The growth of your consulting fees is probably the safest way to grow your practice in the early stages. Don’t start hiring lots of people before you have established top consulting fees and premium rates. But how do you start developing your fees?

Read on to find out…

How to Raise Consulting Fees – Book A Client Meeting Today without Cold Calling

7 Ways To Increase Your Consulting Fees

1. Focus on client value not your time or processes. Client value is the benefit that you bring, they don’t give “a stuff” about your processes or time – they’re really just features. I also try and agree the fees collaboratively with the client, that way I get instant feedback on their priorities. Often they may drop a particular benefit because the cost doesn’t stack up with their perceived value. That’s fine, better to find out sooner than later when you send the proposal out and you can’t amend your proposition.
2. Gravitate to more senior decision makers in the client organisation for your engagement. Generally, they have larger problems, bigger budgets and more to gain from your service.
3. Introduce risk sharing. Seek a smaller amount up front to cover your costs and basic time and then go for a bonus at the end based upon a successful outcome. Only practice this approach if the outcome is readily measurable and relatively short term. Typically, I use this approach with start-ups who are seeking investment. I cover my costs upfront and then get a percentage of funds raised downstream. In fact my biggest pay days have been as a result of this approach.
4. Develop Intellectual Property such as consulting tools and techniques. As usual, I charge the client for my time and costs but then add on a premium for licensing the techniques to the client. For some techniques this can even mean recurring revenue because they continue to use the tools after you have completed the assignment. However, make sure that the tools and techniques really do bring massive productivity improvement to the assignment.
5. Don’t get too greedy. Remember, if you become a trusted advisor to the client then you will have business for life. Therefore, with new clients, get in “under the radar” with more modest fees and shorter assignments. Then when you really understand their problems and priorities increase your fees for subsequent assignments. One important consideration is not to establish a fee rate based on your time, that way it is easier to increase your fees later for solving the bigger problems.
6. Outsource all the low value tasks that take lots of time to contractors or even to the client organisation. Remember, you get high consulting fees for doing the clever stuff that other people cannot do.
7. Build demand for your service first before going for high fees. You’re negotiating position is much stronger when you are in demand, than when you are scratching around to make ends meet. I know of one coach who started off by only offering his services on a Wednesday. This established scarcity and increased the perception of value from his clients. Only when Wednesday was fully sold at the fees that he wanted, did he then move on to selling Thursdays. Just watch how your consulting fees soar when you’re booked wall to wall!

I hope this helps, good luck with your consulting career. If you want to find out how to boost your consulting fees by increasing your client demand then access the course below – “How To Book A Client Meeting Now, Without The Gut Wrenching Pain Of Cold Calling”:

 How to Raise Consulting Fees – Book A Client Meeting Today without Cold Calling

With this in mind I’ve put some tips together to attract customers to established consultancy businesses.

Tip #1: Start with your existing customers

The focus is often on attracting new customers, but what about your  existing customers. It is much easier to market to existing customers than to find new customers. You could try a mail shot to existing customers with a loyalty special offer or a free consultancy telephone call.

Tip #2: Attract referrals from existing customers

Why not motivate your existing customers to refer new customers. There could be some kind of reward such as a discount. However, the best way for attracting referrals from customers is to be remarkable – not just good. Think of ways of providing remarkable features in your service that compel customers to tell others. This is the basis for viral marketing. However, try and keep it cool and not too gimmicky.

Tip #3: Improve your market message and stand out from the crowd

How do you differentiate your service? This is absolutely key. Your chances of attracting new customers will be so much better if you have a strong USP (Unique Selling Proposition). That way, you’re not just another consulting company.

I find the best way to develop a USP is to think of your perfect customer where your offer is perfectly matched to their requirement. Not just the consulting but the whole service including: pre-sales, guarantees and any follow up.

What was it that was perfect, maybe even follow up with the customer and get their opinion. Then try and encapsulate this perfect service into a snappy sentence that covers the overarching benefit and why it is different to other consulting companies!

Remember Domino pizzas were just a local pizza take away until they discovered their USP:

“Hot pizzas in 30 minutes or your money back!”

Once you have captured your USP, then print it on the back of your business cards and put it in your advertising. That way you’ll attract similar perfect customers.

Tip #4: Get free advertising and an avalanche of referrals

Your business is not just a conulting company but a supplier of solutions to your customers. When people buy a drill bit, it’s not the drill that they are looking for but the HOLE!

Apply this to your service and try to work out the solutions that your customers are looking for. Then write editorial type articles that address these solutions and any issues. If you keep it objective, editorial and genuinely useful to readers, then trade journals and magazines will want to include your articles within their publications.

Finally, include in the resource box of the article a statement that describes your area of expertise, your contact details and offer a free guide to readers who wish to follow up with you.

This way you will get excellent well qualified leads.

Tip #5: Start a Newsletter

It is an excellent way of having a dialogue with all your customers simultaneously.  I’m a big fan of producing a regular newsletter or email.  With my customers, many were not aware of the other services that we performed. My newsletter now let’s me keep them all up to date.

Tip #6: Internet marketing

The internet has revolutionised marketing for small businesses. Make sure that you have a strong web site that properly positions your business and it’s unique proposition. Make sure that there is a sign-up process where you can catch subscriber contact details. Then drive masses of traffic to your page using:

• Search engine optimisation
• Pay per click advertising (such as google ads)
• JV links on other relevant partner web sites
• Entries in forums
• Articles on web portals

(See my blog post 7 Steps to Create Your Own Web Based Lead Generation System).

I hope these tips help.

However, one technique that I haven’t advocated is cold calling – I hate cold calling! It is very time consuming, demoralising and probably the most ineffective form of marketing that I have experienced. I much prefer positioning where you get your prospects to come to you. That way you have the upper hand and are much more able to negotiate a good price.

This is a common problem where the project just goes on for longer than you expect. The following tips should help, depending on the specifics:

1. Have very clear completion criteria agreed with the client. There should be no ambiguity about whether you have finished or not. If the client changes their mind having agreed the completion criteria, then you need to invoke your change management procedures and bill the client extra accordingly.
2. Be clear about the risks on your side of the contract. For instance, if you are dependent on a contribution from the client for you to be successful, then this needs to be clearly defined and if they don’t honour their side then you should have escalating fees to reflect the extra work that you must do.
3. I also like to stage large contracts so that there is room to negotiate higher fees for later deliverables if there are uncertainties upfront. For instance, I deliver the first deliverable for the agreed fixed price. If during this stage I resolve an uncertainty that will suggest that the next stage could be a higher cost, then I negotiate that before starting the next stage.

It is important to always have in mind the client’s best interests. I have always found that with this attitude firmly in place, the client has always respected that difficulties may arise and is open to re-negotiation where you have been open and honest.

Now I get asked all the time:

How do you get to the top of Google?

It’s no wonder really, two thirds of all internet traffic clicks on the left hand pages (the organic searches) and furthermore, 43% click on the number one slot.

By position 10, this has gone down to a paltry 3%.

If you are thinking about setting up an internet business, read my latest blog to discover how a new entrant can quickly get to the top by following 2 golden rules.

Find out more by clicking below:

Get to the top of Google fast

Of course, the downturn of the economy is on everybody’s minds at the moment.  More than ever, I am of the opinion that the only way to stay afloat is through agility and innovation. It’s important to remember that many of your clients will be arriving at the same conclusion and will be looking to you to help them become more innovative.

With this in mind, I thought that you may be interested in my recent report:

“The Innovation Lens: A Secret Blueprint for Identifying the Next Big Thing”

My free report discusses some of the issues with innovation and highlights proven processes that help you get inside the head of the customer to ensure every launch is a winner. The report is based on a talk that I gave in Munich in June, to the car industry.

Topics covered include:

• Why you shouldn’t listen to the voice of the customer
• The search for Six-Sigma innovation
• How to identify innovation hotspots
• Winning ways to generate concepts

So go and snag a copy from my server at:       www.mindsheet.com

It’s a really simple and quick process with all the privacy caveats thrown in.

Incidentally, this is a good opportunity to get the Mindsheet newsletter that provides innovation tips and news about Mindsheet. In the current climate it’s imperative to stay ahead of the competition and the newsletter aims to address many of the issues you may be facing.

If this is of interest, then please visit my homepage on the Mindsheet website where you will be invited to sign up for the newsletter.

www.mindsheet.com

But how are they going to know it exists, short of shouting about it from the roof tops? You need to get good rankings in the major search engines.  So how do you go about it:

• Can you rely on organic search engine optimisation techniques?
• Or should you resort to pay per click or other advertising techniques?

Before you rush off and do either of these, you should opt for the simple and free method of submitting your site to the key directories and search engines.

Read my latest blog to find out how easy it is to submit your site and whether it’s something you should do for your own business.

1. How to get started in consulting?
2. How to get clients?
3. How much to charge?

I have started a forum on my content management system at:

www.mindsheet.net

The answers to the questions are posted on the consulting forum where you can post your own questions or start a discussion against any thread. It is a good opportunity to meet and learn from others. However, you will have to register first.

Incidentally, you can also post articles onto the system which will establish your own credibility in your respective consulting fields. Remember to sign off with your resource box that describes your field of expertise and provides contact details for follow-up.

This is a great way of automatically generating leads from new customers. The same technique can be repeated on any content site across the internet. Really, this is the first step towards the development of your own lead generation system – vital for any consulting practice.

I will be checking the consulting bulletin board from time to time and posting answers where appropriate.

You see my whole innovation consulting business relies on the internet for:

• Secondary market research
• Technology brokering
• Participant recruitment
• Online surveys
• New customer recruitment for our services
• Relationship building

and so on…

However a few years ago, our internet skills were very hit and miss.  I couldn’t get predictable results.

And then I discovered Commission Blueprint.  Steve Clayton and Tim Godfrey showed me how to:

• conduct keyword research
• find market niches
• develop converting websites
• conduct search engine optimisation
• conduct pay per click advertising

Based on their advice we even launched some new internet businesses that sell other peoples’ products.

It’s no big shake yet but they do bring in a comfortable amount that pays our rent in a high tech technology park.

Well Tim and Steve have done it again.  They’ve completely updated their training programme and included a whole load of new tools and materials.

Check out: www.Mindsheet.com/Commission-Blueprint2

Again I have just bought the updated programme and really the term Commission Blueprint is a misnomer.  Yes it helped us set up some side-businesses that frankly have allowed us to survive the recession BUT, more importantly, it taught us the principles of internet marketing and is core to our business.

Check out: www.Mindsheet.com/Commission-Blueprint2

P.S.  This is not for everyone, it’s not cheap and it’s not a get rich quick scheme.  Instead it’s a solid training course teaching the application of universal marketing principals to the internet.  It will take dedication and hard work to realise its full potential but your business will not look back.

It is your insight, ideas and expertise that will win and retain your clients. Also, your initial ideas for a brochure are likely to change significantly as soon as you start talking to clients. I would say that your clients will ultimately define your business proposition through continued interaction.

Therefore, engage your listening head, talk to lots of potential clients and save the time and money by forgetting the brochure!

Now some of you have been saying that you are not expert on anything which I find highly unlikely. However, if that really is the case, then pick an area of high demand and become expert pronto!

One such area is Search Engine Marketing. It seems that local businesses just cannot get enough of this service. Everyone in the current climate, wants to promote their website, get traffic and further sales. Besides, it really is a very labour intensive task which involves endless website tweaking, writing articles and negotiating backlinks with similar sites.

Having just 10 small to medium size businesses on your books quickly leads to an income of about $100,000 per year. But your service must work. This really is one of the most measurable areas of consulting. You must demonstrate the increase in website visitors and a corresponding increase in sales. If the sales are there, then you will have a nice recurring income!

Steve Clayton has launched a new course on Search Engine Marketing Consulting which holds you by the hand and shows you exactly how to do it, get clients and deliver the assignments.

www.SearchEngineMarketing.com

As usual, the course materials and videos are of a very high standard. He even includes power point presentations of the pitch, proposal proformas, standard letters and even a complete website.

It really is a complete consulting business in a box. I have already been through all the material and now offer the service to local companies.

www.SearchEngineMarketing.com

Anyway, it’s just thought.