How to Sell Advice

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I was asked recently by community member

In this episode, I break down most of the reasons I chose to go this route instead of growing my agency. 

The main reasons include:

1. Higher take-home profit at the end of the year (at my size)
2. Less day-to-day stress
3. Less business overhead and complexity
4. A better overall experience working with clients
5. More free time in my day
6. And generally a better fit with my skills/personality

There are more reasons, and I break it all down in this episode including how I transitioned from running an agency to advisory work. 

If you're not sure what route to go, give this a listen and see if any parts of it resonate with your situation.

—k

I talk a lot about having a methodology for your consulting work. It's core to the way you organize, package, and deliver your expertise.

But the thing is, prospects don't really care about your methodology. At least, not at first.

What they care most about are solving their pains and achieving their desired outcomes. Your marketing should focus on those things first and foremost.

And yet, having a methodology is critical to not only instilling confidence into your clients, but also to deliver results consistently and ultimately scale your expertise.

In this episode, I go into how/when to use your methodology in your marketing, why credibility is the thing you want to focus on most, and the methodology becomes valuable to you business later on. 

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

I've heard a few people lately talking about using day rates as a marketing advisor or fractional CMO. Things like one, two, or three days a week for X price per month.

I've even heard of people charging around $10k+/month on a couple days per week with the client. Seems decent, right?

There's no hard and fast rules with this, so I won't say never do it. But I prefer not to unless it's for single projects where I visit clients for a day or two to get things done. But even then, I usually lump it into my advisory retainers unless significant travel is required.

When you charge by the day, what ends up happening is people see you as a part-time employee. They begin to ask what you "got done" in the time allotted, or other such questions usually reserved for employees or "suppliers". 

They begin to delegate tasks instead of receiving your expertise and guidance on what to do. You become the catch-all of ideas.

It's also not scalable unless you oversell your time, but even then—now you're not allocating the promised amount of time to them.

I'd rather offer unlimited access to me for a select number of people or in a limited capacities to keep scope down rather than selling hours, days, or other such time-based metrics.

I'd also avoid the execution/project management work unless you're transitioning into advisory services using a "managed advisory services" model or if you charge a lot and limit it to a few months to sort out emergencies. It quickly becomes a full time job and it's just not worth it. 

There are exceptions to this, but that's what I've found.

Have you ever considered sponsoring a conference?

It never dawned on me to do it before, but I recently did.

In this episode, I talk about why I recently sponsored a conference for $1k in exchange for a logo on the conference website and a 30-second podcast ad. 

Sound crazy? Maybe. 

While this isn't something I normally do, I explain why this was on-strategy for me this time and why I wouldn't stand at a booth, for example.

—k

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The Travelling Roadshow is an approach I’ve picked up over the years that has gotten me several new clients while building my audience at the same time.

In this episode, I break down my core approach to using webinars in a way that leaves people with tremendous value they can implement themselves while also subtly selling your products and services.

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

—k

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

A client recently asked me to downgrade or potentially pause our engagement.

They were nervous about the future of their business as we continue experiencing COVID impacts and wanted to conserve cash/play defence.

I suggested we have a call to discuss the financials and make a decision about what's best.

When we dug into the numbers in our KPI spreadsheet, it showed that not only were they excellent, they should be spending even more and getting MORE clients for as long as the acquisition costs stayed steady, which is safer than trying to conserve capital.

We explored the business case together of either downgrading or pausing our engagement, and it became obvious based on their current financial situation and future goals that we should keep working together.

After all, they were acquiring customers and paying back their acquisition costs in their first month, meaning every month after was profitable—including my fees.

The client wasn't close to these numbers (something they know they need to fix), so it was an eye-opening experience for them. They decided to keep at my full rate and scope for the indefinite future.

Give this episode a listen for a longer conversation on proving value and knowing your clients' numbers. Your own business depends on it. 

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

There's a lot of power in consolidating your focus on one goal.

In this episode, I tell a story about how a client I'm working with lacked a cohesive focus among the team. We were doing a lot of things very well, but the team of about 8-10 people were all thinking in silos.

We were marching in different directions.

What we lacked was alignment around our goals. We lacked a core marketing strategy outside of the overall brand strategy.

In this episode, I break down what we did to get in alignment and how our decisions have led to a new lens from which to look at our marketing.

—k

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As consultants, we worry about two things to various degrees at different times:

1. Are we delivering enough value?
2. Where will my next client come from/will it all dry it up one day?

In this episode, I address both of these head-on.

—k

P.S. I announced the new membership tier, Mindshare Pro, today. Be sure to check it out and sign up if you're interested! Check out the announcement here.

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

Are you hesitating to hit publish?

It might be time to re-think your approach. Chances are, you're talking yourself out of publishing your good ideas because you think they're not unique, or interesting, or that nobody would pay attention anyway.

In this episode, I talk about how to think about your content publishing habit and ways to talk yourself into just hitting publish.

Hint: just try to be useful to one person.

I promise that once you do, you'll feel a lot better.

Listen in.

—k

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

Is being a marketing consultant a risky business model?

Would you be better off being an employee?

In this episode, I talk all about risk, including:
 
1. How companies flee to expertise during hard times
2. How COVID was riskier to many employees than to consultants
3. How the marketing industry is going more flexible
4. The greater need for fractional executives

And other ideas that I think show how consulting is less risky if you are a good fit for the business. 

Consulting isn't for everyone. But if you're in the game or have clients already, it might not only be less risky, it might be far more lucrative.

—k