Becoming a Consultant

1
Becoming a Consultant
2
Overview

• Transitioning your skills into an income stream
• Whats required
• Pricing
• Where to find clients
• Experiences on running a consulting business

3
Objectives

• Understand Business of Consulting
• Target Audience
• Market / Opportunities
• Proposals

4
Transitioning

• Begins with understanding the difference between
  the work of consulting and the consulting
  business.
• The work of consulting is providing your services
  to your clients
• The business of consulting is
• how your business will attract and keep clients
• how your business will operate its processes,
  procedures and administration
• how your business operates financially

5
Transitioning

• Many enter into consulting business with a set of
  employment related habits
• job or work focused
• functioning as an employee
• Successful consultants switch focus from
  consulting work to consulting business
• Business focus more contracts, repeat business
• Work focused fewer jobs

6
Transitioning

• Consulting business functions
• Administration
• Management
• Marketing Sales
• Personal Development (R D)
• Production (billable consulting work with
  clients)

7
Transitioning

• Round Table Discussion
• Imagine starting a consulting business where you
  sent others out to do the consulting work
• How would it operate?
• How would it market and charge for services?
• Consulting Business Model operations
  marketing finance

8
Marketing

• What is Marketing
• Marketing takes place in the mind of the target
  audience not out there in the marketplace
• What does this mean for you?

9
Marketing

• Strategic Elements of Marketing
• Product what are you offering
• Price how will this be costed communicated
• Place how will your product/services reach the
  market
• Promotion what methods are you going to use to
  communicate what it is your business does to your
  target audience

10
Marketing

• Clearly identify your target market. Your target
  market is not everyone who has the potential to
  be a client or customer.
• Who are they?
• Where are they?
• What is your target customer really looking for?
• What are their expectations?
• What is their criteria for engaging a consultant?
• Where will they look?
• How do they source consulting services?

11
Marketing

• How you have matched your product to what the
  target market is looking for?
• Create a maximum of 3 packages around the
  criteria of the target market.
• The key features of what you are bringing
• The process of delivery of service
• The pricing methodology

12
Marketing

• Create a communications (promotional) plan. It
  has to be based upon how your target market
  operates within the marketplace
• How do they go to market when seeking a consultant

13
Marketing

• Proposals / Requests for Proposals
• What is a proposal
• Solicited Unsolicited Proposals
• Compliance meeting the RFP mandatory
  requirements
• Qualification and partnering

14
Marketing

• Round Table Exercise
• Earlier we touched on pricing there are two
  elements to developing your price
• Understanding your actual cost
• What the market will bear
• Here an exercise that will help you understand
  the importance of costing

15
Marketing

• Take the hourly rate that you received in your
  previous job
• Lets say that it is 40/Hr
• Thats 320.00/8 Hr day
• Or 1600/week
• Or 6933/Mth assuming you work every work day of
  the year of the year a total of 173 Hrs/Mth
• Now lets take a look at the reality of consulting

16
Marketing

• Take the 1600/Wk and the 40hrs/Wk
• Deduct 1.5 hrs for travelling per day between
  clients etc.
• 7.5 hrs/Wk
• Deduct 1 hr per day for admin and paperwork
• 5hrs/Wk
• Deduct 10 hrs/Wk for marketing, networking etc.
• a total of 22.5 hours/Wk
• Thus 40-22.517.5
• Lets assume that a consultant has the ability to
  work 80 of the available hours every week of the
  year

17
Marketing

• This would the equate to 14 hrs/Wk
• 14 x 40 560/wk or 2426/Mth
• From your current earnings of 6900 to 2426 per
  month
• Reality You would need to charge 113.75/hr to
  equal an income of 6900.00/month
• BUT the second element to pricing is will your
  market pay this price for your services?

18
Marketing

• Market / Opportunities
• What is an opportunity and where do they come
  from
• An opportunity is only an opportunity if you can
  take advantage of the opportunity.
• Local opportunities
• National Opportunities
• International opportunities
• Getting connected

19
Experiences

• Finding Clients Outside Your Circle of Influence
• Responding to RFPs
• Networking with other consultants
• Having a presence where companies will look for
  consultants

20
Experiences

• Pricing Getting Paid for Your Work
• Fixed retainer vs. hourly rates
• Package your services
• Create levels of service time e.g. daily, weekly,
  monthly rates
• Get a retainer up front
• deduct from final invoice at end of project
• Invoice at least monthly

21
Experiences

• When Youre Working Youre Not Marketing
• See-saw battle feast famine
• Find a balance
• Find ways to keep marketing while busy with
  clients and projects

22
Experiences

• You Dont Have All The Skills For A Project
• Find others who can work with you on projects
• Joint proposals are acceptable for many
  government or public contracts

23
Experiences

• Working Alone Limited Contact With Others
• Feeling of being alone, need to be connected with
  others
• Find other like minded independent consultants

24
Experiences

• Working From A Home Office
• Your Image
• Distractions
• Time Management

25
Experiences

• Working With Clients from A Distance
• Web conferencing with camera
• Exchange files online during conference
• Technology is still developing, not always smooth