The consulting service industry is continuously booming. The average annual revenue of the worldwide consulting service industry is over $500 billion dollars, with the US market alone worth $260 billion dollars.
In order to grow, the main focus of consultants should be on finding clients that meet their criteria and then helping them achieve their goals. Therefore, a cohesive marketing strategy is necessary to grow your business and win more clients. In addition, you should also know the secrets to selling high-priced consulting services.
This article discusses four tips you can use to win more clients for your consulting business.
1. Build Your Portfolio
The first thing you need to attract more clients and increase your consulting sales is a good portfolio of your business. How will the clients get to know about you and your portfolio? A personalized website can do this. Your business website should have:
- A brief bio that highlights your skills & expertise
- Details of your niche
- Strengths of your business
- List of services you provide
- Experience with prominent clients (“big fish” of the market) and real reviews (if possible)
Make sure that your website is search engine optimized. It helps potential clients to reach you easily for the services they are looking for via search engines.
2. Improve Your Social Media Presence
Using social media marketing services is one of the best ways to reach out to a large audience. It will not only help you to gain more clients but will also develop goodwill if your services are worthy.
For this, you need to create official Facebook/LinkedIn/Instagram pages and hire social media managers to make these platforms active, so that people can get instant replies to their queries. If you are not active on social media platforms, it may look like “ghost towns” that may hurt your credibility.
LinkedIn is considered the best means for getting clients. It is the best app where business relations thrive. For this, you should:
- Make a good LinkedIn profile and position yourself appropriately.
- Add new content frequently. It may include blogs, articles, and links to your website or upcoming discounts or packages.
- Be an active participant in industry conversations.
3. Ask for Referrals, Arrange Webinars and Be Vocal at Industry Events
A confident speaker can impress people at webinars/industry events, which may benefit you by gaining more attention from clients. A good tip to gain attention is to have a vocal person who best represents your business and goals efficiently at industry events. In addition, it will help to build a good public image and trust of people.
Networking is the backbone of any business. It helps you connect with your targeted audience by being present at the meetups and industrial events. Similarly, referrals also help you gain more clients.
The people/businesses who received your consulting services previously can refer you to potential clients. However, do not wait for your past clients to refer you to others. Instead, be proactive in asking them for referrals. It is better to take appropriate initiative at the right time to gain success rather than expecting things to happen on their own.
4. Make Partnerships with Influencers Who Are Not Direct Competitors
When you are in the initial phases of your business, it is expected that you might not have your audience right away, and that’s totally okay. However, be patient at this stage and use tactics that help you gain more audience. One such way is to go for partnerships with influencers who are not your direct competitors, but their audience’s interests intersect with the interests of your business’s ideal audience.
Go for paid partnerships with that influencer and gain your fair share by making connections. For example, you can ask the influencer to write content or promote your business to the right audience suitable for your consulting business.
This partnership will help you in searching for potential clients. Partnerships with an established business allow you to gain clients and give you valuable experience in learning from experienced people working in a similar industry.
Finally, Be Consistent and Keep Trying
Being in a startup business, it takes a lot of time to accomplish your target and goals. Therefore, you need to be patient in the early stages to reap the long-term benefits.
Some of the most common mistakes that new business ventures commit are becoming disheartened and wanting immediate returns, which are only possible in perfectly ideal situations. However, practically this is not easy to achieve. Therefore, be patient and wait for the right time when your business will start flourishing to give back the returns you expected at the start.
