Articlr

Some consultants say, "I don't need a marketing strategy - I have many good friends in the industry". This is short-sighted, foolish and not the red-carpet it might seem to be. The trouble with 'friends in the industry' who may suffer from lack of business etiquette, is that they can want to use you as a consultant on a "friendship" basis, meaning double the work for half the price, with the payment of fees sometimes rather slow - because you're friends!

For some consultants, the search for new clients will be endless, even if their consulting practice is a success story. An attempt was being made to headhunt a well-qualified business psychologist as a new senior member of staff in a large change management consultancy working in a commercial environment and with more business than it could handle. The business psychologist asked if she would be dealing with client programmes. The company responded; "No, we will expect you to spend about 40 percent of your time on marketing." She never joined them.

Maybe you are feeling that this article is more about identifying the problems there are likely to be in finding clients, rather than positive tips on how to find clients. However, it does stand to be said that advice on where the problems may be found are very useful.

There can hardly be a short answer even for a starting point on where to get clients. But what there is, almost overwhelming in quantity and quality, is the internet, It has grown into something that is absolutely matchless for this kind of thing. The trouble with most consultants is that they do not know how to tap into it to generate hundreds of prospects.

Ask Google for "How to get clients for an independent consultancy" and it produces 248,000,000 websites; ask Google for ``Books on How to get clients for an independent consultancy" and it has 789,000 answers.

The likes of Google, Yahoo and MSN have search engines that will enable you to customise your search more narrowly for the field of consultancy you are working in, or intend to be working in.

But far beyond this, there is much more to creating a thriving consultancy business which also operates as a dynamic client generating marketing machine. With the right strategy and knowledge, it is not difficult to generate a long pipeline of high paying clients. The challenge is in knowing where to get such stategies and knowledge.

Many independent consultants try to sell before they market to prospective clients and this can be fatal, thus sealing the lid on any chance they previously had on establishing that prospect as a new client. There is a huge difference between marketing and selling, and the sooner independent consultants learn that - the faster their bank balances will grow.