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How Your Price Attracts New Consulting Clients
| Guest post by: Mark Satterfield |
Article Overview: I had an interesting conversation with a friend over the holidays. She lamented that her lead generation efforts were not yielding the quality of clients she wanted. Since this had never been a problem in the past, I asked her if anything had changed about how she was presenting her services.
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Free Download - My neighbor Charlie, just filed for bankruptcy By Mark Satterfield |
How Your Price Attracts New Consulting Clients
I had an interesting conversation with a friend over the
holidays. She lamented that her lead generation efforts were not yielding the
quality of clients she wanted. Since this had never been a problem in the past,
I asked her if anything had changed about how she was presenting her services.
What she said was interesting and indicative of the problems
that consultants often make. Specifically she mentioned that she had been
promoting a number of free ebooks on her website. While there is nothing wrong
with that, she also was offering a free 30 minute consultation to everyone who
purchased the ebook. Therein lay the problem.
Her target market was (and is) small business owners. Not
surprisingly most of these fledgling entrepreneurs have little capital for
their new businesses. Thus they are eager to get all the free advice they can.
The idea of offering the ebook is wonderful. It enables prospects to raise
their hands and self identify themselves about having an interest in her
services. In fact the ebook has been responsible for 3-5 new opt-ins every day.
However, when these new prospects go to the next step and
take advantage of the free consultation, then things get a bit muddled. Sarah
(not her real name) finds that she is spending between 1-3 hours a day “trying
to be helpful” to those who take her up on her offer.
The challenge is that any offer of free information is going
to attract two very distinct, and different, groups of prospects. The first are
those who either can't afford or are unwilling to invest in your paid services.
The second group however are those with the means to invest in your services
who are using your free offer as a test of your knowledge and quality. The
second group is prized. The first can be an enormous drag on your time.
Thus the question becomes, how do we differentiate between
the two groups? How can we insure that we are spending time with those who are
most likely to actually buy our services? Here’s one method that works.
Many consultants and coaches simply offer a free
consultation to one and all. As I mentioned, that’s often a mistake. However,
phrasing your offer with criteria for who is a good candidate for the session
is a simple step that pays remarkably positive benefits.
For example by saying, “Here’s an offer, but I’ll admit
there is a catch” in the subject line of a follow-up email sets the tone for
the offer you are about to make. Then in the body of the email put in the
following qualifying language: “This offer will be most appropriate for owners
of small businesses earning at least $500,000 (or whatever amount you feel
represents the minimum qualification your clients must have).”
A wise individual once told me that the type of client we
attract is determined in a large part by what we charge. Offering free
information as a hook to attract the initial prospects is a sound strategy.
However, it is important to realize that among the 100 prospects that are
attracted, only a small handful realistically should be able to afford your
services. You need to separate the gold from the silt early on in the process.
Start your consulting business as a side hustle
Do you mind being beaten on price?
Is Your Business Model Healthy?
7 compelling reason to not compete to be the lowest price, always
BRAND YOUR CONSULTING BRILLIANCE
Article Tags: free offers, marketing small business, more new clients, pricing services
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About the Author: Mark Satterfield RSS for Mark's articles - Visit Mark's website Click here to visit Mark's website   How To Build Credibility With Your Prospects Using Embedded Commands To Create A Buying Frenzy With Your Next Sales Letter The Importance of Patience In Marketing Services How To Put Benefits In Your Sales Letters Emails That Motivate Readers To Take Action A Simple Way To Get More New Clients |
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