Avoid Consultants' Biggest Mistake

The Success Margin

Friday, August 31, 2007

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You can become a millionaire as a consultant. Or you
can choose to join the majority who barely get by.

I work with thousands of consultants in over 200
fields.

The common mistake made by most is this.

Not constantly marketing.

The deal flow must never stop. But it depends on
your marketing actions. You must proactively
contact prospective new clients to keep the deal
flow coming. This is the key to becoming super
successful.

Instead, typically the consultant:

(1) Books the work
(2) Does the work
(3) Hopes the next job somehow will appear as if
by magic. Of course this rarely happens

The above is a prescription not for success, but for
starvation! Assuming a high level of competence,
that's the primary reason why consultants tend to
have ongoing economic problems. And a feast or
famine existence is not much fun.

Your assistant may ask, "When are we going to get
caught up?" You may even ask yourself this
question.

The real truthful answer is: NEVER!

If you truly want to be an economic superstar, it's
essential to have a full pipeline. Not an empty one.

While it may be desirable, you probably will never
quite get the deal flow perfect.

Here is the reality. It's much better to have clients
waiting in line for your services. Accept the fact
some will on occasion complain and even scream at
you. This is part of the consulting game.

Here is another concept which is not fully
appreciated. Clients love dealing with a busy,
highly successful consultant.

Your full schedule is proof positive many other
clients are booking your services. Clients will
put up with occasional delays and other
inconveniences if they feel they are getting the
very best.

Here is the real secret to success that only a few
consultants put into practice. The ones that
understand this are rare indeed. But they are at the
very highest level of stature and income in their
field.

You must be disciplined to do something every day
to stimulate future business.

No matter how deeply involved you are in current
work you must continue to touch base with
prospective clients. Remind them about how you
can help increase income, build the business or
practice, cut costs, etc. So today...

* Get that fax out
* Mail that letter
* Make that one telephone call
* Tear out an article that a prospect should read.
Attach a note on it. Mail it.

Also don't forget to take every opportunity to put
yourself in front of prospective clients. The best
ways I've found are:

(1) Make speeches at every opportunity to your
niche market. Nothing beats being live in front
of a room of potential clients.
(2) Write articles in your field. Or start an ezine.
This helps credientialize and establish you as an
expert
(3) Write a book and/or special reports in your
field. A book is the ultimate credentializer and
can lead to many new clients

Very few people take advantage of all the
opportunities available today in the consulting field.

All you need do to achieve fame and fortune as a
consultant is really simple. But you must be willing
to do a bit more than others with whom you
compete are willing to do.

Let me know how your journey is going.

Your correspondent,

Ted Nicholas

P.S. My book The Complete Guide to Consulting
Success contains hundreds of success secrets.
It's just been full revised and updated.
For complete details and/or to get your copy
click here

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© Copyright 2007 Ted Nicholas

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