Article Contributed by Cameron Johnson
The world of independent contracting is expanding every day, and many budding entrepreneurs make the decision to start their own consulting business. Unfortunately, people can get caught up in the fantasy of being their own boss and thoughts of making huge amounts of money.
What it takes to have a successful consultant business is a lot of organization, heaps of motivation, and a desire to keep learning. After you have become an expert in your field, what’s next? The following are a few essential steps to follow to start your consultant business.
Become an authority in your industry
Some of the most popular consultant industries today are advertising, accounting, and business. Odds are, if you have worked in any of these fields, you are already qualified to start your consulting business. However, to be a highly sought-after consultant in any industry you will need more than a few years of experience under your belt. The most frequently considered aspect when businesses are hiring a consultant is if they have been certified in their field.
For example, if you wanted to become a business consultant you could get a certification from the Institute of Certified Business Consultants or go through the Association of Accredited Small Business Consultants. Getting certified not only adds a little meat to your resume, but it lets new clients know that you can be trusted and that you are serious about your business.
Identify your target market
Narrowing down who you will be offering your services to will save you money on marketing and advertising, and it will also keep you from getting frustrated and burnt out. Businesses are spending over 12 billion dollars on consultants every year. That’s a lot of money, but you won’t be seeing much of that if you don’t know which companies you should focus on with your marketing campaigns.
Kyle Wong, CEO of Pixelee, recently wrote an article for Forbes breaking down the time he spends on every aspect of his startup. In the article, he says that he spends about 10% of his time on “strategy and preparation” aka marketing. While he may not be a consultant, he is certainly an expert in his field of business. Narrowing down your market by location, age, and income are just a few of the ways to begin identifying your target market. The more detailed you can be, the more success you will find in your marketing campaigns.
How to start finding clients
Before you can focus your energy on customer retention, the first step will be to start landing your first clients and creating a sales funnel. Direct mail advertising is one of the most widely used direct marketing tactics to drum up businesses for a new consultant. It offers an opportunity for you to lay out everything you have to offer to a very specific group of people in one nice little package. While this may provide the best targeted approach cold calling and referral programs should not be ignored.
The value of interacting and networking with people face to face is irreplaceable. Whether you are going door to door or calling people on the phone, speaking to someone directly can get you in the door with an individual who can hire you much faster than direct mail advertising.
Try contacting businesses in the early hours of the morning between 6:00-8:30 a.m. because you will be more likely to catch someone who is more open to hearing your sales pitch. If the person you contacted turns out to not be a good fit for your services, but you have built a good rapport with them, ask for a referral. When dealing with B2C and B2B lead generation, referral programs generate 300-400% more return on investment than all other marketing strategies combined.
Although starting your own consultant business can be intimidating, taking the right steps to ensure that you have the background necessary to offer your services to others will give you the confidence you need. If you stay focused, organized, and market yourself wisely, you will be able to get your new business off the ground in no time.
About the author: Cameron Johnson is a business consultant and entrepreneur. Over the course of his career he has conducted case studies on both social media optimization and non-profit marketing. Cameron has also had the opportunity to speak at international business conferences and was recently recognized as one of the world’s top 100 advertising experts to follow on social media.