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Strategies to Offer Consulting to Offline/Online Businesses (8)

12-23-2016 08:14 PM #1 simon_89 (Member)
Strategies to Offer Consulting to Offline/Online Businesses

As some of you may know, I took a break from affiliate marketing to get my finances(debt) right. STM is just too good of a community to stray away from. I've been pondering about my finances I have, it's going to take me a long time to pay it off given my current position. If I could take of my finances quicker in some method, all the better. This is why I decided to consult businesses whether local or globally on increasing their business sales or build their brand awareness.

I'd eventually like to get back to the paid marketing game, but right now I just can't afford it. However, if I'm consulting clients or taking over their marketing efforts, I'll be able to spend money on ads using client's money. I'll be able to understand the traffic source I'm working with and help my client at the same time. My service pricing will include management + spending money on ads.

In the past couple of weeks, I have went around looking at local businesses that may need help with their social media platforms and overall positioning in their market. Specifically, I honed in on the restaurant niche. I drafted about 8-10 mini audits. I'll try to attach one for your viewing purposes. Then, I went into these local businesses to provide them value on what they could improve on their social media to drive more customers. When approaching these businesses, it was a serious blow to the ego, and one of the restaurants manager turned their back on me.

It took me a few days to write these audits and research the business. But, it feels like I've wasted time on businesses that aren't interested in my services. After going through each one of these businesses and taking such a long time to examine their business presence, I wanted to see if there was a more efficient way to go out and find clients. It would be nice to work with clients around my area, but going into each business unannounced is like a popup ad .

I went onto the Search Tab on STM looking for Local Lead Generation and came upon Viperchill's post. I'm not sure if Glen has a program I could join, but it seems like his main focus was finding clients through Google Search and provide SEO services to them, I think? I signed up to his email optin - but I'm not sure if he's active on that anymore.

I wanted to create this thread to see if any of you have strategies that can acquire clients. It would be nice also to work with clients in the online space and globally. It doesn't have to be a big brand, but a niche that would appreciate my services. Or if there's any member from here where we could work out a deal on a pay per lead. I'm being more strict about the industry I'm offering services for. I'm looking for a industry where a customer would worth $100 - $1,000 to them and the client's would pay me based on the leads I bring in.

Would love to hear your insights about this!

12-23-2016 10:27 PM #2 johnaff (AMC Alumnus)

I used to run a PPC agency, before I went fulltime in AM.

A few things....

1. FUCK local restaurants. Low margins.... no scalability.... no money....no tracking... You look like a BOSS in your STM profile pic, take on that mentality, and seek out clients that will pay you at least $1000-$10000/month for your time. Anything less, and you're just letting low self-esteem and a bad mentality affect business decisions. Business should always be conducted logically, not emotionally, so dont let lack of money affect you emotionally.

2. Do a webinar funnel and target business owners on fb ads.... thats what all the real agency guys do. Check out Sam Ovens, or Greg Morrison (OMG machines) etc... they all preach this. If you literally cant get a hold of ANY money from friends/family to jumpstart your biz with ads, then just work hard on getting youtube vids / blog posts ranking organically, and facebook page posts going viral, to get your first few clients.

3. If you arent confident on the getting clients thing, you can hit up agencies and offer to work on a few agencies clients for free to show them your worth, then move the arrangement to a rev-share (20-35% of client billings is fair. So if the agency bills the client at $10,000, then 2-3k would be a fair cut to you.)

4. Network like crazy. Chicago has so many events going on on a daily basis, its insane. The amount of money in chicago is insane. You're literally SURROUNDED by money in chicago. If your good at advertising, the sky is the limit.


Dont undersell yourself bro.

Never do audits for free. That itself shows desperation.

Also, keep in mind that its not 'shameful' to get a job if you're super down, and dont have the constitution for handling rejection (selling clients, launching campaigns, or otherwise)

Some of my richest friends worked jobs. My one friend worked at a startup called box.net and is now a multi-millionaire, and my other friend worked at a company that got acquired by Adobe, and hes a multi-millionaire now too. If you get a job, just make sure you're getting a job where you have options that vest, and you place yourself in a company thats looking to change the world.

I hope that helps!

12-23-2016 10:34 PM #3 cmdeal (Veteran Member)

Doing custom consulting work before you even know that a client is interested is pretty much the complete opposite of how you run a consulting business.

If you want to go at this alone, I would suggest you "eat your own dogfood" by acquiring your own initial clients either via SEO or via Google ads or via Upwork/similar services or Craigslist or ideally through all these channels.

As for pay per lead models, there is no shortage of pay per lead affiliate programmes which are pay per lead.

Otherwise, I think getting a job at an online PPC or social marketing agency would be a logical step for you to better learn how the consulting business works and gain some experience.

12-24-2016 01:04 AM #4 simon_89 (Member)

Quote Originally Posted by johnaff View Post
I used to run a PPC agency, before I went fulltime in AM.

A few things....

1. FUCK local restaurants. Low margins.... no scalability.... no money....no tracking... You look like a BOSS in your STM profile pic, take on that mentality, and seek out clients that will pay you at least $1000-$10000/month for your time. Anything less, and you're just letting low self-esteem and a bad mentality affect business decisions. Business should always be conducted logically, not emotionally, so dont let lack of money affect you emotionally.

2. Do a webinar funnel and target business owners on fb ads.... thats what all the real agency guys do. Check out Sam Ovens, or Greg Morrison (OMG machines) etc... they all preach this. If you literally cant get a hold of ANY money from friends/family to jumpstart your biz with ads, then just work hard on getting youtube vids / blog posts ranking organically, and facebook page posts going viral, to get your first few clients.

3. If you arent confident on the getting clients thing, you can hit up agencies and offer to work on a few agencies clients for free to show them your worth, then move the arrangement to a rev-share (20-35% of client billings is fair. So if the agency bills the client at $10,000, then 2-3k would be a fair cut to you.)

4. Network like crazy. Chicago has so many events going on on a daily basis, its insane. The amount of money in chicago is insane. You're literally SURROUNDED by money in chicago. If your good at advertising, the sky is the limit.


Dont undersell yourself bro.

Never do audits for free. That itself shows desperation.

Also, keep in mind that its not 'shameful' to get a job if you're super down, and dont have the constitution for handling rejection (selling clients, launching campaigns, or otherwise)

Some of my richest friends worked jobs. My one friend worked at a startup called box.net and is now a multi-millionaire, and my other friend worked at a company that got acquired by Adobe, and hes a multi-millionaire now too. If you get a job, just make sure you're getting a job where you have options that vest, and you place yourself in a company thats looking to change the world.

I hope that helps!
Thanks for this! I currently have a full time job, but not fulfilled by it. Plus I like to be able to do my own thing and I see affiliate marketing being one of those avenues.

I need to have a solid gameplan for this, so here's something I just came up with.

1) Redevelop my marketing agency website to include Blog Posts about tips on how to increase revenue or brand awareness. These blog posts will be done every week as long as I'm able to come up with new blog topics. One of the limiting beliefs I have and still trying to suppress is that I don't have the expertise to help clients market their own business. But, I have to keep reminding myself is that if I know a little bit more than them about marketing that already makes me an "expert". I might go find an outsourcer on Upwork to help me research on content individually like SEO, Link Building, Adwords. So, that I can gather that information to start writing blog posts.

2) After creating 3-4 blog posts per month on various business growth methods on FB, Instagram, SEO, Adwords, etc.... I will run an ad at the end of the month targeting business owners. I think at this point I have to find a niche to hone down in to make me an expert. Therefore, when I'm creating a FB ad promoting my services. My headline will be tailored towards the business that they're running.

For example:

Headline: 3 Tips to help Your Yacht Rental Business Grow

And then my content(Blog, Infographic) will be optimization techniques for their business.

3) By doing the steps above, I hope to lock in some clients by this method. But, it will probably take 1-2 months till I get a little bit of traction since I'm doing FB ads once a month.


Quote Originally Posted by cmdeal View Post
Doing custom consulting work before you even know that a client is interested is pretty much the complete opposite of how you run a consulting business.

If you want to go at this alone, I would suggest you "eat your own dogfood" by acquiring your own initial clients either via SEO or via Google ads or via Upwork/similar services or Craigslist or ideally through all these channels.

As for pay per lead models, there is no shortage of pay per lead affiliate programmes which are pay per lead.

Otherwise, I think getting a job at an online PPC or social marketing agency would be a logical step for you to better learn how the consulting business works and gain some experience.
I would get a job at an agency, but their pay rate isn't up to what I'm making now. If I decide to work on any marketing on my own and the company discovers that I'm doing marketing on the side, there could be conflicts of interest involved which could get me into big trouble.

Also, I currently hold a 401k loan with my current company. If I leave that company, I'd have to pay it all back immediately.

12-24-2016 03:59 AM #5 johnaff (AMC Alumnus)

I currently have a full time job, but not fulfilled by it.
You pick your poison When the pain is great enough, you'll make the decision to go all in and pursue your dreams.

If you are looking for direction, I would highly suggest you head to a Tony Robbins event before you do anything.

It sounds moreso like your roadblocks are internal. (expert tip... EVERYONES roadblocks are internal.... )

12-24-2016 09:34 AM #6 caurmen (Administrator)

If you're not already reading his work, I'd recommend Brennan Dunn's blogging on consultancy. Good stuff on acquiring clients, pitching, and other aspects of the consultancy life.

Beyond that, I'm a fan of offline marketing for getting consultancy work - by which I mean meeting people who are potential clients, talking to them, and... Well, that's it.

Doesn't scale, so if you want to turn this into an 8-figure business you'll eventually need an additional funnel. But it's an effective way to start getting clients, and it's perfectly sustainable as a solo consultancy.

If you don't naturally meet people who would be potential clients - take up a hobby that would result in your meeting them. Golf is the cliche. Also, if you're a decent public speaker, pitch "intro to AdWords" or similar events anywhere your clients might respect. The local chamber of commerce, meetups for local startups, etc.

Do that, offer to have coffee and chat about the marketing problems of anyone who is interested ( considerably more effective than a free audit IMO ), and things will develop from there.

Oh - I'd recommend not ruling out smaller businesses, at least from the coffee and chat stage. Just charge what you're worth, and don't discount ( unless you just really like them and are ok with doing, effectively, Pro bono work ).

You never know whether one small business might actually have a very rich backer or insanely good profit margins. And even if they can't afford you, they may well recommend you to other people - particularly if your coffee and chat helped them.

Johnaff's method also works well - there are multiple ways to build a consultancy.

Good luck!

12-24-2016 12:16 PM #7 danielt (Member)

Don't bend would be the wording I'd go for.

First off, if you know you're good at your stuff, makes no sense in bending:
you can't buy a house at 50% discount by telling the owner you're in need and you can pay only this much

Secondly, bending exposes to WordOfMouth sales funnel with the wrong keywords in it like: he gives a discount or he's cheap ( stay out of that area )

Now, depending on what you want to consult on ( advertising and marketing ) you will be required to provide
some sort of validation ( not always but very very good to have ) regarding the skills you mention to have.
Do this, get some referrals while you're at it.

Be genuine and also learn to embrace the suck ( Garry Vee said it ):
- some clients will need your services badly and you'll see a very very great fit only to have things
turn in the last minute - it happens, smoke a pipe, move no
- you're there to do business by creating more business, not pro bono work ( chose your pro-bono work and do it as it is )

Regarding your approach, just test You're on an AM forum ( and by the looks of it older here than I am ) so test.
Depending on you personality traits you can adjust all the excellent advice above and tailor it to your needs and your skillset.

Until you start asking the potential customer, you will not know.

Daniel

12-24-2016 02:26 PM #8 simon_89 (Member)

Quote Originally Posted by caurmen View Post
If you're not already reading his work, I'd recommend Brennan Dunn's blogging on consultancy. Good stuff on acquiring clients, pitching, and other aspects of the consultancy life.

If you don't naturally meet people who would be potential clients - take up a hobby that would result in your meeting them. Golf is the cliche. Also, if you're a decent public speaker, pitch "intro to AdWords" or similar events anywhere your clients might respect. The local chamber of commerce, meetups for local startups, etc.

You never know whether one small business might actually have a very rich backer or insanely good profit margins. And even if they can't afford you, they may well recommend you to other people - particularly if your coffee and chat helped them.

Good luck!
Thank you Caurmen for your insights! I took a look at Brennan's blog and has provided me greater clarity or ideas to approach consultancy.

I think the overarching theme to getting clients when you're a newbie is definitely provide value to a prospective client. With that being said, it's being wise on who you choose to provide free value to.

I'll be posting a follow along about building my consulting agency.


Quote Originally Posted by danielt View Post

Now, depending on what you want to consult on ( advertising and marketing ) you will be required to provide
some sort of validation ( not always but very very good to have ) regarding the skills you mention to have.
Do this, get some referrals while you're at it.

Be genuine and also learn to embrace the suck ( Garry Vee said it ):
- some clients will need your services badly and you'll see a very very great fit only to have things
turn in the last minute - it happens, smoke a pipe, move no
- you're there to do business by creating more business, not pro bono work ( chose your pro-bono work and do it as it is )
Thanks Daniel! I'm a big fan of Gary V too, his energy is contagious.

I recently took a personality test and I got ENFJ personality so that helps with how I approach clients in a certain manner.

I'd like to think I have a general understanding of marketing. A/B split testing, marketing ratios(CTR, CPM), landing pages. As stated, I don't consider myself a marketing expert, but will be considered a more skilled individual than someone who doesn't understand what I know. Those are the type of business owners I'm targeting.

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