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I have built more than one consultancy successfully and the core sales/marketing methods were networking, referrals and brand exposure. Cold calling can work,

I have built more than one consultancy successfully and the core sales/marketing methods were networking, referrals and brand exposure. Cold calling can work, but the numbers are just 99.99% against you. Direct marketing and ads is a way we experimented but found that they were more a way to promote things we did to gain exposure then to get new work. Consultancy can be a weird/hard thing to start. When you start you have no clients so nothing to point to and the thing you need to get new clients is a success to point to generally. Chicken/egg. Hence this is where the networking comes into play, or past employers etc. Get out, meet people (digitally is fine) and use existing clients as springboards. My general rule was when you close a deal, setup a quick schedule to deliver 3-4 things as fast as possible but with as much quality as possible, then immediately ask for recommendations/referrals to other clients. Push this until you get a few referrals/names etc but don't be a pain point -- even if they just say well Jim over at Widget corp is starting a new project, that's good enough. The key is if you wait till a project is done (or accept that excuse from a client) the chances drastically go down that you'll get a referral for a variety of reasons. You can nail a project and get new work from the client and then they don't want to refer you because they are trying to lock you up for themselves, or they worry if you expand their project will suffer etc. It can be a success paradox when you are small and starting. Of course, small clients aren't as likely to do that so those you can sometimes wait till near the end and get some referrals. But either way, it is so important to get public statements (things you can advertise) and referrals during the contract and as early as possible. Social media is good for running ads for exposure, but it won't pull in clients generally, at least not at a cost worth paying. So networking and referrals are the best. Referrals can be from existing clients but also from friends, past associates etc that you pay for the referral. Marketing for consulting is about exposing company/yourself online, use blog posts, guest posts, forums, speaking engagements etc. Then use social media and ads to expose your blog, speaking engagements etc, this gets you exposure, branding and then everything becomes easier.

domano 6y ago
Thank you for the insight. We have some testimonials online and do lots of brand exposure in different kinds of media, but the way you handle it seems much faster paced. Next time i will ask for a referral after the frist few successful delivered artifacts or successful sprints. The "Get out, meet people" part is a tough nut to crack, at least it feels hard currently. Been to lots of meetups precovid but nothing came of it & online expos are just not really valuable networking wise. I have really gained something from your post, big thanks!
blackrock 6y ago
What kind of things did you consult on?
- davismwfl 6y ago
  To be honest, I went through a ton of trail and error over ~15 years. So it'd take a lot to fill in those blanks. What I can say in a more short form is that I started out thinking it was best to be a generalist and work on any software project I could get hired for. Not sure if I was ignorant, arrogant or maybe a little of both, but that is a quick way to fail. In the end what I found worked best was to specialize in a niche area that is large enough to grow but specific enough you can find ways to stand out. Part of what made us successful over time was we defined our ideal clients, our threshold clients, set up minimum project values, moved away from hourly billing, and focused as "generalist" within the niche. The final key for us was we were selling our services to bring a product to market, not only write source code for a project. There is a huge difference in value to clients and profit to the company. Happy to be more specific if there is something I can share my experience from that might be more helpful even if it was a failure for me. FWIW -- my primary niche areas when I exited consulting was marketing automation and distributed systems to solve large data problems (ecommerce, healthcare, ads and direct marketing were the "industries" we played in).
  - blackrock 6y ago
    Great reply! Thanks. You learn the most from your failures. And this is how you succeed. How did you find your clients? Was it mostly by your networks? I’ve been wanting to start my own consultancy, in a niche that I understand, but the question was always whether I could find those right clients. And any company that is big and profitable enough, would just build an internal department to handle such services themselves. Hence, the problem. The clients that can pay for it, can handle it internally themselves.
    - davismwfl 6y ago
      Most larger companies are the first to outsource work if it isn't a core competency or a core strategic need. This is even where you can find great product ideas to solve problems for other companies while getting paid to build a solution. So I wouldn't say just because they can afford it they will bring it in house, generally I found that not to be true. Of course there are exceptions, one is large tech companies which have a tendency to bring lots of stuff in house even if they really shouldn't. As for finding my first clients, I turned to companies I had worked for prior, turned to friends who still worked at other companies to get my foot in the door. I started meeting as many people as possible and started speaking at local and regional events as often as I could. I'd sign up at the chamber of commerce and see what new companies were coming in, opening facilities, plants etc and see if there was a vendor list I could get on etc. A hint I learned, being on the vendor list for a large company even if you have never delivered anything to them can give you assumed credibility. When I couldn't afford trade shows I'd volunteer for companies and go work their booth, do setup or whatever I could in exchange for getting me through the door and allowing me time to explore and network. Also, networking outside your defined niche is still good as you build your network. I used to joke it was like the 6 degrees of Kevin Bacon, I didn't have to meet my exact client but I needed to meet someone who could introduce me to another company and keep that going. Along the way you pay the kindness back with your own referrals, help etc. It is way easier to type this out than to do it, but the only way to do it is just to do it.

domano 6y ago

Thank you for the insight. We have some testimonials online and do lots of brand exposure in different kinds of media, but the way you handle it seems much faster paced. Next time i will ask for a referral after the frist few successful delivered artifacts or successful sprints. The "Get out, meet people" part is a tough nut to crack, at least it feels hard currently. Been to lots of meetups precovid but nothing came of it & online expos are just not really valuable networking wise. I have really gained something from your post, big thanks!

blackrock 6y ago

What kind of things did you consult on?

davismwfl 6y ago
To be honest, I went through a ton of trail and error over ~15 years. So it'd take a lot to fill in those blanks. What I can say in a more short form is that I started out thinking it was best to be a generalist and work on any software project I could get hired for. Not sure if I was ignorant, arrogant or maybe a little of both, but that is a quick way to fail. In the end what I found worked best was to specialize in a niche area that is large enough to grow but specific enough you can find ways to stand out. Part of what made us successful over time was we defined our ideal clients, our threshold clients, set up minimum project values, moved away from hourly billing, and focused as "generalist" within the niche. The final key for us was we were selling our services to bring a product to market, not only write source code for a project. There is a huge difference in value to clients and profit to the company. Happy to be more specific if there is something I can share my experience from that might be more helpful even if it was a failure for me. FWIW -- my primary niche areas when I exited consulting was marketing automation and distributed systems to solve large data problems (ecommerce, healthcare, ads and direct marketing were the "industries" we played in).
- blackrock 6y ago
  Great reply! Thanks. You learn the most from your failures. And this is how you succeed. How did you find your clients? Was it mostly by your networks? I’ve been wanting to start my own consultancy, in a niche that I understand, but the question was always whether I could find those right clients. And any company that is big and profitable enough, would just build an internal department to handle such services themselves. Hence, the problem. The clients that can pay for it, can handle it internally themselves.
  - davismwfl 6y ago
    Most larger companies are the first to outsource work if it isn't a core competency or a core strategic need. This is even where you can find great product ideas to solve problems for other companies while getting paid to build a solution. So I wouldn't say just because they can afford it they will bring it in house, generally I found that not to be true. Of course there are exceptions, one is large tech companies which have a tendency to bring lots of stuff in house even if they really shouldn't. As for finding my first clients, I turned to companies I had worked for prior, turned to friends who still worked at other companies to get my foot in the door. I started meeting as many people as possible and started speaking at local and regional events as often as I could. I'd sign up at the chamber of commerce and see what new companies were coming in, opening facilities, plants etc and see if there was a vendor list I could get on etc. A hint I learned, being on the vendor list for a large company even if you have never delivered anything to them can give you assumed credibility. When I couldn't afford trade shows I'd volunteer for companies and go work their booth, do setup or whatever I could in exchange for getting me through the door and allowing me time to explore and network. Also, networking outside your defined niche is still good as you build your network. I used to joke it was like the 6 degrees of Kevin Bacon, I didn't have to meet my exact client but I needed to meet someone who could introduce me to another company and keep that going. Along the way you pay the kindness back with your own referrals, help etc. It is way easier to type this out than to do it, but the only way to do it is just to do it.