How to Sell Advice

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Welcome to the 100th episode of the Mindshare Mentorship podcast.

In very meta fashion, I want to share an idea originally coined by Josh Spector, a friend who helps creators create, promote, and profit from their creations. 

He wrote an article back in 2018 called Only Do It If You're Willing To Do It 100 Times. 

In this episode, I break down his idea and encourage you to take his advice when venturing into a new niche or project.

The simple act of committing to doing whatever you're trying to do 100 times enables you to avoid projects that aren't a fit, think long term, adapt what you're doing, gain control over what you can actually control, and push through the resistance (The Dip) you'll inevitably experience. 

Give this one a listen and tell me if it resonates with you!

—kw

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This episode is in response to the story shared by

If you're in business long enough, you'll eventually run into people who aren't happy about something. Sometimes it's about you, often it has very little to do with you in the first place.

But regardless of the situation, it's your job as a professional to own the problem, look for ways to make it right, and prevent it from happening again in the future.

The gist of the questions are below, but read the full post for the full picture:

 1) How do you sell expertise (i.e., head, not hands) after a client has purchased from you? Particularly a roadmapping service where you are not tied to the implementation but the results of which are?

I'm sure proposals/contracts can clearly delineate the deliverables vs expectations. But I don't want to be so specific that I need to create long contracts to prevent every situational nuance.

2) How do you define "red flags" before a roadmapping phase? What do you do to find them (and how do you weigh them against your decision)?

My guess is something like the "why conversation" that Stark talks about would help. The problem is, people who hire marketing experts like us may be desperate and broke, or become nitpicky micromanagers.

But sometimes, these things don't show up in initial conversations.

I wonder if an application process might be good? Do you use one? I know you (Kevin) said you go in blind like in Getting Naked. I charge for the exploration, too, which is roadmapping. But do you do some prequalification?

I'm open to suggestions. 

Give this a listen and tell me what works for you in similar situations, we'd all like to know!

—k

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Here's a good question from Mark about taking a one month vacation when you have a full roster of monthly retainer clients:

Any thoughts on how to do that when you have a roster of clients that you work with on a regular basis?

The high level summary includes:

1. Splitting the month (i.e. going 15th to 15th) to avoid one complete missing invoicing/service period and therefore charging full rates. Or go 3 weeks to make it easier to do that.
2. Prepare in advance and have things lined up so the client is able to run with things without you—or with minimal input from you while away.
3. Manage expectations early and often with your clients. Tell them early and often that you plan to be away, how you'll handle it, and what it means.
4. Be prepared to do extra work leading up to and returning from your break (i.e. more calls with your clients/their suppliers, etc.)
5. See if you can do some check-in calls mid-break (contained to a day or two) and/or be available to answer emergency or time-sensitive emails with some expected delay
6. If you can't do many of these, you might need to offer a partial refund. Remember, the value you charge for is not based on hours or individual weeks. It's based on creating a transition into a better situation for your clients. How you do that is up to you. So don't nickel and dime it into hours or weeks. 

I've gone on multi-week breaks before and it hasn't been an issue. A month is a long time so do what feels right at the end of the day.

Hope this helps!

Bye for now.

Kevin

P.S. Remember to submit your questions if you'd like an audio response in the Submit a Question channel. :)

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Productized consulting is a great way to design your business in a way that is profitable and aligned with the effort you want to put into each engagement.

It's also easier for your prospects to buy, which means it's easier for you to sell.

What's not to love?

In this episode, I break down the ways you can price your productized services in alignment with the value you create for your clients.

We focus on four points:

1. Business outcomes

Value is determined by the business outcomes you create, not the work you put in. That's why it's so critical to understand and articulate the outcomes your clients want to accomplish, then build your services around achieving those.

Outcomes might include growth, retention, risk reduction, expansion of offerings, better visibility into numbers, systemization, hiring, or a whole host of other things individually or in combination.

2. The context behind the goals

In order to get a better picture of value based on business outcomes, you need to understand the context behind it. In other words, why it matters.

For example, your clients may want to grow, but maybe it's so they can raise more money or sell shares in the business at a better valuation.

Or maybe investors are getting angry because there is no visibility into the work marketing is doing. Maybe they want better reporting, systems, and processes.

The work you do may not even increase revenue, but it may reduce risk or ease tensions, which is worth much more than a few grand per month.

The context is a force multiplier for the value your work does. Understand why their goals matter to the bigger picture.

3. Determining value

Once you know the objectives, outcomes, and context behind them, you can begin to understand the value of the work you're doing.

Ideally you work with similar kinds of clients in a niche. That way, the value will be similar across the different companies you work with (of similar sizes/stages), which makes it easier to package productized consulting services.

Value can be determined by:

1. Opportunity cost - what happens if they don't hire you/take action? What is the value of the cost of inaction?
2. Upside potential - how much do they stand to gain from your work in financial terms? Might include new revenue growth, increased retention, increased average order value, increases in margins or lifetime value, to name a few. Multiply this by the years in which the value you create is reaped by the client.
3. Price anchoring - how much are your proposed fees in relation to hiring someone in house or even mundane expenses like cleaning costs? You can demonstrate the value by comparing it to other things they spend money on (which bring lesser value).
4. Subjective value - how much pain do they remove by hiring you? How much more confident are they in the rest of their business as a result? What's the value of reducing risk so they sleep better at night? Don't underestimate subjective value - especially for people with more money than peace of mind. 

There are many more ways to determine value, but these are what I cover in this episode.

4. Determine your price

Alan Weiss' Value Based Fees book (also available on Amazon) really opened my eyes to pricing based on value when I first got into consulting. I highly recommend buying it.

Even though you're selling productized consulting, doesn't mean you can't capture some of the value you create.

Your price should be a no-brainer relative to the factors above.

"If you keep even one client from cancelling, you more than pay for my work every month."

"If you can prove a systemized approach to customer acquisition, it opens the doors to millions in investment opportunity."

"If you can increase margins by 10%, it increases business value by 30%".

"For the price of what you pay on printer paper, you can sleep better knowing we're watching out for your blind spots."

Create a price for a service that accomplishes a business outcome, make it fair and compelling to everyone, and you'll have no problem selling your services.

The key is being able to articulate some or all of this in your sales page and conversations. 

If you can't articulate the value of what you do, prospects may compare you to other things (like saving the money or hiring in-house) and not even realize the costs of doing those things.

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

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I had a great question come in via DM last night, so I'll keep it anonymous but I wanted to go deeper via audio to explain the nuances.

Here's the question:

In this episode, I talk about why I generally jump into advisory retainers right away, why clients tend to ask for that anyway, and why it's in their best interest to do so for 99% of cases.

I also talk about how to remove risk so clients can "try before they buy" (using guarantees) and generally how I sell it in a sales conversation.

Listen in and let me know if you do anything differently!

—kw

One of the things I like to promote in my consulting services is creating consistent and predictable results for my clients. 

In order to do that, you need to create effective systems and processes based on good strategy.

At the end of the day, people don't want to hire consultants on their team forever. 

Some will work with you for years—and those are great clients! But the majority want to hire you, get your knowledge, and run with a better marketing program after you're gone. 

In this episide, I talk about the differences between systems and processes, and why you need both so you can effectively create lasting change for your clients.

The benefit of systemization is that if something stops working (or works great), you're able to isolate the parts of your system that were responsible so you can do more of it or fix the things that aren't working. 

So if you're still selling tactics, strategies, and oversight, consider also focusing on developing systems and processes that will become assets to your clients' business.

—kw

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According to the Pareto Principal:

I recently noticed this pattern in my business.

My coworking membership program was taking up more energy than it was producing in results. I decided to pivot on that to win back my time and energy.

I also noticed that a marketing plan PDF template generated around 30% of subscribers, which is insane because I worked a LOT harder for the rest.

So, I made a decision to double down on lead magnet strategy in other areas of my business, including this group, and pivot on the coworking membership that wasn't creating my highest returns.

Tune in and have a great weekend!

—k

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This episode is related to the Daily Idea I posted today about designing your business.

We're still in January of 2021, which means you might be still in business planning mode. A good time for this topic.

This episode is all about the topic of designing your business in a way that adds the most value without taking up all of your personal time.

All it takes is a little business design and belief you can do more than you think.

Give it a listen.

—kevin

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I was helping someone in the group win a proposal recently using the proposal template in the Templates section.

I asked why it worked better than their old way of selling their services and got some interesting feedback.

Here are a few lessons that stood out from the experience.

1. People don't buy deliverables, they buy outcomes.
2. People will only buy outcomes they want for the reasons they have.
3. They only buy those outcomes when you re-articulate them in your proposal and clearly state the problem and context.
4. You need to actually talk to people to get clear on what end results they actually want, why it matters, what the value is, and then create a proposal that maps precisely (or closely) to those expressed needs.
5. Later you can turn it into a productized service after going through this exercise successfully a few times.

Our tendency as consultants is to sell what we think people want: time, deliverables, plans, strategies, hours, etc.

What people actually want is solutions to their unique business challenges and aspirations.

Talk to people, understand what they want, then put that right in your proposal with 1-3 options for getting there.

Sell the destination, not the journey.

Listen in for more!

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We live on Zoom calls and webinars now—mostly from our home office.

That's the reality of most marketing professionals today.

And it looks like 2021 won't be much different.

And with that, I want to share an idea with you to keep it front of mind: people will judge you based on your "Zoom" appearance.

That includes your lighting, background, sound quality, video resolution, internet speed, and a whole lot more.

Ultimately, you're putting out an experience. It's either a high-quality one or it's hurting your identity.

So, if you want to be taken seriously, charge premium rates, and demonstrate credibility in 2021, you have to create a premium online experience for your clients. 

Or at least, a professional looking and sounding experience—even if it just has the basics. 

More ideas in this episode.

—kw

P.S. I mention some of the technical setup I use, you can check that out here if you're curious: https://kevin.me/audio-setup/