As a consultant, you go into the work with the expertise you want to help and support people. Maybe you are good with accounting and finance. Or is perhaps marketing, content creation, and web design. Or it could be strategy and organizational management.
To do the work, you need to sell a client your services.
Many coaches and consultants just start doing the work. They start consulting or delivering their services to allow the potential client to experience the work and see what it is like to work with you.
In essence, the sales experience (getting a client) and the customer experience (delivering the work) are smooshed together in one.
At some point, you need to turn a corner, make a pitch, and tell them what it will cost to continue the work.
Leading with generosity and helping customers before they are ready to buy is a great sentiment. The problem is, it doesn’t scale. The sales function is already expensive, and doing it all yourself will occupy the time you could be delivering for customers and making them happy.
There is a better option. It is about replicating yourself, in a way, and then removing yourself from the picture. If you can connect with your audience, educating them about your field of expertise while asleep, you are on the right path.
Think about ten things you could do, like tell a story of someone you helped, think of common questions you get asked and record a video of you answering it, or take an old client out to lunch and ask them why they decided to work with you or create a list of the problems you have solved in the past.
Then start sharing it with the world. To paraphrase Dorie Clark, how will people know your work if you don’t share it with them?
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