Archive for the ‘Business Consulting’ Category

Notes from our meeting on February 5th.

The way to effectively use of Social Media is very similar to traditional networking activities.

• Decide what we want to accomplish before we invest time and money in any activity
• One purpose might simply to stay in front of our prospects and clients so they do not forget us
• Use the social media vehicles our targets are using
• Stay within the culture of the social media we are using
• The more we focus on helping others rather than trying to sell, the more effective our efforts will be

If we have a mass market you are trying to reach, then Facebook and Twitter might be viable alternatives.

If we are looking to connect with professionals, then Linkedin might be a good choice.

Facebook has the best viral component tool and is also an easy way for non-technical types to provide visuals.

The Topic was “How to Select the ‘Right’ Target Market”

Ideas included:

• Identify prospects who have a pain that you are an expert in solving
• Be pragamatic, i.e. Who can you reach and who can you stay in contact with long enough for them to buy
• Chose your market versus deciding your market
• Chose a market that you are excited about
• Understand your prospects’ decision making process
• Keep multiple irons on the fire
• Consider the geography and size of your market
• Consider the lifetime value of a client
• Chose a target market where the prospects will hire you
• Apply the 80-20 rule

The participants included:

1. Ted Backman (Finance)  http://www.linkedin.com/in/tedbachman
2. David Bass (M&A) http://www.linkedin.com/in/davidbassrdu
3. Mark Brown (Consulting Support) http://www.linkedin.com/in/markbrownmybizpath
4. Art Burke (HR) http://www.linkedin.com/in/artburke
5. Chris Cardozo (Sales) http://www.linkedin.com/in/theultimatesalesconnection
6. Van Carpenter (Marketing) http://www.linkedin.com/in/bizdoctorvan
7. Graham Crispin (Business Broker) http://www.linkedin.com/in/grahamcrispin
8. Bill Davis (Coaching) http://www.linkedin.com/in/billdavistn
9. Jake Finkelstein (Marketing) http://www.linkedin.com/in/jakefinkelstein
10. Lori Gayle (Finance) http://www.linkedin.com/in/lorigayle
11. Tracey Gritz (Office Efficiency) http://www.linkedin.com/in/traceygritz
12. Steve Hand (Networking) http://www.linkedin.com/in/shand
13. Jerry Helms (Web) http://www.linkedin.com/in/jerryhelms
14. Whitney Hill (Web) http://www.linkedin.com/in/whitneyhill
15. Jim Joyce (Sales) http://www.linkedin.com/in/jimjoycesalespartners
16. Brian Kinahan (Strategy) http://www.linkedin.com/pub/brian-kinahan/0/3ba/185
17. Frank Lyons (HR) http://www.linkedin.com/pub/frank-lyons/0/b92/865
18. Mike Miller (Sales) http://www.linkedin.com/pub/michael-miller/3/541/299
19. Scott Pearce (Sales) http://www.linkedin.com/in/scottspearce
20. Jack Perez (Marketing) http://www.linkedin.com/in/jackaperez
21. Tim Pedersen (Marketing) http://www.linkedin.com/in/rightbraintim
22. Marieke Pieterman (Compensation) http://www.linkedin.com/in/mariekepieterman
23. Manfred Reithinger (Six Sigma) http://www.linkedin.com/in/mreithinger
24. David Rowe (Finance) http://www.linkedin.com/pub/david-rowe/3/780/249
25. Dan Scala (Coaching) http://www.linkedin.com/in/danscala
26. Jerry Seavey (Coaching) http://www.linkedin.com/pub/jerry-seavey/0/b29/900
27. Nick Trapani (HR) http://www.linkedin.com/pub/nicholas-trapani/11/789/420
28. Sue Weems (Coaching) http://www.linkedin.com/pub/sue-weems/0/790/4b1
29. Latoya Williams (Strategy) http://www.linkedin.com/in/latoyajwilliams

For most us who have started a business consulting practice, our first client was actually the easiest one to get once we figured out where to look.

The reason is that most of us have a network of people who know and trust us. Even if you have not focused on networking in a while, you probably can come up with at least 10 people in the business world who know and trust you. If each of these people know at least 10 people, you have a working network of 100 business people. When you start your consulting practice, this is the group of people you should be focused on reaching.

Of course, if you what to jump start your consulting practice, start your networking fast and furious. It will pay big results.

The vast majority of people who start their own business consulting practice do so for the same reason I did. We got tired of the corporate rat race and wanted to have our own business where we could set our own hours and decide how much we wanted to work and earn.

If you want to save a lot of time and frustration, you should decide quickly what type of consultant you want to be. Generally, business consultants fall into one of three categories:

•  Independent Contractor – You are basically filling a role that would be filled by an employee, but are not on the payroll. This type of consultant is the easiest to migrate to from the corporate environment.
• Specialized Business Consultant – You have a particular skill set that makes you an expert in one specialized field. To be successful starting a specialized business consulting practice, you should have or develop tools and systems that would not be generally available and used by your clients.
• General Business Consultant- You have a broad business background that you want to use to help entrepreneurs. To be successful starting a general business consulting practice, you should have or develop tools and systems, such as MyBizPath, to help business owners achieve their goals by making changes across their business.

Becoming an independent business consultant is no different that starting any other business. Planning and thinking through the different possibilities shortens the time to success.