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  Module 9 Lecture   Self-Promotion Mediums   Self-promotion for a consultant may require the ability to find opportunities for pro-bono speeches, and submitting press releases, writing advertisements, designing a web site, and deciding upon which networking opportunities to capitalize. The following are some advertising mediums and how to take advantage of them.  

• Pro-bono speeches and press releases are great, low cost ways to showcase skills. • While advertisements don’t typically bring in sales, they do help to create an image.

The more you can get your name in the paper, the better—this is called branding. • A web site is essential in today's market, as it helps with branding. Clients expect

consultants to have a web site. Web sites replace brochures in many ways and are a passive way of generating leads.

• Business Networking International (BNI) is a well established organization similar to Rotaries but the focus is on lead generation.

 

  The effectiveness of each medium can be determined by identifying the target market and how effectively each medium can reach this target.   Sales and Pricing

 

  Sales starts with prospecting for new customers. A sale is a process, not a onetime event. Sales is a numbers game; therefore, having an optimistic outlook can assist a business owner as she or he receives rejection from potential customers.   Prospecting: This is, as mentioned previously, a numbers game. Hence, “if you make the contacts, you will do the business” (Vogel, 2005, p. 47). Prospecting may include making cold calls, delivering pro-bono speeches, going on informational interviews, working a sphere of influence (see module 10 for more information), and/or networking.   Setting the Fee: The consultant should benchmark to set charges including per hour, per day, or per ½ day charges. They must ask how much other consultants charge in the area and industry. There are different way to determine fees. However, charging too little reflects

 

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badly upon the credibility of the consultant, but charging too much may prevent contracts from being made. Inner and Outer SOI   There is a saying that goes like this: “It is not what you know; it is who you know and how you use them .” This module helps identify personal SOI and utilize it to its fullest potential.   There is another saying that goes like this: “The average person knows about 150 people that will be with you when you are wed or dead!” This is the sphere of influence of a consultant! Unfortunately, only about ¼ will need his or her services and about ¼ of that quarter will hire them. That’s about 10 sales over the lifetime of the business, but definitely not enough to stay in business. How can a consultant capitalize on their sphere of influence in other ways?   A common activity to help a consultant determine who they are trying to reach is for them to draw a small circle in the middle of a piece of paper—this is their SOI. Then they draw a bigger circle around the smaller circle—this is their SOI’s SOI. This outer circle is who they are trying to reach. For example: imagine that Sam used to be a sales trainer for a real estate franchise. Sam's inner circle consists of the franchisees that recognize his name when he calls. All of these people are in the real estate business, but Sam cannot survive by focusing on just one industry. However, each of these real estate professionals know mortgage officers, home inspectors, cleaning crews, lawyers, title searchers, insurance agents, and so on. By asking each real estate professional to provide him with the name of one other person in each area, Sam will have credibility when he calls the new person. Also, if Sam has done business for one industry and that industry is connected to another industry, he has a better chance of being seen as credible. It is the “who do you know?” game. Who does the consultant know that might have a need for his or her services? Who does the consultant know that might be interested in meeting him or her for a cup of coffee?

                                                       

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References: Vogel, L. (2005). Prospecting for the sale of consulting services. Consulting to Management, 16(4), 47-52.

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