How to Start a Successful Business Consulting Service

A consultant works with the management of a business to improve the profitability of the business.  Working with the top management, you can rest assured the consultant is a very highly paid individual.

Until a few years ago, the title "Consultant" was more or less limited to retired diplomats and top corporate officers.  In other words, until recently, the consultant's position was more honorary than actual.  However, that has all changed dramatically in the past few years.

The number of consultants for almost any problem in life has increased by tenfold during the last few years!  Moreover, the field of consultants is continuing to grow.  In fact, independent consulting is one of the fastest growing businesses in the country today!

A consultant is an expert at recognising problems and shaping solutions to those problems.  The need for business problem solvers – among large and small businesses worldwide – has never been greater.  The ever-changing moods of the buyer plus the myriad of crisis situations business executives face almost daily has created this "seller's market" for the alert consultant.

Reaching for a consultant when problems arise is as natural as looking for the sun to come up every morning.  When you are not feeling well, you call for the services of a doctor.  If your car isn't running right, you take it to a mechanic.  Therefore, it is with a businessperson when he encounters a problem - whether it is in the field of accounting, legal, sales or customer relations.

Another side of this need for consultants is in the case of the over-enthusiastic entrepreneur who rushes headlong into a business in which he has little or no experience.  Many such dreamers invest their life savings in questionable projects without even considering the idea of bringing in a competent business consultant to analyse and evaluate their plans.

Even experienced people are prone to overrate their own ideas.  The image of the end result, and dedicated enthusiasm toward the attainment of one's goal are the prime prerequisites for success; however, unmerited enthusiasm and dedication can also be very dangerous as well.  Unless it is based upon solid research, it may cause people to chase headlong after nonexistent rainbows and that's where you can fit in as a business consultant.

It is not necessary for you to have owned or operated a successful business to become a successful business consultant.  Nor is it imperative that you have been in management or have held a titled position.  You will however, need the ability to sell yourself and an up-to-date understanding of the area in which you intend to assist others.

The first step is to make an honest evaluation of your own training and experience.  You might be an ambitious tax consultant who was never recognised for your abilities.  You might be especially good in such general areas as systems design, marketing, advertising, distribution, sales or even efficiency, time management, scheduling, expediting or productivity.  There are hundreds of consultants across the country specialising in all sorts of operations.  Most of these people enjoyed some measure of success in their fields and then discovered the easier way – advising others on how to operate successfully.  There are consultants for people who want success with a garage sale, party plan merchandising or even multi-level marketing.  The important thing is to choose an area in which you've had some experience; an area that you have spent some time learning about and of course, an area of work that you enjoy.

Almost everyone is afraid of the responsibility involved.  They claim they do not have the experience or the knowledge.  Such was the case of a young woman we know who was seeking work as a clerk.  She had worked five years as assistant to the personnel manager of a large manufacturing plant, yet when we advised her to become a consultant to people looking for work or to start her own resume writing service, she pleaded lack of knowledge, experience and ability.

Just about everyone has had special training in a certain line of work and they've gone on to absorb special studies or education along the same lines and a lot of people have worked all their lives along or very close to a specific line of endeavour.  So, why shouldn't a woman who has worked 20 years as a waitress represent herself as a consultant to the training program for waitresses within a restaurant organisation?  A shipping and receiving clerk would be a natural for setting up efficient operations and for solving problems for businesses just beginning or expanding their production output.

The point is, most people do not realise how much expertise they really have, or the probable marketability of their training, knowledge and experience.  The important thing is to look over your educational strengths, combine that with any special training or on-the-job experience and then offer your expertise to help others with their problems along the lines you know best.

You do not need a big, fancy executive type office in order to get started, especially if you start your consulting business on a part-time basis.  A spare bedroom or even a corner of the dining room will do very nicely.  All you will need is a filing cabinet and a computer.

Instead of going to the expense of paying for a business phone, use your home phone and train all members of the family to answer it in a business-like manner during normal working hours.  Save copies of all the sales letters and emails you send out and create a follow up system of all job proposals and business contract information.  Save all records on your computer, together with a hard copy in your filing cabinet, you will also need business cards. 

Once you've decided what area of business consulting you want to be in and have your office or working space set up, the next thing is to let people know you're available for work.  Definitely use some common sense and applied knowledge before spending any money on advertising.  You will pick up some customers, regardless of the problem area you specialise in, by advertising in your local newspaper and perhaps a small ad in the Sunday editions.

Pick up a copy of your chosen business journal at the local newsagency and look through those catering to the type of business you want to serve.  Check the editorial styles and types of advertising they carry and then select the one that corresponds with your needs.  Unless a publication reaches the people you are trying to sell to, do not advertise in it regardless of style, quality or advertising rates.

Radio or television would probably be a complete waste of advertising dollars, because the best time for most advertising in order to reach your best prospects would probably be in the evening hours after the late-night news.  If you do use broadcast advertising, the commercial is very important, concentrate on this and use a lot of common sense in writing the message.  Even if you engage the services of an experienced copywriter, make sure the message speaks to your potential customers and convinces them that you can help solve their problems or improve the profitability of their business.

Finally – where to advertise.  Go with a small ad in the yellow pages of your telephone directory.  The space salesperson will help you with the ad, but remember, you want it to catch the eye of your particular client and offer a promise of an end to his problems.  Always talk to your kind of people, emphasising the benefits of your services and its not good practice to quote, or even discuss prices in either your advertising or on the phone when people respond.  Always get name, address and telephone number, then explain your services in general.  Set up an appointment to look over their operation, analyse their needs and make a written proposal to solve their problems.

There may be a number of factors involved in establishing your fees, but until you line up 50 regular clients; your best bet would be a minimum of $50 per hour.  If you count on two to three hours per client per day and devoting 10 days per month to work on their needs, you're talking about $1,000 to $1,500 per month from each client.

Insiders in this business say a person can leave his regular job on Friday, start a consulting business on Monday and within six months, have an income of more than $100,000 per year.  Suffice to say that a beginning business consultant should earn from $30,000 to $60,000 before taxes and office expenses, in his first year in the business.

There is still another very important method of finding new clients and that is via Direct Mail solicitation.  For a mailing list of local businesses check with the post office and the yellow pages under the heading direct mail.  Tell the post office or mail out people the kind of mailing list you need.  Alternately, you could compile your own mailing list of prospects most likely to be interested in your services.  Mark the names you want in the area business directory and pay someone to input these names onto a computer for you.  The computer should be able to print the addresses directly on envelopes at a nominal cost.  Putting your list on computer from the start will save you hundreds of dollars and countless hours of work.

Another point to remember when writing sales letters: Always appeal to the needs and wants of the person who is going to be reading the letter.  He will start reading to see if your services can benefit him.  He is greatly interested in more profits, reduced production costs and higher efficiency.  He is looking for answers to his most pressing problems.  Keep these elements in mind when you write a sales solicitation letter, whether for yourself or for a client.

As a consultant, your letterhead and business card should be simple while still conveying to the reader a sense of class.  Your paper should be the best quality you can afford – not flamboyant, but sending a subtle message of success.  Direct mail surveys show that slightly better numbers of responses are received when a light beige or off-yellow paper is used.

Basically, your letter should move the recipient to call you and allow you to set up an appointment to discuss his needs as your client.  Whether you are writing an advertisement or a sales letter, it is important that you have the objective clearly in mind – what you want the reader to do.  With this in mind, you need not use the "hard sell" approach quite as forcefully as someone asking for money on the first contact.

Now all that is left is meeting with the prospect, listening to his problems, and hearing what he wants, then write out a proposal to solve his problems and satisfy his wants.  This means selling yourself to the prospect, assuring him you know what you're talking about and that you can make him more successful.

There you have it – a plan that can lead you to success as a Business Consultant, but remember, no amount of research, reading, listening or investment can make you successful until you do something with them.  Action on your part is the absolute ingredient that must be added and that's up to you.  Your future is in your own hands.