SolveYourProblem eBusiness Series:
How To Start Your Own
Coaching or Consulting Business
( 18 pages )

Marketing Your Consulting Business

At this point you should have taken care of the basic necessities of business. You will have decided on a business model, drafted a business plan, secured initial funding, established a work environment, and are now effectively ready to do some business. Now your mission is to find some business.

Even if you have built an ultra efficient state-of-the-art home office, polished your image with the finest of Armani suits, equipped your self with the newest cell phone, PDA and laptop, and drafted the most exemplary of business plans, you are not going to go anywhere in the business world without some entities to do business with.

Establishing your clientele can be the most time consuming and intellectually challenging part of the consultant business. There are many issues and approaches to consider, and like many other challenges in life, there is no one single way to go about it. Everyone will have their own methods for acquiring business that will work well for them, but most businesspeople will agree that taking a multi-tiered or multi-pronged approach is the best way to go about it. That is, don’t “put all your eggs in one basket”, so to speak, when approaching the marketing issue. To be successful, you will need to do “a little bit of this” and a “little bit of that” as they say.

Here are a few ideas to get you started:

• Networking. At the onset, this is the absolute most effective element there is to getting new clients for your consultancy, bar none. The old saying “it’s not what you know, it’s who you know” may not be completely accurate when it boils down to long-term success, but it certainly rings true when beginning a business. You will want to get the word out about your business in an up close and personal manner as soon as possible. TELL EVERYONE YOU KNOW that you are starting a business and tell them EVERYTHING ABOUT THAT BUSINESS. Now, of course, the art here will be striking a balance between self-promotion and annoying everyone in your Rolodex (or your PIM client for the tech-set). Start by letting friends and family know what you are up to. Feel free to “practice” on them, as they will be your most forgiving audience.

• Word of mouth/referrals. Once you have started getting some business rolling in, Word of mouth/referrals is an excellent source of generating more business. Happy clients are bound to want to refer you to other businesses that could use your talents, so be sure to keep your clients happy. Don’t hesitate to ask for referrals of your current clients to other individuals and entities that may be benefited by your services. You’ll be surprised; some of the most popular marketing campaigns in the history of marketing have been through grassroots, word of mouth campaigns. When Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniack were first starting Apple Computer in their garage in Cupertino, some of the best (and only) marketing they had access to was the word-of-mouth of dozens of satisfied customers who were amazed at the quality of their work, you can make this type of testimonial marketing work for you. One excellent way to maximize from the benefits of this type of marketing is to facilitate communication between your past/current clients to potential clients. For example, if you have a web site for your consultancy, it is a great idea to have a place for your customers to leave feedback that can be publicly on your portfolio page(s). You can also have your clients fill out standardized forms and keep some testimonials on record to how potential clients through a variety of media, including print, TV, web and radio advertisements.
  
  

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