Are Your Clients Tickled Pink with Your Consulting Services?

Well, they should be!

Help your clients understand that your firm's services will (and do) deliver a high return on investment (ROI) and you'll have clients for life. Let me explain. Your clients don't know what they don't know. You, as the consultant, are the expert. So it's up to you to help your clients use your firm's services efficiently and effectively.

Now, that doesn't mean doing whatever it takes to ensure your clients give your firm tons of work. Actually, it might even mean telling clients they shouldn't use your firm's services at all for what they originally wanted to do.* What it does mean is ensuring that when your client receives your bill he or she already knows that your services are cost-justified and will provide a significant ROI for their company. Otherwise, why would they hire you again or recommend you to others?

When your firm courts a prospective client, here's what every one of your representatives should be prepared to say directly to the client...

It is my job to help you and your company figure out how best to use my firm's services. I'll ask you a lot of questions about your business and what you do so that I can get to know you better. I'll also ask you a lot of questions about what it is you want us to do for you and how you think it will benefit your company. This investigation will help us achieve our goal of ensuring that our services deliver your company the highest possible ROI and are therefore cost-justified.

I'll help you figure out how best to use our services so that with a minimal investment you will see a maximum ROI. I may point out ways in which we could help your company that you might not have envisioned. Additionally, I may actually recommend that you not use our services for specific tasks or jobs if it's not clear to me that you will see a healthy ROI. In the end, we want to be 100% sure that you are extremely satisfied with our work and receive the highest possible ROI from our services. It is our goal that 100% of our clients would gladly hire us again and recommend us to others. Therefore, we'd tell a client that we'd prefer not to take a job that isn't cost-justified, rather than risk doing it and then have an unsatisfied client.

In essence, you'll need to show your client that by using your firm's services, their company will either directly increase revenue or decrease cost. Additionally, if you provide a service that is purely viewed as a cost to your client, then you need to demonstrate to them that your fees are justified over any competitor's lower fees by illustrating possible profit losses or cost increases by choosing a firm that is less effective than yours. The key is finding a way to quantify the benefit that your firm will deliver to the client and clearly illustrating how your services will deliver a strong ROI.

Considering that word of mouth is the best method for getting more clients, it is vital that each and every one of your clients is 100% satisfied with your services, would hire your firm again and would recommend your firm to others. In a future blog entry I will discuss various ways to quantify how your firm's services will deliver a high ROI.

Todd Paulsmeyer

* (Of course it is also your job to help your client discover ways to use your firm's services that do provide your client a high ROI!)

Welcome Consultants!

There are numerous studies and forecasts that indicate the usage of consultants will significantly rise in the future. More and more of us will decide to get in on that action and become consultants. Market forces may begin to make it more and more essential that your services stand out in the crowd.

Here at this website, I will offer my thoughts and ideas for how you can secure your consulting business and ensure that your clients want to keep using you and recommending you to others. Study after study indicates that word of mouth is the best way to get more business. Therefore as a consultant, it is vitally important that each and every one of your clients is:

1. 100% satisfied with your services
   
2. Happy to pay you because they believe they are getting a great return on their investment
3. Eager to recommend you to others who could benefit from your services

To do this effectively and still have a life (ie: not work 80 hours a week) one must work smarter, not harder.

Sign up for my monthly newsletter and get FREE consulting tips on how to work smarter and not harder.

Hey, 100% of what I write might not knock your socks off, but something I mention could be just the key help you become a highly successful consultant. If you don't sign up and read my posts, you'll never know!

Cheers! To a successful consulting future ...

Todd Paulsmeyer