How to Be a Marketing Consultant
Truth is, you already know enough about marketing to make money being a marketing consultant. Doug did, when he contacted me last fall. He had plenty of marketing experience, a professional looking website and, over the past year, a handful of clients. Enough to tell his friends he was a marketing consultant, but not enough to make a business out of it. Not even close.
The hard part is making a business out of it. Things like:
Attracting prospects (enough prospects, not the occasional new client).
Understanding how to present a proposal in a way that isn’t 80% guaranteed to fail (this simple piece of advice will double your closing ratio).
Structuring how clients can hire you in a way that gives them some choice (but not too much) AND takes advantage of your experience.
And did I mention attracting prospects?! You’ll go through your contacts and networking soon enough.
Doug wanted to know if I was making any money (I am), if I’d hold back the “really important information” (I don’t) and why I’m helping people compete with me. Regarding this last issue, I invite you to use Google’s Keyword Tool and check last month’s search volume on “marketing consultant,” “small business marketing consultant,” “marketing consulting companies,” etc. There is a ton of business out there for all of us. A ton.
First, you should understand that I’m a full-time marketing consultant. I do the things every day I’ll teach you to do; you’ll learn what works in today’s economy. I am not one of those guys who makes a living teaching people how to be a consultant (who stopped consulting years ago). Second, I do just fine as a marketing consultant; whether you hire me or not won’t affect my lifestyle. (No pressure or hard-sell here.)
So. . .How Does This Work?
That email at right, by the way, is from Doug. If you were paying attention to my second sentence and you notice the date of the email, it took Doug about four months to get “overloaded with clients,” about two-and-a-half months to close his first client using the prospecting methods I taught him.
He hired me for an hour to make sure I’m not a jerk. Hire me for an hour ($250) and ask me anything; get clear on the jerk thing. If that goes well, and if you’re serious, give me about three months and we can actually do it together (that’s a good estimate of what it takes). That is, we can get you to your first client or two using the prospecting methods I use. You’ll pay me about $1,500 per month and invest another $1,500 per month executing. After that, my expense goes away and you can turn up or turn down your investment in prospecting based on how busy you are.
If you’re interested, email me.
If what I’m saying doesn’t feel right for you, keep looking for that thing or person that does. Being a marketing consultant is a great gig. I feel privileged to have found something 30+ years ago that gives me the freedom, money and satisfaction marketing consulting gives me. I wish the same for you.
Hamilton
PS I’m also a great resource once the prospecting methods we put in place start generating clients.
