How to set up an effective marketing strategy for the contacts you already have.
Most consultants suffer from the all-too-common “feast or famine” revenue cycle that occurs in both good times and bad. It’s understandable to a point; a full client plate means new business initiatives take a back seat until the current projects are completed. When that occurs, these same folks are scrambling to find work in order to meet expenses without dipping into the precious – and quite possibly scarce – cash reserves.
It can be emotionally and physically draining to ride the same proverbial roller coaster over and over again, believing it to be the nature of the business. I refuse, however, to subscribe to this myth. In fact, consultants CAN take care of a full client load and still maintain a strong pipeline of prospective customers waiting in the wings regardless of economic conditions.
That’s because some of these folks don’t follow the advice they give to their own clients; to create a sound, workable new business strategy that is a systematic part of their daily routine. Treat this initiative as another customer who requires due care and consideration. What’s more, the most lucrative prospects are folks that you already know or with whom you’ve encountered on some level before. Their business cards are probably still on your desk in some corner pile that hasn’t been touched for weeks. That illustration is one of the more visible examples of a consultant who literally leaves money on the table every day.
So before your nerves become totally frayed, set yourself up to maintain a more steady – and profitable – client base by following these four basic steps.
• Consolidate your contact lists. If you’re like most independent practitioners, you’ve got binders of business cards along with an outdated Outlook database that don’t integrate with your LinkedIn contacts and other social media-generated followers and friends.
Keep them all in one database. Though doing so may be a bit daunting in the beginning, it will pay significant time-saving dividends down the road by not having to re-key a person’s contact information to send them a new email every time.
• Put an outbound communications system in place. Set goals each month as to how many times you will reach out to your new, consolidated contact list. The outreach should focus less on frequency and more on how personal and relevant the message is to each recipient. It could be something business-oriented, such as an offer to sit down and brainstorm how social media can draw them new customers. It may also be something completely unrelated to work, such as a sincere “Happy Birthday” greeting.
As important as when and what you say, be sure you determine the manner in which your contacts desire to hear from you. Some like emails while others may prefer Tweets or Facebook communication. There may be a few who still favor a hand-written note or phone call. Be sensitive to the medium as much as the message, and stay consistent in the regularity and delivery of your correspondence.
• A little goes a long way. Don’t feel like you need to devote eight hours a day to this new business strategy. It’s a bit impossible to do and still keep your current clients happy. Instead, carve out just a few minutes a day to make this happen. If you can devote more time, great. If you can’t, still focus on doing something that will attract new business as part of your regular routine. Trust me – if you stick with it, you’ll eventually see positive results – guaranteed.
• Get some help. Don’t try and reinvent the wheel. There are fellow consultants who have found ways to do this, and you can learn from them. There are also relatively inexpensive services that allow you to coordinate your new business and client communications efforts in one system without having to spend a lot of upfront money or time to get started. Admittedly, I’m a bit biased here, but the fact remains that going at it alone could cost you more in time and low returns than it’s worth.
I look forward to the day when most consultants are no longer suffer from burn out due to the vicious “feast-or-famine” dilemma because they can’t maintain an adequate pipeline of new prospects at the expense of serving their current clients. I’m a firm believer that this cycle can be broken if these practitioners take a more strategic approach by culling through and consolidating their existing list of lucrative contacts and doing a little bit each day to reach out in relevant, personal terms. Doing so will undoubtedly bring in steadier and more profitable business.
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Lars Helgeson is the founder of GreenRope, a secure web-based platform that empowers small businesses and strategic consultants with the ability to manage their contact database, marketing communications, calendaring and project management initiatives from one user-friendly platform for much lower cost than what they are currently paying for each service al a carte.
