good people–and that all takes time. In addition, most people don’t know how to recruit good talent and/or people with a great work ethic. Managers typically don’t know how to manage. Owners and managers don’t know how to keep people motivated and retain their top performers (as an HR person, you know that giving bonuses and raises don’t help much to retain top employees or boost performance).

See what’s happening?

Instead of thinking about your skills, you’re now thinking about the value you can provide.

That mindset is a fundamentally important shift, since it moves you away from commoditizing your services.

For example, rewriting the employee handbook–as you’ve already found–is something that nobody cares about. And even if they do need it, they could have it done by someone in-house, or from ODesk, Craigslist, etc.

Not exactly top-dollar work.

But what if you could help companies find and keep top performers? That’s something that lots of companies want–and something that they’d be willing to invest a lot to get.

The next piece is figuring out what kinds of organizations have the kinds of problems you can solve.

Will you only look in your local market, or should you look outside your city/state/country? What size organizations? Are they service- or product-based companies? What industry are they in? What’s market niche are they in? What sets them apart from others in their industry or market niche?

Instead of a broad, shotgun approach, you narrow your focus.

This doesn’t mean you’ll be stuck in a particular niche forever; it just means you need to get specific to reach the people who care about what problems you can solve.

Maybe you decide to focus on professional services organizations, since skilled people are the heart of any service organization. For example, you could focus on:

• audit and tax consulting firms
• IT security firms
• funeral homes
• cosmetic surgery clinics
• interior design firms
• outpatient physical/occupational rehabilitation clinics
• corporate event planning firms
• university/college development and fundraising

The list goes on. You don’t need to target everyone in the world, but by applying some filters, you can decide which market niches might be good potential fits for you.

Maybe you want to focus only on employee retention. In that case, look for niches that have high employee turnover and where the revenue per employee is high or the cost to hire & train new employees is high.

Or maybe you want to focus on improving morale and motivating for top performance. In that case, maybe you’d want to focus on companies who’ve undergone transitions, acquisitions, new management/ownership, or a slump in sales which is counter to their industry.

Now you’re starting to get much more specific–and when you get to the point of reaching out to those specific prospects, you’ll have a much more specific problem that you can help them with.

Remember, this is just a piece of the puzzle in figuring out how to get clients.

The next articles will go into more detail on other mistakes and what you can do.

What you can do this moment

Overwhelmed? Don’t worry. Start from where you’re at, and adjust, learn, and repeat. You’ll get there.

For right now, comment, tweet, or e-mail me what your niche is.

I’ll choose at least 1 person to use as an example so we can get you more specific. (Don’t worry, I won’t use your name if you don’t want).

Stay tuned

Oh, and stay tuned for my next article, where I’ll talk about the next common mistake people could be preventing you from getting consulting clients.

Start My Consulting Business

I get a lot of e-mails from blog readers, and by far, the most common question people ask is how to get clients. If you’re just starting out, or have been consulting for a while, virtually everyone struggles with how to get clients.

Here are just a few recent e-mails I’ve received where people have asked for help on exactly how to get clients:

What do these people have in common?

If you’re like 99% of the people who read this blog, chances are high that–like the readers above–you’ve struggled to get clients. (As for the 1% who have enough clients and know how to get more–congratulations, you can focus on other things like maximizing and automating your revenue; I’ll save those topics for future posts).

If you’re anything like the readers above:

• you’ve got marketable skills and expertise,
• but have been frustrated because, despite all your hard work and best efforts, you still can’t get clients.

Maybe you’re struggling to get your first client.

Or maybe you’re struggling to build your “orchard” of clients so your consulting business can grow to the point where you can quit your day job and be fully self-employed.

Either way, you’re struggling, and are probably frustrated, disappointed, and discouraged because you haven’t been getting many–or ANY–clients despite all the time and effort you’ve spent.

But don’t fear: help is on the way

That’s why, over the next several articles, I’m going to focus on something you’ve been telling me you’ve struggled with for a long time: getting clients.

Yes, I’ve:

• written about it before,
• discussed it during my webinars, and
• covered it in my courses, but

I’m going to revisit the topic because not only is it such a pervasive problem, but because there’s a lot involved in getting clients.

Over the next several articles, I’m going to cover some of the main reasons why you struggle to get consulting clients. Along the way, I’ll give examples of concrete things you can do to get out of the slump and get yourself un-stuck.

Because, after all, without clients, you have no business.

And once you’ve actually got clients, THAT’S when you begin creating MASSIVE changes in your life–like quitting your day job.

So, with that said, watch for my next post where I’ll talk about what’s probably the most common reason that prevents you from getting clients.

For now

In the meantime, I want you to take 2 seconds and either comment below or e-mail me how much difficulty you’re having getting clients.

So, on a scale of 1 to 10 (10 meaning you’re extremely challenged & frustrated, 1 meaning you’ve got it all figured out), how much difficulty and frustration are you having getting clients?

Start My Consulting Business

Start My Consulting Business - Ditch your day job. Make things happen. Change your life.

Yes, it’s Monday. Whether you have a day job or work for yourself, it’s the beginning of the week. If you have a day job though, it’s likely the beginning of a long slog through the week, waiting for the weekend, then only to start the cycle again next week.

Week in, week out. Over and over.

But through your Mondays, you keep wanting something to change. You keep dreaming of how you’d like your life to be different.

Here’s where it gets embarrassing

My daughter’s a big fan of Taylor Swift. And, yes, I like Taylor Swift too. You listen to something enough times, and it starts to grow on you. For some reason, my taste in music is fairly eclectic–and here’s the embarrassing part–including Taylor Swift, Britney Spears, will.i.am, The White Stipes, Led Zeppelin, Albert King, Frank Zappa, Adele, The Clash, ELO, The Beatles, King Crimson, James Brown, and Christina Aguilera.

So what does that have to do with consulting?

Well, I took my daughter to lunch at a cafe last week, and we happened to see an old Marie Claire magazine there with Taylor Swift on the cover. On the cover, Taylor Swift was quoted, saying, “I’m always thinking three award shows ahead.”

Now, my first reaction was that that sounded a bit pompous–as if she just expects to get awards for whatever she decides to do. But after a couple more bites of guacamole, I had a different take, and here’s where things get interesting.

She’s thinking beyond the present.

Which brings me to my next point:

Just doin’ my time

Way back when I was in college, I worked for 2 summers at Chrysler in their computer data library. This was back in the old days when actual living human beings–like me–had to put tapes in tape drives, swap them out, file them back in the library, and repeat for 8 hours.

I did this for 2 summers, since the money was good, it was air-conditioned, and was way easier than another summer job I had, doing construction, hauling lumber in the hot sun, getting constantly yelled at by the foreman, and getting a nail-puller (accidentally) dropped on my head. If you haven’t had a nail-puller dropped on your head, imagine having a hammer dropped on your head, and you get the idea.

So, yes, the mind-numbing tedium of the data library was a step up.

But what was interesting was that at both jobs, the grown-ups who I worked with were “lifers.” That is, that wasn’t just their summer job, it was their career. Day in, day out, week after week, for years. Some of the people in the data library had been there for literally 20 years. 20 fucking years.

Now, if you’ve never been to prison–and I hope you haven’t–you might not know what a lifer is: it’s someone who’s doing a life sentence. That’s what they called themselves at the data library.

And every day, when I went in to work at the data library, when I’d ask how they were doing, they’d say, “Just doin’ my time.” Yep, like prisoners scratching hash marks onto the concrete wall to mark off their days, until…?

How many more Mondays?

Are you just doin’ time?

Are you a lifer at your job or your career?

Are you just looking for the weekend, then repeating the grueling tedium all over again, yet desperately craving for something more?

Or are you channeling your inner Taylor Swift, and thinking beyond the present?

Are you thinking beyond this week, to next month, or the next 3 or 6 or 12 months?

Where do you want to be in even just 3 months?

Do you want more of the same, or are you ready to make a change?

If you’re not satisfied with where you’re at, something has to change. If you want things to change, you need to do something about it.

Taking action can be a bit scary. You’re entering the unknown. You’re going to be challenged. You’ll face new things that might make you question yourself.

But when you take the first step toward your dreams, you’re investing in a better future. You’re creating that future beginning with that first step.

Yes, it’s really easy to say that you’ll have time later. But putting things off won’t get them done. The future you’ve been dreaming of gets postponed–sometimes forever.

But taking that first step, no matter how tiny it is, gets you moving, and begins creating the changes you’ve wanted.

What will your next step be?

You keep hearing about Breakthrough Consulting, about how it’s built on proven strategies, tactics, and techniques used by myself and other 6-figure consultants to build our businesses.

You’ve heard the kinds of results people who’ve worked with me have gotten.

And now it’s time to make a decision.

Breakthrough Consulting is only open until tomorrow (4/23/2013) at midnight Eastern time. If you haven’t enrolled by then, you’ll have to wait until the next time it re-opens (and last time it was open was 6 months ago).

Are you just doin’ time? Or will you take the next step to take your consulting business to the next level–one that will literally transform your life?

If you’re ready, click here to enroll in Breakthrough Consulting.

Real readers’ results

“Using Greg’s approach, I probably saved thousands of dollars and months of effort and frustration. Using Greg’s market research approach, I was able to define a high profit niche market. I called up a few prospects and was able confirmed that they needed such services. Thanks to Greg’s guidance, I got validation that the idea would work. Using Greg’s script was one of the most effective steps in generating more clients. I emailed about 2-3 prospects per night and I am amazed that after just two weeks, I have a request for a proposal, 2 prospects are having me review at their master service agreement I also have 3 more scheduled discussions next week!” –Doug Lee

“You dispelled the idea that specializing restricts your opportunities. I’ve identified a niche I’m passionate about and am taking steps to pursue it. –Joe Wilson, VolareSystems.com

“I was presented with an opportunity to try out my new increased pricing structure based on your suggestion. I presented what I could do for them and the cost, (2 times the amount I used to charge) and they responded with a check (monthly reoccurring). So what more can I say, but thank you for showing me how to not underestimate my experience but use it to my benefit and not sell myself short just to win a client.” –Kenmon P.

“Now, I’m having meetings with clients, instead of staying stuck reading and researching. It saved me A TON of time and money.” –Mina B.

Ready?

Then join Breakthrough Consulting.

Start My Consulting Business

Judging from all the e-mails I received from my last post (19 Questions that will change you consulting business–and your life), I struck a nerve. Before I list the questions that many of you cited as being squirm-worthy, I want to point out that, yes, I wanted to make you squirm.

See, unless you’re uncomfortable, you won’t change.

Until you’re REALLY uncomfortable, you’ll stay stuck in the same rut–even if that rut happens to be truly awful.

Why? Because what we know can seem safer than the unknown. Think about that for a second. What we’re used to–even if it makes us feel horrible–seems preferable to something that’s unfamiliar even though the unfamiliar could end up being far better than our current (horrible) rut.

To quote Einstein: “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”

The things that made you squirm

Here’s a list of the top questions many of you said hit a nerve:

• Have you been procrastinating taking action to start or grow your consulting business?
• Do you question whether you can succeed?
• Are you afraid you might not be able to earn enough consulting to replace your day-job salary?
• Have you been stuck thinking that you need to learn more before you can start?
• Are you afraid you can’t compete with larger, more established consulting companies?

Before I go any further, take a moment to take a look at WHAT you feel when you ask yourself one of the questions above.

What did you feel?

• Scared?
• Anxious?
• Worried?
• Frustrated?
• Confused?

What it takes to change

I’ve heard it said that you won’t change until the pain of your current situation is greater than your fear of the unknown. Here’s a quick breakdown of some specific things you can do to change:

• change your thoughts and mindset
• change your behavior
• choose 1 small, easy task to start with
• focus on what it takes to get clients (instead of focusing on busywork)
• put your fears in perspective: are they accurate and realistic?
• find a mentor who knows what you’re trying to do, has been there, and can guide you (this is probably the most powerful of the options I’ve listed)

I could go into a lot of detail on exactly HOW to implement those tactics–and I actually do go into very specific detail for each of those tactics in Breakthrough Consulting–but suffice to say that change can be hard.

What do you need to create the change you want?

A huge number of you said that knowing how to find, engage, and convert prospects to clients would help create the kind of consulting business that brings in extra cash, builds financial security, and lets you escape from your day job. Having a system you use that consistently brings in clients and a consistent flow of consulting work is the foundation for a successful consulting business that will change your life.

Yes, I do talk about consulting rates, income, revenue, and money on this blog, but remember that money is simply the means for creating more freedom and having more choices in your life. Having more freedom lets you transform your life into what you want it to be.

Recall how you felt when you asked yourself those questions. Uncomfortable, wasn’t it? So do something to change–it’s within your power.

Here’s your next easy step

If you’re truly serious about consulting, you owe it to yourself to find out specifically how to find clients and create a reliable flow of clients and consulting work–that’s the foundation of your business. This Tuesday, 4/16/2013, I’ll be conducting a free webinar on exactly that: How to find, engage, and convert prospects to clients. Click the link below to register:

https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/2453536357705993472

P.S. Again, this is a completely free webinar. Yes, I’ll do a short pitch at the end for Breakthrough Consulting, which also opens Tuesday, but 90% of the webinar will be focused on extremely high-value content, and specific strategies and tactics you can start implementing immediately.

I’ve said it before, but the value of even a single client is huge–potentially $5,000, $10,000, or even over $100,000 (yes, I have several clients who’ve paid me over $100k).

I guarantee this will be one of the most valuable hours you’ll ever spend. There’s a limit on how many people can attend, so register now to secure your spot for the free webinar: 

https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/2453536357705993472

Start My Consulting Business

You’re here because you want to start and grow a profitable consulting business that will change your life. Maybe you want to:

• quit your crappy job
• earn more money
• have more freedom and flexibility
• spend more time with your kids
• work for yourself
• create a more consistent flow of consulting work
• have more financial security

Whatever the case, you’ve been struggling, and aren’t quite where you want to be. Below, I’ve listed 19 questions to ask yourself.

But, instead of just skimming the questions, then doing nothing, I’d like you do to something different–something that’s intended to make it more likely you’ll take action toward your goals.

So instead of just skimming through them, choose the 1, 2, or 3 questions that resonate the most with you.

Choose the questions that make you the most uncomfortable

Here they are:

• Are you achieving your goals?
• Have you been spending more time reading and thinking, and not enough time taking action?
• Are you worried your consulting business isn’t viable?
• Do you have enough clients to give you a full-time income?
• Could you quit your job right now and live off your consulting income?
• Are you struggling to reach prospects?
• When you talk to prospects, do you have a hard time converting them to clients and getting consulting projects?
• Are you taking steps–or do you even know what steps to take–to raise your rate and boost your income?
• Do you have a system to provide a consistent flow of clients and consulting work?
• Have you been procrastinating taking action to start or grow your consulting business?
• Do you question whether you can succeed?
• Are you unsure–or afraid–of how to approach prospects?
• Are you concerned that you might be offering something that no one wants?
• Are you afraid you might not be able to earn enough consulting to replace your day-job salary?
• Do you know what you need to do–but have been putting off taking action?
• Have you been stuck thinking that you need to learn more before you can start?
• Are you worried you’ll make costly mistakes?
• Have you been taking action but getting no results?
• Are you afraid you can’t compete with larger, more established consulting companies?

If any of those questions strike a nerve with you, think about why that might be.

E-mail me or comment below which questions make you squirm

Now–and I mean right now–either e-mail me or comment below which questions make you squirm. If there’s another question that makes you squirm even more that I haven’t listed, put that in your e-mail or comment. (I read every single comment & e-mail).

Done? (Seriously, if you haven’t done it, just take 5 seconds to do it now).

OK, now that you’re back, the next step is to ask yourself:

• Why did this question make me uncomfortable?
• What am I afraid of?
• What’s been holding me back?
• What is it I need that could help me get past being stuck?

Go ahead and add your answer to your e-mail or comment. If you want, feel free to take the next day or 3 to mull over a couple of those questions.

I’ve got a couple announcements scheduled for next week about some things that will help you get past your roadblocks, so stay tuned.

And if you haven’t e-mailed or commented, please (pretty please) do it now (I really do read every single comment & e-mail).

Start My Consulting Business

When I first started my consulting business, I knew I needed to call prospective clients, but I kept putting it off. Each day, I’d put the same to-do on my list (“call prospective clients”), and each day, I wouldn’t do it. Instead, I’d feel stressed about it, overwhelmed about not knowing how to go about it, and anxiety over what to say when–if–I actually made the calls. At the end of each day, I’d feel guilty for not doing the task, and frustrated with myself and my procrastination.

And yet I knew that I’d have to talk to clients to get my business off the ground. I knew that this task would move me forward. And I still couldn’t bring myself to do it.

Now, we all have these kinds of tasks–things that we KNOW are good for us but we put them off just the same. It could be something like cleaning the garage or scheduling that colonoscopy.

But when you’re procrastinating something for your business, you’re sabotaging yourself. You’re putting off how soon people will be paying you money. You’re derailing your progress.

You’re postponing your dreams.

What are you procrastinating?

OK, maybe you’re the exception–though I doubt it. Maybe you’ve never procrastinated anything. If that describes you, then you’re superhuman–or lying to yourself.

It’s actually good to realize and admit that you’re procrastinating. Knowing your weaknesses is the first step toward change.

So, when did you last notice you were putting something off?

What “should” you have accomplished, but haven’t–even though you know that doing it will move you forward?

What if there was a way to virtually guarantee you’ll do the things that’ll move you forward?

Imagine the changes you could create in your life if you stopped procrastinating.

What if you stopped procrastinating in your consulting business?

What if you got those tough tasks done?

What results would you get?

• Would you start getting clients–or more clients (if you already have some)?
• Would you be able to raise your rates?
• Would clients start coming to you instead of you spending time seeking them out?
• Would you start earning enough through consulting to replace your day-job salary?

Well, there is a way–several, actually. I’ve found several tactics to virtually guarantee you’ll get those tough tasks done.

In this post, I’ll share one of those tactics.

By the way, this is just one of the tactics I cover in one of the modules in Breakthrough Consulting. I’m sharing it here to help move you forward, and to give you a taste of what’s in Breakthrough Consulting, which I’ll be re-opening in a couple short weeks.

How the Motivation Chaining Method helps you overcome procrastination

To illustrate the Motivation Chaining Method and why it’s so effective in overcoming procrastination, I’ll give an example.

Imagine you want to start an exercise program, say, running every day. Now, if you just try to use raw willpower to motivate yourself to go out and run every day, you might be able to do it for a few days or a week. But what happens over time is that you burn through your willpower, and pretty soon, you’ll end up falling off the wagon, no longer running or having any motivation to stick with your exercise program.

You’ve burned through all your willpower.

But what if you built up your motivational momentum so that you had enough inertia to almost make the big task–running each day–relatively easy? That’s essentially what the Motivation Chaining Method does.

The tactic boils down to this: break down your tough task into tiny, easy-to-do pieces, then focus ONLY on the next piece at any time.

What it looks like in practice

Keeping with our daily running example, you might break down the big task–going for a run–into small, very easy tasks, like:

• get off the couch
• put your running shoes on
• step outside
• walk a couple houses down the street
• jog for 10 seconds

Each of those steps by itself is easy. But when you chain them together, you’ve accomplished your hard task.

Stop procrastination with Motivation Chaining: break tough tasks into tiny pieces, & focus ONLY on the next step. [Click to tweet]

Let’s look at another example: calling consulting prospects. On its own, that can be a pretty daunting task. Let’s break it down:

• pick just 1 prospect from your list
• take 30 seconds to review your phone calling script
• take 30 seconds to visualize yourself calling the prospect and having a good conversation with them
• marvel at how great you feel after the call is done
• dial the prospect’s phone number

You’ll notice that there’s some pre-planning and preparation you’ll need to do prior to this chain (e.g., creating a list of prospects, drafting a calling script, etc.); if you need to, you can break down each of those pre-planning steps into their own chains.

Depending on your work style, you can create your own chain for calling consulting prospects or any other procrastinated task.

Tricks to boost your success

Besides the basic method I’ve outlined above, the following will increase your chances of success even further:

• Focus ONLY on the next step–forget about the end goal for the moment. Remind yourself how ridiculously easy that next step is. You can do this. To help you stay even more focused on your next step, you can write each step out on a separate note card; a different note card for each step lets you focus more easily on just a single step at a time.
• Marvel at what you’ve accomplished; in other words, stop for a few seconds and mentally pat yourself on the back for doing each step. This will highlight your success and will bolster your confidence that you can achieve your goal. Marveling at your accomplishments uses the psychological principles of priming and self-efficacy to further increase the likelihood you’ll succeed.
• Remind yourself how good you feel about taking action. That positive feeling gives you immediate reinforcement.

Instead of relying on raw willpower to force yourself past procrastinating, break that tough task into pieces, and just start by doing the first easy piece. Essentially, you chain several small efforts into a big win.

Breakthrough Consulting will be re-opening

The Motivation Chaining Method is just one technique I teach in the 10 weeks of Breakthrough Consulting, my premium course. I’ll be sending out more info on Breakthrough Consulting and the new bonus material I’ve added to it: interviews with successful consultants on a range of specific topics.

If you found this useful, sign up now to make sure you don’t miss out.

Start My Consulting Business

One of the things I emphasize on this blog is the benefit of experimentation. Without experimenting, I wouldn’t have been able to do things like raise my consulting rates over the years, or tap into new marketing channels which have brought me some of my biggest clients. Experimentation is one of the best ways to learn and to grow your consulting business.

Over the years, I’ve steadily increased my hourly rate so that I’m near the ceiling for what I can charge per hour in my niche.

Not bad, but I’ve started to see a little pushback from some clients who are more budget-conscious.

That’s OK, since I’d rather focus on clients who see the value in investing in services that will produce exceptional value for them.

While it’s been great to have increased my rate 7-10% every year, I wanted to see if I could boost my rate more than that, with the goal being that I’d be able to earn more while working a bit less–and still give exceptional value to my clients.

So, while in past years I’ve raised my rate incrementally, this year was different, and the results so far have been a breakthrough.

To raise my hourly consulting rate in past years, I’d send an e-mail to my clients thanking them for their continued business, and gently announcing my new rates, which would be about a 7-10% increase.  For new clients, I’d simply quote a higher hourly rate, testing out a price ceiling, and seeing if I met any resistance on price.

(For those of you who might be thinking of getting more business by LOWERING your consulting rate, keep in mind that competing on price alone is a losing strategy).

What I did (the short version)

In January, I got a call from the IT consultant for a law firm who had already talked to a few other consultants in my niche. We talked in general terms about a few projects the client wanted, and apparently, they liked what I had to say, since they scheduled a follow-up meeting with me to discuss further details.

That led to a few more conversations with the client, on up to the managing partner of the firm, where I discussed the project objectives, focusing on the specific value they’d get. I sent the managing partner a proposal with 3 options for services, and within a few days, he sent me the signed proposal. Since this was the first time I’d worked with the client, they chose the option with the lowest price point.

I did the work, and ended up boosting my hourly rate by 70% (the project price was $4,750, and I worked about 16 hours on it).

What did I do to boost my consulting rate 70%?

There were a number of things I did differently compared to how I’d scoped projects and written proposals in the past. The main difference was that I realized that clients don’t care about what’s involved in a project–they only care about the end result.

With that in mind, I didn’t bother detailing the specific tasks I’d do and how many hours each task would take. Instead, I emphasized the value the client would get from what I delivered.

First, when I discussed the project with the client, instead of focusing completely on the specs for the deliverable they wanted–which is what I used to do–I focused much more on learning about their overall objectives. What did they want to achieve? What were their goals? Once I knew that, figuring out the specs for the deliverable were pretty easy.

More importantly, once I knew their objectives and what they were trying to achieve, I was able to quantify the value of the deliverable.

Specifically, they wanted an automated report that allowed them to pull up and analyze information for groups of their clients. They wanted a tool that would give them profitability measures for their firm, and that they could use to demonstrate their effectiveness to potential clients.

In other words, they needed a tool that would help them:

• increase their revenue (through more effective marketing), and
• improve their efficiency.

This wasn’t some nice-to-have doodad. It would directly add to their bottom line.

Being able to point that out in a clear way in my discussions–and proposal–made it a much easier sell, and allowed me to price my services far higher than simply doing and hours-times-rate quote.

How is this different from a flat-rate proposal?

A flat-rate proposal is a bit similar, but flat-rate projects aren’t based on the value the client gets. Flat-rate pricing is based on your time + materials (if any).

If I did this as a flat-rate proposal, I would’ve estimated my hours to complete the project, padded slightly for a fudge factor, and capped the project cost.

Instead, I used some rough calculations of what the value was for each of their clients, and used that in my proposal narrative to show how even boosting their efficiency or marketing by small amounts would return the investment in my services several times over.

Yes, I did estimate how many hours the project would take, and partially base my pricing from that estimate, but I didn’t present the hours estimate to the client. My hours didn’t matter. What mattered was the value the client was going to receive.

Isn’t this like a revenue-sharing arrangement?

Not at all. A revenue-sharing arrangement would’ve been me taking a cut of any extra business the client generated as a result of my services.

There are times where that makes sense, but for most consulting projects, value-based pricing like I did was a better way to go. Revenue-sharing arrangements require you to trust, quantify, and verify the results the client gets from your services. In addition, revenue-sharing arrangements typically require the client to implement recommendations you make–which may or may not happen; if the client doesn’t do what you’ve recommended, they may not see results, and you won’t get any revenue.

Some takeaways

A few things to note:

• Asking about higher-level objectives and goals often allows you to connect directly with the top decision-makers–who will ultimately be signing off on the project. Mid-level employees often won’t be able to answer more detailed questions about objectives, so you’ll have an easier time getting in front of top decision-makers.
• Discuss the value and options thoroughly before writing and delivering the proposal. Your proposal should just confirm what you’ve discussed with the client. Most of the selling (where you discuss the objectives and the value) is done before the client receives your proposal.
• Quantifying the results of your work re-frames your services from a cost to an investment. In your client’s mind, it’s a much easier decision to invest, say, $10 to get $100, than it is to pay someone $300/hour.
• Keep in mind, this isn’t just about charging more–it’s about highlighting the exceptional value your client will receive from your services.
• On a similar note: earning more is nice, but earning more while working less is even better, since it means you have more discretionary time to spend time with your family, volunteer, and pursue the other things you value in life.

What you can do

• When discussing the project, focus on their objectives and goals.
• Instead of a task and hours breakdown, the proposal should list a bullet-pointed narrative outlining the value the client will receive, and options for achieving their objectives.
• Instead of listing a single deliverable, give the client 3 options, each of which has more value; prices for each option increase according to the value to the client.

Your turn

Have you tried value-based pricing?

How did it work for you?

How did you quantify the value of your services?

How did it affect your effective hourly consulting rate? Did you earn more, less, or about the same?

Start My Consulting Business

If you’re just starting out consulting, going from your salaried rate of, say, $30/hour, to a consulting rate of $60/hour–or even $80/hour or $125/hour–usually seems crazy and unrealistic.

If you’ve been consulting for a while, doubling your consulting rate may still seem insane–you don’t want to lose clients and/or business.

After all, if the price of, say, a loaf of bread doubled, would you still pay that much for it? Or would you switch to something else? Tortillas? Pita bread? Matzoh? Naan? Arepa? Would you give up bread completely?

Now, what if the price of WATER doubled?

Most of us could easily figure out substitutes for bread, but for something as essential as water, there are fewer substitutes. Most of us would just have to cut way back on our use. (Of course, the other alternative would be to simply pay more, and either shift our budget around or make more money to pay the increased cost).

Ideally, you want your consulting services to be essential to your clients–like clean drinking water.

But, for most of us, our clients CAN go without our consulting services. They’d find alternatives and substitutes.

Yes, I guarantee there’s a tortilla or a pita version of you out there that your clients could use. Maybe they’d just switch to some other starchy alternative, like rice, potatoes, or corn.

Either way, there’s a consequence for you, my gluten-y consulting friend.

Of course, you could branch out and start being not just the tortilla, but the tortilla chip, the taco shell, the tostada for your clients–just at a higher price. But I digress…

So what do you think: Is it realistic to double your consulting rate?

If not, how much do you think you could raise your rates today?

If you think you could actually double your rates, how would you do it?

What would the consequences be for raising your consulting rate in your niche?

Start My Consulting Business

How birds migrate and navigate over vast distances has long puzzled scientists. How do birds know what direction to fly? Even in the dark, under cloudy skies? (And what does this have to do with business assumptions? I’ll get to that in a minute…)

A few years ago, a trio of researchers tried to answer those questions, since they already knew that birds could use the Earth’s magnetic field.

But there’s a funny thing about the Earth’s magnetic field: the direction that a compass points “north” changes depending on where you are on the planet. To complicate things even further, the direction of magnetic north changes over time.

For example, if you take a look at the map below, you can see that if you’re in, say, Iowa shucking corn, your compass would point directly north. But, if you were salmon fishing in Juneau, Alaska, your compass would point about 20 degrees east from true north.

Huh?!

You might think that 20 degrees off isn’t a big deal. If you were looking at a clock, 20 degrees is only 3 1/2 minutes according to the long hand on the clock. But if you’re traveling thousands of miles, that slight change in direction means you’ll end up hundreds of miles off course.

Yes, it’s complicated, even for humans who have invented compasses and math and can calculate the declination between the magnetic north pole and the geographic north pole. It makes my head hurt.

So what about those birds?

Anywho, these bird researchers wanted to find out how migrating songbirds figured out which direction was north, even when flying through areas where the Earth’s magnetic field changed direction. (Of course, if you were a bird on Mars, this whole subject would be irrelevant–since Mars has no magnetic field). So, the researchers exposed the birds to east-pointing magnetic fields, and turned them loose.

What happened?

It turned out that the birds flew directly west instead of north, flying as far as 700 miles out of their way.

Fortunately–for the scientists–the birds were exhausted from flying so damn far, otherwise they’d have gone all Hitchcock on the researchers.

OK.

So maybe that gives me a nice story to tell at a cocktail party–and look like a total geek, since no one really cares about magnetic declination, except maybe airline pilots.

But what do migrating birds have to do with consulting?

Well, as it turns out, quite a lot.

You aren’t a bird, but just like the birds in that study, you take action based on your business assumptions.

Without verifying your business assumptions, you end up headed in the wrong direction. In the birds’ case, nearly 700 miles off course.

Now, imagine you’re spending time and money headed in the wrong direction:

People will gladly pay to make their problems go away.

Unless, of course, your prospects and/or market has no money and/or won’t part with any money they do have. But again, that’s something you can find out pretty easily: ask how much time and money they’ve thrown at their biggest problems–that’ll let you gauge whether they’re willing to invest in making those problems go away.

If you’ve talked to enough people in your niche to the point where you start hearing the same answers and can predict what they’ll say, then you’ll have a good idea of your market, and will know whether your business assumptions panned out.

And what about those birds who flew 700 miles out of their way?

As it turned out, the birds were able to re-calibrate their internal compasses within a day or so, using other cues–like the direction of the sun, stars, etc. But I’m sure they were still pissed at those scientists.

Your turn

What assumptions do you have?

How can you test them?

What can you do this week to find out if you’re on course?

And, for God’s sake, ask for directions along the way!

Start My Consulting Business