Category: Offline Consulting

If you work with Internet consulting, it’s likely that most of the business you do is online. Most clients who already are web savvy enough to get online and go hunting for the help they need to make their businesses a success won’t necessarily require you to meet in person. In fact, the beauty of working online is that it means that you can expand your clientele to around the world. Even if you live in Texas, there’s absolutely no reason why you shouldn’t be able to work with clients in Singapore or South Africa or anywhere in between. The only limit is time zones!

However, if you’re reading this article, it means that you’re interested in trying to network with a different genre of client, the ones who are not yet on the Internet. Even for people who are offline that would like to make the switch to a virtual marketplace might not necessarily have the skills or the equipment to work with you over the Internet.

This is all well and good – as a consultant you’ll be able to instruct those who are unsure of how Internet marketing works and help them get the virtual presence that’s all but required of businesses in the modern era. The trouble is that with offline customers, you’ll often have to make the first steps in an offline fashion. Which, essentially, means getting back to basics and wooing clients the old fashioned way.

If you’re looking to make a dent in the offline consulting world, as yourself an honest question: are you comfortable with meeting clients face to face? With so many methods of communication available through the Internet these days, it’s not surprising that many who work in online marketing never eve see the people that they’re working with. But if you’re looking to recruit clients from a group of people who might not even have personal computers, you’ll have a bit of a hard time doing business with them over the Internet. This means that you’ll need to brush up on your social interviewing skills – as well as your ability to schmooze in person. Remember those networking classes you took in high school and college? Now is the time to put them to work!

Some of the necessities for those who are looking to work with offline clients include reliable transportation, a good wardrobe, and emergency plans for things like childcare. IF you’re working with clients face to face, you have to be able to carve out time in your schedule to attend only to them. Many who work virtually have forgotten about these basic business tenants – but if you want to transition back to the offline world in order to find clients, your business practices will have to make that transition as well!

One of the most basic decisions for any business to decide when they are getting out there in the world is how or what to specialize in. When you’re an online consultant working with offline clients, the situation is no different. The Internet is a big place, after all. What parts of it do you have personal expertise in, and which would you like to promote to your potential clients?

There are two major approaches to decide between to this end: working as a generalist or a specialist. There are pros and cons in deciding between the two, and both options need to be looked at seriously when you’re considering working with offline clients.

Approaching your clients as a generalist has several advantages. Namely, being able to talk about a wide variety of subjects when it comes to putting a business online is likely to pique the interest of potential customers more than just speaking on one subject. Also, offline customers may have very specific preferences when it comes to online marketing – they may be all about Facebook but have reservations concerning Twitter – and being able to address the concerns and wants of different clients can be a great boon in making you successful in this field. You may encounter problems if potential clients outright ask you for a specialty, though.

Insofar as specialists are concerned, the major advantage that they have is the appearance of expertise. If you can bring a portfolio of projects all specializing in the same area, it creates a sense of security in your clients – if you work with the same facet of online marketing all the time, you must really know what you’re talking about. Being able to speak in depth on certain topics can get your clients to open up to you more and your obvious well of knowledge certain subjects will encourage them to speak with you further. However, if you’re over specialized and can’t present a breadth of knowledge, certain clients might be turned off.

Many people find success in combining the two approaches – that is, a general knowledge of all subjects and then a specialty or two to try and reel clients in that way. Whatever makeup works well for you and your company, be sure that you understand if you’re a generalist or a specialist or some kind of combination before going in and speaking with clients. When you have mastery of what you are trying to be, your clients will pick up on your certitude. This will make getting business easier – and if you know what you’re able to offer, getting the deed done will be swifter than you ever thought possible!

If you’re looking to go into consulting, remember that the real product you’re selling isn’t your expertise in a subject or your knowledge or even your advice. What you’re actually selling is yourself.

Who you are is a full package. This means that you need to know yourself from soup to nuts, and understand who you are both as a person and a professional, and what exactly you can bring to the table when it comes to the needs of the client. This requires a great deal of self-awareness, as well as a high amount of business savvy.

Not only do you need to be knowledgeable, but you also have to be able to be able to sell yourself, as well. This sounds a lot more titillating than it actually is – a lot of “selling yourself” involves getting social networking accounts and schmoozing with potential clients. Never underestimate the power of the schmooze – if you’ve got serious social skills, now is the time to have them shine. If you don’t, now is the time to learn to cultivate some.

Another thing to consider when you’re going into the business of consulting is how much you’re actually worth. Your mom might say that you’re worth your weight in gold, but it’s unlikely that most clients will say the same. In general it’s a good idea to charge your clients hourly rather than by the job, as it presents a more consistently professional image. It’s more difficult to judge how much an individual job may be worth, too, and if clients believe that other clients are getting preferential treatment, it does damage to the reputation of your company or your name, which is anathema in consulting.

Remember to take the time to establish a relationship with the client that will go beyond the first sale. Building and cultivating longevity in your consulting endeavors should be one of your most important goals – if you can sow the right relationship in the beginning, it’s very possible you might have a customer for life. Treating clients like long term business partners right off the bat helps – be sure to approach new clients with a professional attitude and a comprehensive plan as to how you are the right consultant for the job. A firm handshake and smile will go farther than you will ever know.

In short, it’s not just about your ability to think and your expertise in a particular subject that will make you a god consultant. There are of course, millions of people who have the knowledge to be excellent consultants but only a small amount of people are able to make it happen. It’s very important to remember to package yourself as first-class goods and get out there and market – often, it’s not what you know, but whom you can convince that you know enough to get the job done!

We have already talked about the importance of doing quality work and turning existing clients into evangelists who will give you a glowing recommendation.

The fact remains, however, that you cannot rely exclusively on referrals if you want to make consistent income as a consultant. You will need to get out there and find new clients as you build your business.

This is an area of the business that many new consultants struggle with because they sometimes this cold-calling is the only logical next step. Nothing could be further from the truth. Finding new clients can actually be a very fun and rewarding experience. Like anything else, you will have to get creative and find ways that work best for you. But in this section of the guide, we will share some of the most effective ways to reach out and find new prospective clients for your consulting business:

Networking – In Section 8, we talked about the power of “schmoozing” potential clients and getting to know people who may require your services. Networking is one of the most important business practices you will ever partake in. Make sure that you make a point of regularly attending networking events where you get the opportunity to connect with other business owners. Don’t sell at these events, just make as many people aware of who you are as possible. You never know who you might get introduced to!

Online Advertising – Show your prospective buyers that you believe in what you sell. Buying ads on networks like Google and Facebook allow you to create advertisements that are targeted to local companies and make local offers. You can get started with ad campaigns for $20 and be up and running in a few hours. You very well may a potential buyer!

Offline Advertising – While some of your prospects already spend time on Facebook and Google, many of them are too busy “out in the field” running their business. So online advertising would never reach this crowd. These people do read newspapers and magazines. In smaller cities, a display ad in a newspaper can purchased for a reasonable price. This is a traditional method of marketing but it could very well still work for your consulting business.

Mail – Traditional direct response mailing (ie postcards) or custom mailing can be a good way to find clients. Your local post office likely has an arrangement in place for sending flyers to local businesses. You might also want to target certain companies and send hand written letters to the primary decision makers in the company. When the letter looks personalized and hand written, there is a very good chance it will be opened and read by the person.

Email – Cold calling is something that is not even being suggested in this list because there are more effective ways of getting ahold of clients. Sending cold email, however, is something to take note of. With email, you have the ability to research a company ahead of time and do some fact finding. Look for a company where you truly believe you can deliver serious value to. Then put together an email introducing yourself and quickly mentioning some of the potential benefit you see THEM achieving with a better online strategy. Follow up with a phone call a few days later if you do not get an email response.

Press Release – You can sometimes get free media coverage if you have a story that is of interest to enough people. If you specialize in some kind of consulting service and you have an interesting story that relates to your speciality, try submitting the story to local newspapers. Having a story in print might get an offline company calling you directly as there is perceived credibility attached to your name since you have been published in the paper.

Craigslist – This may seem like a dated solution but the truth of the matter is Craigslist is still one of the busiest sites online. Many businesses go on Craigslist looking for help with different needs in their business. Make sure you keep your finger on the pulse of what is happening on Craigslist weekly.

Introductory Service – Consider visiting companies in person but not with the intention of selling. Offer a free flyer for their waiting room with “Social Media Safety Tips” (as an example) or offer to take a photo of their office and use it to create a Twitter account for their company (as another example). Literally make a point of selling nothing but deliver value first. Now they know who you are and will be more receptive to invites/requests in the future.

Directory Service – Create an online directory or blog that profiles local businesses in the area. Offer a free listing to the companies that you would like to target for your consulting services. Once they see how nice their free listing looks, they will be much more receptive to hearing about what you can offer in terms of your consulting.

One of the most efficient ways to convince anybody that you know what you’re talking about, no matter what the situation, is to provide physical proof of expertise. Sure, you can tell everybody under the sun that you play hockey like Wayne Gretzky, but it’s unlikely you’ll get much credibility on that front until you take the National Hockey League by storm. Once you have physical proof of your excellence regarding anything, people are much more willing to accept that you’re a master at whatever it is. This applies to anything from hockey to knitting to offline consulting.

If you want your clients to take you seriously, whether they’re online or offline, the best thing to do is to show them your own success. Consulting for many people is a career path chosen after finding success in a field. The reasoning behind this is obvious – being a consultant is essentially offering your advice on a particular subject to others who are interested in that advice. For the customer to want your advice, they have to believe that the advice dispensed is worth the time and money they’d need to invest to get that information.

The best way to prove that you’re the Internet marketing expert for your offline clients is to actually have a track record of success. We’re assuming that you have your own online business if you’re interested in helping others with theirs. In the event that you don’t have your own successful online business – why don’t you? If you can’t point to your own success as a business owner to bolster your consulting endeavors, then why should people trust that you’re the right consultant for them?

This doesn’t necessarily mean that you have to go out and start your own business. In fact, having a track record of helping others with online marketing can also cement your place as a consultant, as it shows that not only do you know how to make yourself successful, but also others.

In short, if you really want to make it in offline consulting, you’ll need to be able to put your money where your mouth is. If you don’t have experience working with online businesses, then it might help you to assist with some local projects or even spend some time bolstering your own online business before really heading out to try and recruit the offline clients. When you can come in the door with guns blazing and a track record of success, you’re already halfway toward getting those hard to impress offline customers. Being able to show those who don’t have an Internet footprint a track record of success is one of the most important things you can do in this business. In fact, some might say it’s the first vital step toward getting any business as a consultant at all!

With the advent of the Internet over the past couple of decades, it seems as though everybody and their mother is on the Internet. Of course, the level of proficiency that individuals and companies have when working with the Internet is as varied as there are clouds in the sky. Some companies have really figured out how to use the Internet as a formidable marketing tool and are experts of the highest degree – others are still wondering what “www” happens to stand for.

If you happen to be an online consulting company who works with businesses in order to help them better their online image, you’re likely familiar with working with clients who run the gamut when it comes to technical savvy and expertise. However, have you considered the vast untapped world of the offline business?

It may seem as though everybody has a website, but the fact of the matter is that there are millions of businesses out there who don’t have an Internet footprint at all.

This represents a significant portion of businesses in America and across the world. It can be more difficult to reach out to these companies since, well, if they don’t have an Internet presence and you’re an Internet consulting company, you need to be able to find an arena in which to promote your services and convince these offline businesses that it’s worth their time and money to go virtual.

Of course, it shouldn’t be difficult to outline to a business why working on the Internet is a good idea. Remind an offline business about the huge amount of commerce that happens over the Internet and all of the potential clients who are looking over their business when they get on the Internet to search for companies to fit their needs and wants. Particularly with the younger generation, the first place that people look when they want to buy an item yet don’t know where to go is the Internet! Having a website is no guarantee that you’ll be able to get every single client that stops by, of course, but remind them that if they don’t have a presence on the Internet they’ll miss 100% of these potential leads!

Remember that there are a great deal of businesses that are not on the Internet. If you’re a savvy consulting company, you’ll consider this untapped resource as a potential outlet for new business. After all, while the competition is zigging to keep up with the online crowd, you’ll be zagging and reaching out to a group of potential customers that are constantly overlooked.

It may seem as though everybody is on the Internet, but there are millions who are not. Reach out to this group of people to both help their business while bettering yours at the same time!

If you’re an online company who specializes in consulting, you’d be wise to turn your eye to the thousands of businesses that have no sort of Internet footprint whatsoever. Your business may primarily deal with startups who come to you looking to better their Internet presence, but the fact of the matter is that there are potentially millions of dollars worth of customers who won’t look your way at all. This is not because they’re inherently opposed to the Internet, just that many people are wary of the Internet and don’t know how to approach it at all.

The people who aren’t on the Internet at all should be a prime concern if you’ve got an online consulting business that deals with helping companies improve their online images. Of course, most of the time you’re used to having clients come to you to request your services, but being proactive on your part can reap great rewards. Not only is this a mostly untapped source of revenue, but also most businesses can benefit from any sort of online presence, even if it’s something as simple as a Twitter account. If you can introduce web-wary clients to these easy to navigate tools, you’ll be able to build a steady business relationship with them and help them take it to the next level when they feel comfortable.

Of course, the first question to ask is thus: how do you, an online consultant, get in touch with companies who aren’t online at all?

The simple answer? Go local.

You likely know of a few hole in the wall spots around town that aren’t likely to have a very strong Internet presence, if they have one at all. Consider actually physically going to these businesses – yes! Get off the Internet for a moment – and see if you can talk with the owners about their online marketing potential. Of course, acting like a door-to-door salesman might not be your style, but consider working through contacts to see if you can speak with the owner on a more “friendly” level, rather than walking straight up and offering your services. Not to say that the blunt approach won’t work sometimes – you might be surprised with how often it will – but being able to work through connections will often make the process easier. And once you have one client under your wing, it’s amazing how fast word will spread.

The old adage “think globally, act locally” is so true in the case of online consulting companies working with offline customers. You’ll need to think of terms of the Internet – which is a worldwide endeavor – but also bring your local knowledge and connections into play as well. When you combine these two initiatives, you’ll be surprised at how powerful they can be.

The world of offline consulting is massive. There are so many opportunities and such a wide variety of ways to help an offline business find success online.

In this section of the guide, you will find a list of services that many offline consultants are performing today in their own consulting companies. It is impossible to list every possible service opportunity but let this list serve as a starting point and you can create your own unique ideas from there.

Web Design – Creating websites, company blogs, mobile sites or specialized sites to meet a businesses particular industry needs.

Website/Blog Maintenance – Once a site goes live, it needs to stay current. Many companies do not have the time or expertise to do this themselves so it presents a fantastic consulting opportunity.

Search Engine Optimization – Once a company has a website live on the internet, they need to make sure the site is found by potential buyers. SEO services can be an easy sell if the client sees the potential payoff of being ranked high on search engines. Google Places is a “must learn” for local SEO.

Media Buy Campaigns – Most companies have advertising budgets and they understand that their audience is surfing websites like Facebook. Helping companies run effective Pay Per Click campaigns on these kind of networks can be very profitable for both the consultant and the offline company.

Lead Management – Generating and managing leads found through online methods can also be a profitable service. If you can help a company capture warm/hot leads online and turn them into buyers, you will have repeat business for a long time.

Domain Registration and Hosting – While these are both very inexpensive things to setup, most offline companies don’t even know where to begin. This is a very easy way to help a company and make a nice profit as a consultant.

Social Media Management – Ask any local business if they think Twitter and Facebook are important and they will agree. They will also be willing to pay credible consultants a management fee if they can take care of the company’s social media profiles.

Mobile Marketing – Mobile media is exploding and offline companies are noticing that most of their customers are carrying around hand held devices. Turning those devices into marketing messages for a local business is something that many of these companies would be very interested in learning about.

Video Marketing – Once a business has a website and/or company blog running, they are going to attract an online audience. A great way to extend more value to that online audience is showing them videos of the company in action. A restaurant owner can show “behind the scenes” footage of the kitchen, a dry cleaner can show the detailed process they follow to make their client’s clothes come out clean and perfect every time.

There are many other opportunities available to a consultant when it comes to working with offline companies. In the end it all boils down to your interests, your skill set and what the customer sees as the highest value in terms of return on investment.

If you’re working with clients in the offline world, you need to cultivate the same values you have while working online. If you’re looking to be a consultant of any kind, there are certain tenants you need to hold dear. We’ve compiled some of the most important for you to take a look at, internalize, and understand. Once you do, get out there and show everybody what you’re made of when it comes to consulting!

Listen to your clients. There is a fine balance between offering valid advice and being pushy. At the end of the day the client is paying you for the advice you can give – and also for getting the job done in a way that they deem satisfactory. It may be frustrating when you have a brilliant idea and yet the client seems stubborn, but you’ll have to give in to the one paying your bill at the end of the day. Remember, always offer advice, but understand that the last decision is up to the client. You don’t want to be in the position of going against the client’s preferences and then finding that your suggestion didn’t turn out as planned!

Quickly establish rapport. Out of all the businesses that you could be going into, consulting is very much based on the relationship that you have with the client. A great relationship with one client can lead to them coming back to you the next time that they need a job done, as well as possible job referrals. Make sure to treat each and every client as if they’re extremely important – because they are!

Honesty is the best policy. Cliché, yes. True? Very much so. You are a consultant in order to offer the clients the advice they need, when they need it. The desire to please the client may be strong – and is very important – but don’t sugar coat unpleasant truths. If something is going wrong, the client needs to know as soon as it is convenient. Don’t be afraid to let the client know when something may be a bad idea. Of course, if the client is very particular about having things done a certain way that’s a choice that’s entirely up to them, but never tell a client that everything will be fine if it won’t.

Flexibility is key. One of the reasons why people hire consultants in the first place is due to the degree of flexibility that they can offer. Be prompt with your response times to emails. Give your clients your personal number. Stay on alert for them, and if they have time to do business with you at nine in the evening, it’s probably best for you to take them up on it. This doesn’t mean that you need to let the client dominate your entire life, but being able to respond to queries and work requests within a short period of time is what makes good consultants great.

Don’t overprice your services. It can be very tempting to charge clients an arm and a leg for your help, particularly if you’re a consultant with years and years of experience in the industry. Successful consultants though, are just worth their weight in gold – they’re aware of how much they’re worth and charge the client accordingly. This is not to say that you shouldn’t charge what you’re worth, but if you’re charging a rate that’s significantly higher than that of your competition, you’d better have a convincing reason why this is so.

Don’t undercharge for your services. On the flip side of the charge equation, be sure not to undersell yourself, either. First of all, it can be difficult to make a living at consulting if you’re not charging the proper prices. Second, no client likes the prices to be raised in the future, and no client is ever going to tell you that you don’t charge enough!

Don’t put all your eggs in one basket. The true nature of consulting work is that it’s a little bit unsteady – some weeks it might seem like you’ve got clients falling out of your ears, while others nobody ever seems to be calling. To this end, it’s important to spread out your business among many clients, and not just to rely on the services of one major company. After all, as a consultant you’re not a permanent member of the company, and it’s entirely possible that one week they’ll find somebody that they think can do the job better or they decide that they just don’t need a consultant anymore. Spreading out your work options means that you’ve got backup incase somebody bails!

Take as much work as you can, but never compromise quality. If you’re really reelin’ ‘em in, that’s great news. However, even if you have a thousand people knocking at your door, you’ll need to have the discipline to tell some of them no. Never take on more work than you can handle. Being a consultant means that your reputation is extremely important – and anything that goes toward tarnishing that reputation is anathema. If you have a thousand potential clients but can only take on two, commit to your 2 clients and help the other prospects find a solution by recommending other consultants (great networking opportunity for you) or at least having a checklist that they can use to find a good consultant. This might bring you their business in the future.

Current clients are more important than gold. This is true for obvious reasons – namely, your current clients are the ones providing you with revenue. Whatever you need to do to keep these clients happy and on your side is priority number one. Most literature out on the Internet is dedicated toward helping consultants find new clients, but there’s very little stressing the importance of the clients that you may already have. Keep them coming back for more – and keep them wanting to advertise your services out to others, as well!

Never stop looking for new clients. It’s important to keep your current clients happy and pleased with your work, but you also need to constantly monitor the market for new leads. At least one third of the time you spend at work during the week should be dedicated toward canvassing the wires for potential new clients. Remember that most leads don’t pan out, so even if you’ve got a lot on your plate, you should still be looking for more work. Who knows, you might end up landing your next major project or an opportunity that will lead to your magnum opus project as a consultant tomorrow on CraigsList! Be sure to take the time to look.

Credibility is the most important thing. Clients will first contact you because of your skills that you bring to the table. If they need an consultant to help them with their online marketing, they may turn to you because you have a distinguished record of clients assisted, or maybe your own online business is extremely successful. Whatever the case, once they contact you due to your skills, they’ll stay around because of your credibility. Do you keep your promises? Do you get projects in on time? Are your opinions honest, even when they aren’t the ones that the client would like to hear? If you market goods and services to your clients, are they ones that the clients might honestly be interested in or is it shameless promotion? Building a reputation of credibility will take you far as a consultant – and if you end up with a record for poor credibility your business will go belly up faster than you can say, “you lied.” Keep your clients and your business – be honest.

Being an offline consultant does sound like a good job to many people. After all, it’s generally a freelance opportunity that will allow you to set your own hours and work when and where you want. In addition, you get to help introduce people who may not know that much about the Internet to the world of online marketing, which can be a very rewarding job, particularly when you’re successful!

However, there’s an important question to ask yourself before you get involved in offline consulting – namely, are you the right person for the job? Just because you happen to know how to get online and update a Twitter account doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re the person to help revolutionize sleepy businesses the world over. Of course that doesn’t meant that there aren’t ways for anybody get to the skills to become an awesome offline consultant, but are you ready to take the step right now?

First of all, read these acronyms: SEO, SMO, PPC. Do you know what they mean? The answers are of course, search engine optimization, social media optimization, and pay per click. If you didn’t know what these meant or you don’t know what they are after having the acronyms decoded – stop, do not pass go, do not collect 200 dollars, and do not get into the business of offline consulting. While you might be moderately familiar with the Internet in general, being able to lead somebody’s business into the realm of online marketing requires a lot of expertise on your part. If you don’t know the lingo, it’s not time for you to go into business.

Also, sit down and ask yourself if you really enjoy teaching. Essentially, working in consulting is like sitting down and explaining a subject from its very roots, particularly if you’re going to be working with offline clients. The vast majority of these clients will have zero tech savvy at all, so you need to know how to be patient and explain the very technical in ways that laypeople will understand. Even if you do know what SEO means, it’s unlikely that your offline client will know what it is. If you’re willing to take on the role of being a teacher as well as a consultant, you’re already halfway toward making this job a reality, but if you’d rather deal with those who don’t need to have their hands held throughout the process, you might want to look elsewhere for employment!

Examine your motives and your own personal characteristics before embarking on this exciting and yet challenging career. Having a little bit of self-knowledge will get you and your clients far! In the event that this isn’t the career path for you, be honest with yourself – you and your potential clients will be much happier this way!