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As a consultant, you’re viewed as an expert in your field. Wouldn’t you like to cash in on that expertise and gain more clients? Here are 7 ways to use the web to close more consulting engagements.

1. Research Client Markets Most Likely to Use Your Consulting Services

Millions of companies are available to you over the Internet. Find your target market: those that need and want the consulting services you have to offer.

2. Research and Learn Something About the Prospect’s Business Problems

Every business has problems and issues. Find your prospect’s most pressing business problems and develop solutions. Better yet, help solve your prospect’s customer’s problems.

3. Write Articles Containing Overviews of Possible Solutions to Business Problems

Article marketing works. Use it. Establish yourself as a subject matter expert in your consulting field. Credibility will carry you a long way.

4. Drive Prospects to Your Website – Use Search-engine Friendly Keywords in Your Articles

Research the keywords your prospects use on search engines, to find your services. Use these words in your articles to obtain search engine ‘hits’.

5. Write an E-Book Describing Your Consulting Approach and Philosophies

Write an eight to ten page E-book that appeals to your target market.

6. Offer a Free E-Book to Those Who Visit Your Website

Giving away a downloadable E-book furthers your credibility engaging the law of reciprocity within your prospect.

7. Follow-up With Every Prospect that Contacts You

You’ve done a lot of work to benefit your target market. To close more business, directly contact each prospect receiving your E-book.

This article is for those owners of consulting companies who are looking for ways to grow their business by boosting their sign up rate and by positioning themselves as industry leaders or the best in their chosen niche. The following tips are for you:

1. Check on your competitors. Do your research online and type in the consulting service that you offer (IT consulting, business consulting, strategy consulting, etc.) and access the first 10 sites that come up on the search page results. These are your strongest competitors. Know what strategies they are using and the quality of service that they provide. You can hire third party researchers who can really dig deeper to get as much information as possible. You will need to know everything that these people are doing so you can easily create an action plan to outplay them.

2. Take feedback seriously. If your previous customers got issues with your service, make sure that you do something about it right away. The feedback of your clients are your best allies when identifying your weaknesses so don’t ignore them. Make necessary improvements and adjustments whenever you see fit — your customers will surely appreciate it.

3. Strive to offer 100% satisfaction. This is the best thing that you can do to secure more clients while you retain the old ones. You see, when you make your customers happy, they are most likely to come back. Not only that, they’ll also be happy to spread the word out. As word-of-mouth of advertising is still the best form of marketing, this can surely bring a lot of business on your doorstep. So, strive to give your clients everything that they are looking for and even more to easily impress them.

4. Plan a targeted and aggressive marketing campaign. One of the keys to boost your sign up rate is to promote easy recall among your target market. This can be achieved by simply planning and executing an aggressive and highly targeted marketing campaign. Use as many internet marketing tools as you can and form an effective marketing team that is an expert when it comes to connecting with your target market and in properly building up your offerings.

5. Offer free trial. Most people these days would like to have a guarantee that the consulting company is the right fit before they sign up. Help these people make that decision by giving them a sneak peek on your consulting services. Offer them 1-2 free sessions so they can gauge if you are really the best company that can offer them their learning needs.

Becoming a 6-figure Arbonne Internet Consultant can be frustrating. Especially when you’re doing everything your upline has told you to do and you’re not seeing any results from it. So, what I’m going to do is share with you some tips on how to become a 6-figure Arbonne Internet Consultant.

That way, you can build your business the easy way.

The tips on succeeding as an Arbonne Internet Consultant are:

1. Know Your Target Audience. The first thing you have to do is know your target market or the people who already wants what you have to offer. This will be people who want to improve their health or their skincare. Not everyone wants your Arbonne products.

When you know your target market, you will be able to sell them products easily. And if you are using the internet, you will have them buying products from your site, emailing you, or calling you.

2. Understand Your Products. The next thing you have to know in order to become a 6-figure Arbonne Internet Consultant is to understand your products. When you are using the internet to grow your business, you may have people who ask you how a product works.

Or they may ask you if you products will help them with a certain problem. If you know and understand your Arbonne products, you will be able to help them. This will help you add dozens of people into your downline.

3. Have A System. Another tip on becoming a successful Arbonne Internet Consultant is to have a system in place. This will help you and your downline succeed. When you have a system, you will be able to attract a lot of people to your business.

These are the tips on how to become a 6-figure Arbonne Internet Consultant. If you are serious about growing your business, you should do something about it now. This is the perfect time for you to grow your downline.

I may be considered a little late to the game by some of you, but I am just now reading Michael E. Gerber’s best-selling business book The E Myth – Why Most Small Businesses Don’t Work and What to Do About It. What a goldmine of small business information that, I think, should be required reading for up and coming grant writing consultants.

You see, the reason that I say I’m late to the game is that I should have read this book before I hung out my shingle as a grant consultant – ten years ago. It certainly would have saved me some heartache and failures along the way. I couldn’t help but say “Yes! That was me!” over and over throughout the book as he talks about The Entrepreneur, The Manager and The Technician and the need for all three in a small business. And that’s what you become when you begin your own consultancy – a small business. So wouldn’t it make sense to not only engage your Technician side (the practical in getting grants written) but the Entrepreneur and the Manager sides as well?

Let me explain. When I first began my consulting business, all I concentrated on was writing the best grant application that I possibly could. My business flourished as word of mouth spread about my winning grant record. However, I drove myself crazy with multiple clients, multiple deadlines and the feeling that I was just holding my head above water. I had to even turn away potential clients because I just couldn’t keep up the pace. It wasn’t until later that I realized that I had to be in control of the business – not the business controlling me. I then learned to embrace the other two important sides of my business which included growing my business (entrepreneurship) and management of my small business. I had to be all three: The Entrepreneur, The Manager and The Technician. Once I figured this out my business exploded and I was happy and not so crazed to enjoy it!

Let me share some of Michael’s wisdom with you that I wish someone had shared with me when I was starting out: (I have put my own personal spin on his advice as it relates to grant consulting)

• Think about the future of your business and not just the here and now. How many clients are ideal for now and one year and even five years from the present? Learn about processes that can take you from one step to the next.
• Know that one day, to continue to grow, you will need some assistance. Proofreaders, fact checkers and your own sub-contractors are possibilities. Don’t box yourself in. Allow yourself the opportunity for growth.
• Knowledge is key! Familiarize yourself with trends in your business including, but not limited to, grant writing, small business consulting, traditional marketing and social media marketing.
• Remember that when your clients are buying your services, it’s not your business’s ability to give them what they want but your ability to give them what they want. Invest in yourself wisely!

If you’re even considering grant consulting as a career, you may be saying “But Betsy, I’m just having a hard enough time even thinking about getting myself started – let alone all these other things you’ve mentioned.” That’s okay because the point is to just start – eventually you’ll begin to notice a subtle difference as your business grows and you’ll now be prepared to embrace that growth.

Do you now feel more ready to begin your own grant consulting business? Download my f.r.e.e. eBook You Can Become a Grant Consultant. In it, you’ll find practical steps to get you started. Remember, with more than 1.8 million nonprofits in the U.S. alone, grant writers are in much higher demand than supply guaranteeing you consistent income if marketed correctly.

The purpose of a marketing consultant is to help a company figure out the best ways to promote themselves and their products or services. Many business owners feel that this is a job they can easily accomplish themselves. But a consultant can bring a fresh pair of eyes to bear on the current state of affairs – and offer new ideas to solve old problems.

The Role of a Marketing Consultant

In fact, solving problems is the main focus of a marketing consultant. They are qualified to do so because they have encountered many situations in the business world, and used their creative thinking processes to find a way to make a positive change where it is most needed.

Put quite simply, marketing consultants are paid to think. Although no two consultants think alike, their ability to analyse a situation and come up with creative solutions is the key factor that makes each successful in this line of work.

The thinking process begins with a definition of the problem, continues with a diagnosis of the underlying cause, and then ends with a viable solution, or several. Coming into a company as an outsider helps a consultant get to the real root of the issue. Oftentimes, corporate executives are too close to the problem – or too unwilling to admit that the problem exists.

Thinking of Ideas

It was decades ago that the concept of ideas shaped into an experience curve would change the future of consultancy and that a few good ideas could be worth their weight in gold. This has been very true. Today, more than ever, ideas continue to be the driving force behind steering a business to success. In fact, it is the creative process found in top consulting firms that has made university-level research nearly superfluous.

From the creative ideas proposed by marketing consultants worldwide come the directives and principles they use to guide executives to increased market share, brand awareness, and market penetration. Each individual case is chronicled so that it forms the basis of an informational databank. Whilst the situation at any two companies will never be totally similar, there are successful ideas garnered that can be implemented in a variety of cases.

Marketing itself is a creative endeavour. It is more than advertising, it involves promotion, market placement, market reach, and a host of other variables that can take a company’s profits and push them to the upper limits. Sometimes a solution is as simple as changing the placement of products on the market shelf; other times it takes a completely different mindset to attack a problem in an innovative manner. In either case creativity is key, and this extends to not only finding solutions, but implementing them, as well.

Marketing consultants are experts when it comes to advanced thinking and fresh ideas. In a market where sales have gone stale, their advice and direction can be just what is needed to keep a company from closing its doors.