How to build your consulting business, month by month

If you’re a consultant who wants to grow your business, there are certainly lots of options at your disposal. Some are complicated; some are simple. Some are pricey; some are free. 
 
If you’ve read any of our previous articles, you’ll know that we’re big fans of “simple” and “free.”
 
That’s the topic of this article: How to boost your consulting business, in one of the simplest, and least expensive means possible. 
 
First, let’s lay down some assumptions. 
 
Techniques for boosting your consulting business
 
For the purposes of this article, we’re going to assume that: 

• You run a boutique consultancy or similar professional-services company.

 

• You’re incredibly good at what you do. 

 

• You have an existing stable of clients. 

 

• You want to pick up new business. 

 
Pretty safe, right? 
 
Now in terms of how-low-the-fruit-is-hanging, you need to factor in another, and more universal, set of assumptions: 

• The hardest prospects to win are brand-new clients. 

 

• The hardest thing to offer them is brand-new services. 

 
See where this is going...? 
 
At the other end of this spectrum, you’ll see—you’ll know—that: 

• The easiest prospects to win are existing clients, whom you can cross-sell, or (even easier) up-sell. 

 

• The easiest thing to offer them is existing services of yours. No new inventions. 

 
So far, so logical. Right? 
 
Let’s continue this exploration. It’s easy. It’s fun. 
 
On the media side of things, it doesn’t take much brainpower to realize that: 

• An all-new website or video requires a lot of work. 

 

• They also cost a lot of money. (And take a lot of time to create.) 

 
So what’s on the other end of this spectrum? What is, well, free?

• Phone calls. 

 

• Email. 

 
Hmmm. 
 
Putting all this together, we’ve arrived at a very simple, and cost-free solution: 

• You want to call or email your existing clients to cross-sell or up-sell them.

 
Okay. That’s a great start. It’s also not rocket science. Why this article? 
 
(And no, it’s not just to see “how many bullet points we could cram into a single blog.”) 
 
First off, we can narrow down the above solution. Let’s nix the phoning. That’s hard for you; worse, it’s intrusive for your existing clients. 
 
So we’re back to email. Free. Easy. Minimally invasive, as a surgeon would say. 
 
But how do you make this work?
 
The soft touch
 
We should lump in with “existing clients” another group: “recent clients.” Those are ones that are at risk of going cold. Indeed, they’re the prime target of what we’re about to suggest. 
 
And what we’re about to suggest couldn’t be simpler: 
 
Send them an email. But it’s not that simple, of course. (Otherwise, this would be a one-sentence article.) 
 
In any direct-response campaign (and that’s effectively what this is), there are three primary factors: 
 
1) The quality of the list. 
 
2) The quality of the offer. 
 
3) The quality of the outreach/vehicle itself. 
 
In this exercise, you’ve already got 1) completed. That’s your list of prospects who need to keep you top-of-mind.
 
That’s an important assumption here. They may have other options besides turning to you, including that most insidious of options: attempting to do it themselves. Makes you shudder, doesn’t it? 
 
So you want your name to be top-of-mind with them, so that when the time comes, they naturally think of you. 
 
This gets to what would be the fourth item on the list above: Timing. 
 
All of this is starting to coalesce now. 
 
Ask yourself: What’s a good interval for them to be reminded that you’re available? We like to use extremes to help find the middle ground. Example: Should you email them every single day? Of course not. Conversely, should you email them once a year? Of course not. 
 
Monthly. That’s good. It’s a nice frequency. 
 
So you now have the list. And you have the timing. All that remains—and this is not to diminish it, because it’s arguably the most important part—is the offer and the way you present it. 
 
Here’s what we suggest. Unlike typical advertising or direct response, this one is very soft. Very subtle. And as un-obtrusive as possible. 
 
That’s because you don’t know what that prospect needs (if anything) at that given moment. Nor do you know the timing for what they may need in the future. You simply need to stay on their radar. 
 
So that’s, basically, the content of your email. Send it out on the first business day of the month. And say something like “Happy August! Here’s hoping this finds you well. Should you need our services this month, simply write back. We’d be happy to help.” We like to add, as a postscript, a link to our latest blog article that would be helpful for them. 
 
And that’s it. 
 
Send it out. Each month. Don’t expect a flood of replies—or any—for any given month. This is what’s known as a “drip campaign.” 
 
Since these are people you’ve served recently, you’re allowed to email them. If they want to opt out, they can. And whenever you speak to new prospects, and they seem to be on the fence or giving you the “Not now,” simply ask them: “Hey. Mind if we add you to our monthly check-in list? It’s just a little email that says ‘Happy August,’ or whatever. You don’t even have to reply. It’s just so that we stay top-of-mind for you.” Ninety-five percent of the time, they’ll say, “Sure.” 
 
Building your business by email
 
And here’s the thing. These things work. We know. We use them. And you shouldn’t be shocked to learn that we’ll often get a reply to, say, a “Happy January” note... in May. Happens all the time. These prospects are jammed. But they remember those monthly check-in’s. So they grab whichever one they can find, click “Reply,” and bang. You’ve got new business. 
 
Mind you, this is only one tiny prong of a multi-pronged outreach approach. But it’s a good one. 
 
Need help promoting and growing your business? Contact us. We’d love to help you, just as we help so many others. 

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