Ways to Keep Your Business Consulting Firm Sustainable
Like every other business endeavor, business
consulting has its own risks. There will always be
doubts and second thoughts and lots and lots of after
thoughts. Nothing in this life is sure to last
forever.
In fact, nothing really will last forever. So if what
you want is to have a business that would last
forever, you are trying to hit the moon. However,
there is always hope, to keep your business afloat and
thriving in the jungle world of entrepreneurship for a
very long time.
Yes, there is always hope. But you have to work really
hard for that hope to materialize. The best thing you
can aim at is keeping your business consulting firm
sustainable. If you can achieve that, then you can
start working on keeping it abreast with other
companies in the field.
So how do you keep your consulting business
sustainable? You only have a few contacts or
connections, so what happens when you have used up
your existing resources?
Simple. Create and build new resources. The only way
to keep your business going is to have an ample supply
of resources. So, here are a few things you could do
to keep business going and growing…
First thing to do is to firmly establish your business
plan. You are going to engage in a very serious
business so you have to be serious about.
Your clients should take you as a serious, no-nonsense
person that would deliver them good results. So do
your homework and be prepared.
Have a comprehensive business kit containing details
of your services in a neatly packaged brochure, with
hourly rates, project rates, retainer basis rate and
whatever package you want to serve your client.
This brochure would be your salesperson in your
absence, so make it the best brochure you can ever
make. This is the blood of your business, keep it
pulsing through your veins.
Second is finding clients. You can find clients
through friends’ referrals but that would not last
very long. Even if you have a long list of friends,
that is still not enough to last your business a
lifetime.
So you have to exert more effort. Try cold calling. It
may sound a little to below your level, but hey, this
is business! You need to do whatever it takes to get
clients and cold calling is not as bad as you may
think. You just have to do it right and do it nicely.
You know how irritating it is to be offered things
over the phone, so try not to be irritating. Try not
to do the things that those telemarketers do to
irritate you.
Prepare a nice introductory script before making your
first call. Try not to bombard your prospective client
with the details of your business. Your goal is to get
him interested enough to agree on a meeting with you
for further discussion of your services.
It also pays to remember that very person you meet,
great or small is a possible connection. So be nice to
all people all the time. He may just be a janitor or a
food attendant at a restaurant, but for all you know,
you may be talking the person who could lead you to
your biggest catch ever. So be nice all the time.