It's essential to change your mindset and the way you approach promoting your consultancy business. We can create a nice website or a nice profile and be present on social networks, but if we don't take care of promotion, whether we like it or not, no one will hire us.
To get a head start, you can of course be helped by a high-performance platform such as Malt Strategy. However, to get the best possible results with such a platform, you'll need to stand out from the crowd through your expertise. I'll explain how.
Marketing in consultancy is not the same as sales. Marketing is not about promoting a product or service, or making sudden efforts on the Internet or elsewhere when you're desperate for work (and income). On the contrary, it's about increasing your visibility in the long term and developing the credibility of your expertise. You do this by sharing your knowledge in simple, jargon-free language, and by bringing genuine value to the specific problem of your contacts/clients.
Consulting is a business of trust
As a Consultant, your ability to sell your services depends on your ability to generate confidence in your know-how. This objective cannot be achieved through mediocre sales methods. Potential clients need to find you, like you and trust you before they buy.
Your sales growth must come from the market's awareness of and respect for your expertise, your social value and your reputation. Strategically, this is the only way to proceed in the long term.
I've managed to succeed, so you can too. But it doesn't happen overnight. It takes time.
Here's how I see it: sales and marketing in the consultancy sector are SECONDARY RETURNS (yes!) that depend on mastering the following five points.
As a Consultant, you ARE the product. You ARE also the marketing and sales manager for your expertise, your approach, your experience and the services that make you unique.
But it doesn't matter how talented you are. No one will discover your know-how if you can't translate it organically into:
Final thoughts
It has become clear to the consultants I've worked with that customers are constantly seeking for specialist experts who can solve their problems quickly and efficiently.
This is why only recognised experts and trusted advisers with a significant social value have been able to retain most of their clients despite the challenges encountered during the pandemic and the increasing and tumultuous pressure of the market.
Whether you like it or not, customers have more choice than ever. You need to be precise and competent, with a focused specialism to stand out in a highly competitive consultancy market, with impatient, risk-averse buyers who can find their match in seconds.
Digital platforms such as Malt Strategy demonstrate that the professional world is becoming smaller and smaller. As a result, the propensity for buyers to seek out specialist consultants online is increasing. In this context, the impact you can achieve by focusing and/or specialising is more powerful than ever. In-depth expertise in a specific field will always stand out in the long term, even in difficult times.
I often remind my consultant clients of an important concept: your competition is just a click away.
