Offer Your Business Consulting for Free!
I know, I know… You must be thinking that I’m crazy,
suggesting to offer your business consulting for free.
Well, after you hear me out, you would think it’s a
brilliant idea.
We know that your business is consultancy so why offer
it for free? How can you get money out of handing out
free consulting services? Your business then would no
longer be a business but would become a charity,
right? Wrong.
What I’m talking about here is giving out free
consultancy as a teaser, a free taste or free sample,
so to speak. People don’t just buy new products from a
stranger without testing the product first. You are
not yet well-known in the business, so nobody would
invest in you.
Nobody invests in something that is not reliable to
generate good results. Unless you are backed by
someone very famous and reliable, you are not going to
get clients for your business.
By providing free consultancies, you are giving them a
taste of what it is like to have you as a consultant.
You are not going to hand them everything you have got
in a silver platter. No, that’s not what I am saying.
It just about giving them a free sample-a small sachet
of your service. It is a very good way of enticing and
luring them to your business. Once you have proven
that you can help them and you made them happy with
the result of your sample service, they are left with
little choice but to hire your services. They wouldn’t
be able to deny a good tangible result!
So, what you have to do is advertise on your website
that you are offering free business consulting.
Nothing lures customer more effectively than the
screaming word “FREE”. People’s weaknesses always
include freebies.
Create a downloadable request for consulting form on
your website so that they can send you their contact
information and initial details of their consulting
needs. This would also give you chance to build your
rolodex of possible clients as they would be leaving
their company’s contact information and their own
contact information as well.
Once you have gained enough names in your rolodex, try
to become friends with them. In every business, good
relationship is the key. So don’t just build mountains
of contacts, but build networks of relationships.
Establish a good working relationship with everyone
you meet in your free consulting services, and you are
sure to get referrals. This way, you are slowly
building a network that would work for you and your
business.
When you have lots of friends in the business world
who believe in your talent, they would surely tap you
in every endeavor related to your expertise.
Soon afterwards, you would find yourself speaking at
their conferences or seminars. And that is another
opportunity for you to market yourself and your
business consulting services. You can do the public
speeches for free, too! This way, you are establishing
goodwill and gaining their trust. And in a way, they
become indebted to you and would doubtlessly return
the favor in the future.
Offering free business consulting services and free
public speeches are even better and cheaper than
advertisements using professional advertising
agencies. You can also consider it as a practice in
honing your consulting skills. But of course, you
still do your own advertising from your own website,
publishing newsletters and distributing brochures and
leaflets.