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Selling Consulting Services On Line
May 17th, 2010 | Posted in SEO.Getting clients is perhaps the most daunting task facing any new entrepreneur seeking to create a new business by providing consulting services. Especially during recessionary times, many new consulting businesses may emerge in a particular field selling services within shrinking target markets. In the end, success or failure of a consulting business will depend on both the value of the service and the ability of the consultant to sell it.
Internet sales has perhaps overshadowed personal selling ability in the minds of many new consultants in terms of which may be more important. Many techniques, including Low Cost SEO are available to help market consulting services, but ‘cold calling’ or reaching out to prospective clients without an invitation is a task most would rather avoid. In truth, both methods are required to successfully bring a new consulting practice to profitability.
Personal sales ability should work side by side with on-line marketing to get the consulting practice into profitability. In short, on line marketing can generate leads. Personal selling ability is necessary to convert a prospect into a customer.
Competing for new business over the internet requires the ability and skill to of course deliver the service, but it also requires developing a web page or presence that the common search engines such as Google will recognize and provide to internet users searching for help. There are three ‘keys’ for a successful on-line marketing campaign; Service Differentiation, Niche Identification and Active Positioning via website and direct mail.
Service Differentiation: Also considered the central point of the consultant’s value proposition, differentiating the service and establishing the value in the minds of potential customers sets the consultant’s abilities apart from her/his competitors. The consultant must be able to articulate the reasons why he/she is a more valuable investment than others in the field. This differentiation also plays a key role in setting the consultant’s web page apart from others.
Niche Identification: A key consideration for identifying a target market is evaluation of which types of companies need the consultant’s services. Additionally, it is important to consider which among these types of companies have the ability to pay the consultant’s fees. Many firms in recessionary times have high need for specialized services, but their ability to pay is compromised by cash flow and sales problems of their own. The consultant must make the case to a prospect that their services will result in either significant additional savings or more sales.
“Active Positioning” is the art of presenting the value proposition to the target market or ‘niche.’ Once the differentiated message is determined and a niche identified, reaching those prospects may be done by positioning a web page to reach key target markets or those that have the need for the service.
Web pages may be developed using keywords that are central to the value proposition or describe the need facing client prospects when they need a consultant’s services. For instance, a web page could be constructed around something like “Water Rate Consulting” for those water utility providers that need help controlling costs and keeping their customers happy with the fee structure. Building a web page around this term would then require the page to contain keyword phrases, page titles and headlines that contained the phrase “water rate consultants.”
Use of geographic terms in the keyword string is also a useful part of the Active Positioning phase. After all, the consultant may not provide service to all areas of the country. Personal training consultants might be willing to travel for the right consulting fee, but they are practically constrained to doing business in their city or area and may be required to further identify their services for their specialty. This leads to web pages constructed around terms like “knee rehabilitation in Dallas.”
Starting up a new consulting business and building a profitable client base requires both personal selling skills and the ability to reach out to new potential customers. The consultant’s web page can accomplish the lead generation part of the process.
Matthew Stone provides Low Cost SEO and Search Engine Marketing services to organizations across the country. Assisting companies of all sizes compete for new revenue and sales using the internet search engines, Matt’s company drives new business to client web environments. Click here to get your own unique version of this article with free reprint rights.
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