63. 11 Tips for Consulting Success from a New Consultant
11 Tips for Consulting Success from a New Consultant [Everything Business Consulting EP 63]
11 Tips for Success from a New Business Consultant
1:00 - Intro: new Consultant who came up with tips to improve
2:05 - 1. Create Boundaries with friends and family
4:15 - 2. Set Goals when networking: Actively pursue the result you're hoping to see
6:25 - 3. Don't overthink the process
10:45 - 4. Time management is key: Focus on the activities to get clients when starting
11:55 - 5. Listen to Webinars and Podcasts for inspiration
13:50 - 6. Practice speaking to people using business consulting lingo
16:40 - 7. Revisit your training regularly
18:10 - 8. Connect with other like-minded people
20:28 - 9. Referrals can come from anywhere
23:20 - 10. Be positive about the competition
25:23 - 11. Don't worry about marketing - focus on selling
Show notes: Toastmasters - Find your local chapter by clicking here.
Transcript:
David: Welcome to Everything Business Consulting, a podcast dedicated to business consultant's success. It's for those of you who already are business consultant, and you want to improve your skills, are an accountant and want to offer consulting services, or you may be an ex-corporate who wants to get out of the rat race and become a self-employed business consultant.
Or you may have owned a business before and you now want to use the skills that you've learned to help others in business. I'm David Thexton.
Julius: And I'm Julius Bloem.
David: Everything Business Consulting is brought to you by ConsultX, a global business consulting company that has everything you require to become a successful business consultant or offer consulting services in your existing professional firm. If you'd like to find out more visit consultx.com.
Julius: Thank you, David. Well today, we're going to have a discussion that actually is a summary of a discussion that I had with one of our new consultants in the network. Now she's actually a really positive person who's got the right mindset, but a few things haven't quite gone her way.
So, we had a deep discussion and a bit of a dive into what she can do to improve herself as a business consultant. And we came up with 11 really important things that she should focus on, or she should use to be able to improve herself as a business consultant. Now, this is probably normal for normal people.
She's got all sorts of things going on in her life that she's juggling. She's just moved, she's got young kids that are in school holidays and all of that sort of stuff. And she's starting a new consulting business at the same time. So let's dive in, David, to the 11 points that she thinks are the most valuable.
And we're going to just comment on them as we work our way through. The first point is to create boundaries with your friends and family. If you're working at home, often people can think that you might not be working or you're easily distracted because you know, you're around a normal, I guess, kind of an environment we will normally do more relaxing things and you're probably not used to working.
What do you have to say about that, David? Because you've been working from home for what, almost 15 years now?
David: Yes. Well, you got to know when to switch on and when to switch off. And of course, if you've got children, if most people are in relationships, you need to draw the line at the difference between work time and personal time.
Because if you let them blur into each other, then you'll end up with a real mess. So you need to talk to your family or your partner, your children, and when mum or dad is consulting and they go into the home office and they shut the door, then that means don't interrupt them. So you need to have that very definite boundary between working and personal life.
Otherwise, as it says here, don't get distracted because you will, the whole thing will blur into a mess and you won't be able to do anything properly.
Julius: Absolutely, the word that comes to mind for me, David is discipline and have these boundaries that you set for yourself and stick to them and be disciplined in doing so.
I know for me and talking to our consultant here as well, that it's easy when you're working from home for someone just to pop over, maybe a mom or a cousin or something, just for a cup of tea. And you have to set those boundaries that, no, this is my workday. I'm really focused, particularly when you're starting out you want to be attacking this with the full force and might and concentration that you absolutely could be. So set those boundaries right from the start, and they'll be easier to maintain as you build them into habits as you continue on.
Now second point is when you're networking, don't just focus on making a connection with everyone in the room. When you walk in that room, you want to have a goal and something to focus on. Obviously making connections is very important. And the way that we teach business consulting, you want to secure a discovery meeting. So walk into that room with a goal of talking to a wide range of people, but taking it to the next level and actively pursuing, creating, or booking a meeting with as many people as you can. David, what do you say to that?
David: Yes, Julius, really important. Don't waste your time talking to absolutely everybody, because you'll just dilute your own time. As you're talking to people, you need to make a conscious, kind of a decision in your head that, oh, this will be a good client, or that will be a good client and sort of, really you want to be spending time with people in these meetings, where you can get a discovery meeting with them and who will see you afterwards. And that's mostly everybody. So, so yeah, don't waste your time meeting everybody, just seek out the ones that look like potential clients.
Julius: Go a little bit deeper with them and create a bit more of an opening to get into that next meeting.
David: Yes, of course.
Julius: And like you suggested before in our conversation, David, that's a good position to be in. When you know someone a little bit more, you've got more of a relationship, they're more likely to refer you to people that they know.
David: Exactly.
Julius: And that becomes, what did you say?
David: Upside-down triangle, it starts with one person at the bottom and then three and then nine it's like an upside-down pyramid system.
Julius: As it grows, your connections grow with the more and more people you become connected with. You have to sort of focus your energy on meeting people, I guess, with a bit of depth and a bit of oomph.
David: And you got to protect your time fiercely because you've only got so much time, don't waste it.
Julius: Absolutely. Now the third point is don't overthink the process. There is no right and no wrong. You are doing business just as everyone does. Ask for a chat, now don't put too much pressure or weight on asking for a meeting where you're going to sit down with a potential client. It is just a chat with a prospect and can itself be extremely helpful.
As a business consultant when you're sitting down with them and sounding them out, what do you think about that? David don't overthink the process.
David: Of course, exactly, right. Don't overthink the process. You're merely organizing a meeting and a cup of coffee just for a chat, with a potential prospect. And it's going to be, well, I'll tell you what people have told us, hundreds of people have told us that the discovery meeting is the most important meeting that they ever had.
Julius: Can I just jump in there, David, for those people who aren't a member of our network and they're just listening in on this. We have a three meeting system where we meet the business owner and we secure first a discovery meeting.
And that's just all about getting in and finding out the challenges and discovering about the business owner and their business. From that point on, we then move into a diagnostic meeting where we look at diagnosing the profit leakage, and I guess quantifying the problems within the business, putting some numbers behind what they've told you.
And then the final and third meeting is to give them a proposal that basically ends up being a no-brainer, a win for you, and a win for them as the client. So just to give you a little bit of background, David, as you were.
David: Yeah, yeah. It's just a chat. It's like a fireside chat and a cup of coffee and, like you've said before can be very helpful to them because they will have never had a meeting like this ever in their entire business life.
Julius: And why is that? Why, what do we cover in the discovery meeting that they've never had anything like it before in their life?
David: It's a whole lot of questions that we ask them and we've honed and refined them over 16 years to be the perfect questions. And they all lead onto each other.
And it's, well, like I said, that they've never had a meeting like this before, we're asking them things that nobody's ever asked them before, not their lawyer, not their accountant, not their bank manager, not their wife, their friends, nobody's done this before. So by the end of the discovery meeting, we call it by the end of that meeting, they are blown away.
And also because the next meeting is a diagnostic meeting, which finds profit leakage. They're very, very keen to go into that second meeting.
Julius: Can you just tell me the sorts of things that you're asking in the first meeting that would be extremely helpful?
David: well, let's start off very simple. How long have you been in business? Why did you start the business? When did you start the business? And what was the purpose and what were your long-term goals for the business? Just very simple stuff. Then we started getting into detail, asking about systems and processes that they should have in their business. And they'll come back and they'll tell you things.
And by the answers to those questions, you'll be able to assemble a challenge, a list of challenges that they have not been able to actually solve. And they're just swimming around in their head, all of these issues or these problems, all of these challenges. So that's what it does. It ends up at the end of the meeting with around about eight to 12 challenges that they have not been able to solve.
Julius: Okay. There you go. So the discovery meeting, that's the first meeting we recommend using as a consultant when you're talking to business owners, is where you're just trying to sound them out, build a bit of a relationship, and ultimately find out the pain points or the challenges that they're having in their business.
Now, the fourth point, that I'm going to bring up today is time management being key. Don't spend too much time on things that aren't helping you to get clients. You will find months have passed and you still haven't signed clients. What do we say, David, if you want a business, you need clients?
David: You do, and you need activity, activity equals results. So, you need to be meeting lots of people and asking lots of questions, and working your way through our process. And that's the way to get clients. If you only see five people in a month, then you might get one client out of it, but you need to be seeing 50 or 60 or 70 people in a month.
You'll be really, really busy, and because you're also going through a sifting, or a filtering process with the people that you're speaking to, to decide whether they're worthy of taking your time to consult to their business.
Julius: Absolutely, so guard your time very very closely. Our fifth point is listen to webinars and podcasts for inspiration. They work and repeatedly listening to them helps you start thinking more like a consultant, David?
David: Well, no one has ever got to the end of learning, basically, even if you're 90 years old and you're on your death bed, you don't know everything. So we encourage people after they've learned our process and our systems that they continue on educating themselves.
And as you see it here with podcasts and listening to audiobooks and reading interesting things, white papers and all that sort of stuff, and keep on learning, learning, learning. And as you get clients, you'll learn from them and you'll learn from their management team and stuff like that. So life has just ongoing learning and the more you learn, the better business consultant you'll become.
Julius: Absolutely, I'll just add to that. When you surround yourself with other people that are doing the kind of thing that you want to do, that's where we find inspiration. If you're in a network of consultants like we have in ConsultX. If they're all out signing clients and doing fantastically well, that's going to motivate you and provide the inspiration and basically show you that you can do it too.
And I think that's really, really, really important. I know it was for me when I started out. So listening to webinars and podcasts for inspiration is a great point.
David: And what did Tim Ferriss say, you are the average of your five people that you deal with every day.
Julius: Jim Rohn said, you're the average of the five people you spend the most time with.
David: Most time with, okay. And Tim stole it off Jim,
Julius: probably.
David: Yes.
Julius: Point six is practice speaking to people and using the jargon that we use in training to be a business consultant, it will start feeling more natural and like a normal part of your vocabulary
David: Absolutely, we've had hundreds and hundreds of consultants have been through our training and they've made so many suggestions, like talk about a continuous improvement loop.
We've been through that for almost 16 years and the things that are in our training, are things that work that came from the network. Because if they didn't work, they wouldn't be in there, we would have taken them out. So yes, speaking is very important and I know Julius went to Toastmasters and he found that very useful.
And I did it about 20 years ago and I found it very useful. So, yes, the more you do it, the more easier it becomes and it'll become a part of your vocabulary and part of your personality as well.
Julius: Absolutely, that takes me back to when I started. I remember we've got some scripts that we recommend using as a business consultant and training.
And it felt really unnatural when I started out and I thought, oh, this just doesn't sound like me. When I talk to people and use these phrases and sentences and stuff like that. And it got to a point where they just rolled off the tongue and the words were my own. And I thought that was a bit of a transformation and it took a little while, it took practice, but that's what it's all about.
And David, you said Toastmasters, and Toastmasters is something we've talked about a few times before in our podcast. And it's something that I can't recommend enough. It gets you to a point where you can comfortably talk in groups, talk in public, and that talks to people you don't know. And that's something that's really, really important as a business consultant, whether you're out there talking to business owners whether you are networking, whether you're working in a team, a management team, or something for one of your clients.
Where you aren't familiar with everyone, where you're just new and it gives you another level of confidence to be able to go on there and converse and get to the answers that you need to in the room when you're building the business plan for that particular business and all that kind of stuff.
So that's something that I would highly recommend, look up online Toastmasters and find your local chapter, it's a very, very cheap investment to really transform and take your confidence and public speaking and leadership to another level. Our seventh point is revisit training regularly, and it will also become a way of thinking and become second nature.
David: That's called spaced repetition. And, you may have done your training over one or two weeks at the start, but if you come back every month and you do maybe an hour's worth, you can go and repeat all sorts of different parts of it. If there's particularly a part that you having difficulty with. Go back and revisit it and have a good listen.
And you may find that the answer is already in the training, you've just forgotten about it. So yeah. Yes, very important. Spaced repetition. Just keep doing it and doing it and doing it until you become an absolute ACE and you'll do very well.
Julius: And that reminds me of the saying, David, that practice makes perfect. And I know watching training is only part of practicing, but it's just going to ingrain it in your mind. Like you said, space repetition. It's just incredibly valuable to know exactly what you should be doing in a particular situation or what you should think. And it's applicable to almost anything in life if you want to be successful.
So revisiting the training or the education of whatever it is, you're trying to be really good at and doing that regularly is going to help it become ingrained in you. The eighth point is to use the forum and connect with others in the network. This is helpful, motivating and two heads are always better than one.
Now, this comes back to that, surrounding yourself with other people that are doing what you are trying to do, mentality that I talked about before. We've got a forum or a network that we have set up online within ConsultX and all of our consultants, all around the world going on there and they help each other.
They give each other advice, they introduce each other and just say what their backgrounds are. So, if you ever need someone with a particular background and there is someone in our network that knows about that, you can go and talk to them. And that is, I believe incredibly motivating to be able to see what other people have been successful at, and what they're currently doing at the moment.
Now, David, do you have anything to add to that?
David: Yeah, they may have a client that is in an industry or a profession that's similar to a client that you've just got. And if one, somebody is in London and you're in Auckland, for example, I don't see anything wrong with having a chat with him and exchanging ideas.
And like they're 20,000 kilometers away or wherever it is, you know, like, it won't be a problem. I wouldn't think, but you could remove the names if you want for confidentiality, but no, you should reach out to others in the network because you'll just become stronger and stronger.
Julius: And why are two heads better than one?
David: Well, different ideas, different ways of looking at things like I've always told the two heads are better than one. Like, it just gives you two angles on a particular problem, and it's just better for problem-solving, having two people, having a go than just one by themself.
Julius: So for those consultants in our network, use the forum and connect with others.
But for those that aren't in our network already, this point was kind of telling you to, again, surround yourself with people that are going to be able to help you get where you want to go. And if that's business consulting definitely consider joining a network like ConsultX. Our ninth point is a referral can come from anywhere.
So no connection is an unsuccessful one, keep moving forward. However small the progress is you make, it will get you closer to your goal.
David: Well, I've got just a couple of examples. Last year I was having my $10 haircut, which I have about every 10 days, and the lady who cut my hair, I said, oh, do you own the salon?
She says, no, no, I'm just working here part-time. And I said, oh, what do you do? She says I'm a half owner in a building business. And I said, oh, so why are you cutting hair? And she said, well, because the building business can't afford to pay me. So I have to get extra income by coming out here and cutting people's hair.
So I said, how big is this business? And you said it's about $6 million a year. I nearly fell off a chair when she said that and she said they just can't afford to pay me. So I pass it on to one of our consultants, but it just goes to show they're everywhere. I was at a restaurant locally and there's a new owner there and he was walking on the table saying, how's your meal, did you enjoy it?
And doing what a good host should do. And I said, oh, you're new here? He said yes, I'm the new owner. I said, how's business going, anyway 15 minutes later.
Julius: What were those magic words, David?
David: How's your business going? And he went on and on and on and on. I could have signed him up on the spot. Well, I came back the next morning and signed him up.
But, I find them everywhere. I just stopped doing it now. I stop asking people because it always leads to, really a discovery meeting. So yeah. So, as it says here, keep moving forward, however, small the progress, but the more people you meet, the more referrals you will get because you've got to ask for them, some of them, you got to say, now that you know what I do as a business consultant or Business Success Partner do you know anybody that might need the kind of help that I provide?
And then just shut up and you'll probably get two to three to four and they'll say, well, this person here, and this person there, or this supplier whose quality issues are terrible. And this customer who's three months behind in paying. I think he or she needs some help.
So yes, keep moving forward. Keep talking to people. The more people you talk to, the more questions you ask, then the faster you're going to make progress in this industry or profession.
Julius: So a referral can come from anywhere, so no connection is an unsuccessful one, keep moving forward. And no matter how small, the progress is that movement forward is going to get you closer to your goal.
Obviously, if you've got some bigger forward movement, you're going to get to your goal faster. Now, 10th point today is always speak positively and supportively about potential competition. Remember, they're great, but you are unique and just have more to offer. Now specifically, I'm just going to tell you that a ConsultX Business Success Partner, is different to most normal, almost all regular consultants out there.
We have some special tools in our arsenal and some special training that we put them through that differentiates them from everyone else. Back to this main point. Finally, any negative talk sounds like gossip or sour grapes. David, what do you have to say about this?
David: Well, yeah. If you're talking gossip to these people, they'll think that you'll be talking about their business to other people. So you just have to maintain an absolute confidentiality, just like a lawyer would or an accountant would. As far as they're concerned, you don't speak of other clients.
You don't say I've got Jim, the chicken farmer down the road, and Bob, the kitchen maker. As far as they're concerned, they are your only prospect or they're your only client. You only talk about them. Never talk about anybody else. Because it just ends up backfiring on you. So every relationship is on a confidential basis.
And, you only talk to your client about your client's business.
Julius: That makes them feel a little bit special as well, makes them feel valued. So always speak positively and supportively about potential competition. Remember, they might be great, but you're unique. And as a Business Success Partner with ConsultX, you probably have more, almost certainly have more to offer. Don't talk negatively, otherwise, it just sounds like gossip.
Our 11th point for today is don't worry about extra marketing material and researching clients if time is of the essence. Just walk into companies, wherever possible, and start some enjoyable conversations where you listen and take a real interest in others.
David: It's all about communication, and I have found, and people in the network have found that everybody wants to talk about their business because they're proud of it. And they started it from scratch and might not be a fabulous business or fantastically profitable. But, it's theirs and they own it. So, I think that, or I've always found that I have very enjoyable conversations and everybody will give you the time to have a cup of coffee or a cup of tea with you for 30 minutes or an hour.
And it's just no problems at all. And then once you're talking to them, you can start asking them questions. Which I've seen people, I've organized meetings with business owners, who got the grumpiest face on, upside-down smile, all of that sort of stuff really, really don't want to be meeting with you. And by the end of that first meeting, they're slapping you on the back and they've made you a cup of tea and they can't wait for you to come back for the profit leakage meeting, which is generally one to two days after the first meeting.
Julius: That actually reminds me, David, of the industry that I used to be in, which was working on high-performance vehicles. And what would happen is someone would bring their car in and they would be, I guess, trying to find out if it was a good place to get their car worked on. And I would do exactly that, I would just try and start a conversation on them. Where you get them talking about what they're interested in, which is their car.
It's there. Normally, if you've got a performance car or sports car, it's your pride and joy. And if few start asking questions, like how long have you had it and, what are your plans with it and what have you done to it so far? And that kind of thing, then they just start telling you everything you wanted to know.
And so much more, it just leads the conversation exactly where you want it to go. And this I think is exactly the same where, if you ask a business owner, how their businesses, even if it's not good, they're really, really proud of the work that they've put in and they know it might be a bit of a struggle, stuff like that, but they're still happy with the fact that they own a business.
And they're happy to talk to someone who wants to know about it because it's not often that that kind of thing happens.
David: Like I said earlier on, I owned a beverage company for 20 years and a coach or a business consultant never, never walked through my door ever.
And, it's the same today. People that we talk to have never seen a coach or a business consultant, the market is wide open. There are businesses are starting up and closing down faster than babies are being born. So, don't think that there's nobody out there who's suitable for becoming a client.
They're absolutely everywhere. And as I said earlier on, I never met a business owner that said, oh, David, I'm just making too much profit, I don't want to increase it, it's too much, it's too much David! And, I never met anybody like that. I can't imagine anybody like that. So, yeah. So the things that we talk about the profit leakage, the discovery meeting, ask them a few questions, telling them about our business.
99% of people are fascinated with what we do. And we'll give you that 30 minutes or an hour to have that cup of tea or coffee with you.
Julius: So there we go, don't worry about doing those extra things and just get in there and start talking and having a conversation and communicating with real interest on those people that you think might be a potential prospect.
Now thank you to our network members who have contributed information. And this one specific lady who has helped us put this podcast together. Now, I also want to let everyone know that we're currently running a special for the next 50 members that joined ConsultX. If you want to know more about that, go to consultx.com and enter your details. And we'll be in touch with some information on that special.
If you enjoy this particular podcast would also love if you could give us a rating or review on your podcasting app, this will help us to reach more people and ultimately have a positive impact on us and our business consultants being able to help business owners all around the world.
Thank you very much, David.
David: Thank you, everybody, for watching and we'll talk to you soon.
Everything Business Consulting is brought to you by ConsultX. It's a global business consulting company that has everything that you require to become a successful business consultant or to offer consulting services in your existing professional firms.
If you'd like to find out more, come visit us at consultx.com.