How to Sell Advice

> Click here to join the conversation on this episode in the Mindshare community.

When it comes to value, there are two ways to look at things:

1. The value of the expertise you have/bring to the table
2. The lifetime business value of the outcomes you create

In this episode, I break both of these down in an effort to help you understand the value at the table and also to keep it in mind when pricing your services.

The value of your work is not just the outcomes you deliver today, but the trajectory and foundation you build which lasts many years.

The value also comes from being able to hire you on demand instead of your clients needing to learn things themselves from scratch (a form of leverage).

There are many ways to think about the value you create for your clients, but these are two of the big ones.

Give this a listen and let me know how you think about value around these topics.

—k

> Click here to join the conversation on this episode in the Mindshare community.

Have you ever considered writing a daily blog?

In this episode, I break down some of the main reasons why I do it (and have done for 120 days in a row so far on kevin.me) and why you might consider doing so, too.

Some of the main reasons include:

1. Clarifying your ideas to make them better
2. Creating a body of work that becomes interconnected on your blog
3. Building credibility by sharing your expertise
4. Increasing surface area and marketing gravity
5. Creates the building blocks for your Methodology
6. It makes you more "remarkable" and rare

There are many more reasons to write daily. If you're going to do it, be sure to keep things short and sweet. Otherwise it will burn you and your readers out.

If you're up for a daily writing channel, let me know and I'll open a private section in this group for daily motivation and feedback.

Cheers!

—k

> Click here to join the conversation on this episode in the Mindshare community.

What do you do when your client needs results ASAP?

Or when you have a prospect who has no momentum with their marketing program but expects big things in year one?

In this episode, I talk about setting expectations around the speed marketing should work at.

I talk about what clients to say no to and when to educate them on the big picture.

I also touch on how your job is to build a marketing system for your clients using your methodology. And that takes time.

Give this a listen and let me know what you think!

—k

> Click here to join the conversation on this episode in the Mindshare community.

If you're in a marketing strategy/advisory role, you'll inevitably be called to ask to help hire someone in-house, whether it be a marketing manager, content person, or something else.

Here's my general approach for helping clients find the right candidate.

1. Provide a sample job description
   • Ideally, you have a template you can use. Otherwise, you can find a few similar job descriptions in the wild and send it to them to prepare a draft.
2. Explain the few things that matter most for the position
   • Written communication skills
   • Attention to detail
   • Similar experience
3. Publish jobs on Indeed and LinkedIn
4. Ask them to create a short list of resumes to review together and reduce down to a small handful to interview
5. Once they've interviewed people, see who they feel is the best fit
6. Suggest doing a paid trial project or period
   • Project manager - two week paid trial
   • Markeitng manager - audit the marketing and suggest ways you'd seek to improve things
   • Writer - give them a brief, get them to audit the current content marketing and propose ideas, create a draft article + social media posts for them

The key part of all of this is the trial. I've seen a lot of people who look good on paper and end up being terrible hires. 

The thing is, you never know who's going to be good until you work with them. Get them to do either a trial project or work for two weeks and see if it's a mutual fit.

Hire right, not twice!

Have you hired before and done things differently? Any insight to share? Let me know in the comments below!

—k

> Click here to join the conversation on this episode in the Mindshare community.

Last episode, I talked about how I changed the price and scope up and down for a few different clients recently.

One thing I didn't get into is when to drop your price and when not  to drop your price.

There's a few situation when I might drop the price:

1. When the scope changes significnatly
2. When the value changes significantly (at which time I try to change scope, too)
3. When you have a great client who has given you lots of profitable work in the past, they're easy to work with, and it feels like the right thing to do

I never drop my clients to new prospects who simply ask for a straight discount (red flag), nor do I drop my prices for clients who are not living up to their end of the bargain on the implementation side of things (which impacts value).

At the end of the day, like I wrote about yesterday, you don't want to be the cheap consultant. You want to be the best consultant for people who need and value your work the most.

Otherwise you'll be spread too thin and won't be able to do the necessary groundwork needed to get them actual results.

Do you drop your prices in any other situations? Hit reply and let me know!

—k

> Click here to join the conversation on this episode in the Mindshare community.

There comes a time when you need to change prices with your current clients.

For me, it happens a lot when I work with them for a long time. The value changes over time.

And that's the key part here: value. 

In most cases, I find new ways to create value instead of reducing my rates. I ask questions about goals and needs.
 
But in many cases still, the value decreases once I get all the hard parts of the systems and strategies in place. And with that, it makes sense to have the talk.

I try to check in with my clients often, but especially when I intuit that either I'm doing way too much or not providing a clear enough value equation for them.

If you're not sure, the best thing to do is ask what the goals are and the impact of those goals will be so you can continue making a business case for the work you'e doing. 

I like to pre-empt these conversations as much as possible and suggest new rates or new scopes proactively whenever possible. 

The last thing you want to do is be stuck doing too much work or not feeling like you're adding enough value for your clients. When that happens, it's better to air your thoughts and make proactive adjustments to keep your work aligned with their needs and goals. 

Ultimately, doing this means taking a long-term view. It's about them, not you. And when you put your clients first, you always get the most mutual value out of the relationship.

Listen in for some more context and a few specific examples of changes I've made this month.

—k

> Click here to join the conversation on this episode in the Mindshare community.

Are you fully booked? When it happens, what do you do?

Do you refer work away or put clients on a waiting list?

Mark had a great question last week:

The answer is bigger than simply having a waiting list or not.

In this episode, I talk about things like:

• How limited availability helps create scarcity and therefore higher rates
• How serving a niche market can help you create group programs and training products that serve as temporary solutions while they wait
• Why it might be time to raise your rates if you're in high demand (you can always change them back later)
• Why  it might be time too say goodbye to old, non-ideal, lower-fee clients might not be
• When to use one-off or recurring strategy calls to get the client started while they wait for your full attention
• When to consider doing a one-time project (higher fees) as time permits to kick things off while they wait for your ongoing support
• How to start trying to create more leverage to help more people down the road

At the end of the day, how well you're positioned will determine whether you're interchangeable or whether you can command a waiting list when you get busy. By having a niche focus and rare specializations, you can create that waiting list demand as well as develop training, education, and group programs to continue creating more leverage around your knowledge. 

Good positioning is the lever that makes the rest of your business more profitable and impactful. Keep going!

Hope this helps!

-k

P.S. Got a question you'd like an audio response to? Leave it in the Ask a Question channel and I'll add you to the queue!

> Click here to join the conversation on this episode in the Mindshare community.

Do you find yourself selling the way you work instead of what the client gets at the end of it?

As marketers, we have a tendency to describe and sell our approach to solving client challenges, not necessarily the systems they'll use to run things later on.

And as important as that I, most people care less about how you approach your work and more about how their marketing program will be different after you're gone.

That's the transformation you're selling as a marketing consultant: it's a new way of doing things that helps get predictable results.

That's the asset they're buying. 

In this episode, I'll explore the nuances and explain in more detail what that means.

-kw

> Click here to join the conversation on this episode in the Mindshare community.

Here's a great topic for today's podcast episode from Mark Evans in the Submit a Question channel:

In this episode, I cover ideas for figuring out the value proposition of the business based on why the customer buys, and ways to find more people who share a similar need or problem.

Tune in and let me know what you think below!

k

I was speaking with a coaching client today about creating a list of offerings that make it easy for all opportunities to fall into one predefined offer.

It's basically a reverse-product ladder. Instead of people ascending the ladder, they can jump in the middle and even descend over time.

In this episode, I break down the "coinsorter" list I recommend for marketing consultants, including:

1. Fractional CMO
2. Advisory
3. Coaching
4. Group Programs
5. Fixed-Scope Engagements (audits, strategy, roadmaps, workshops)
6. Strategy Calls
7. Custom Projects (only as needed)
8. Products (info products, resources, etc.)

Ideally, someone comes to you and you can easily guiide them to one or two options and still get an end result. 

Custom engagements are always there, but you save a ton of time by having service offerings that balance specificity with a degree of looseness to allow wiggle room to get all kinds of results. 

Give it a listen and tell me what you think!

—k