This is a continuation of a series. The previous articles were:
Part 1 - Establishing yourself as a "Subject Matter Expert
Part 2 - Consulting as Business (Welcome to Entrepreneurialism)
Part 3 – Go forth and Consult (and get paid)
Part 4 - Retaining and Gaining Clients
By Ron Bettin
Way to go! You've completed a project, and you are ready for more. Your first consulting gig can be anything from wildly successful to a big flop. No matter how it turned out when the job is over, the cash flow stops, and you will need to either retain more work from your current client or gain new work from a new client. Let's talk about how you can continue to improve and grow as an Independent Consultant.
1) Self Awareness - Evaluate Yourself
Most times, your first engagement will not go exactly how you had planned. At best, the client will not know that you struggled, and at worst, your job ended in disappointment for both of you. Do not be discouraged, though, as the best learnings come from change and disappointment. As a consultant, you should learn how to adapt and pivot early. Here are a few specific things for you to review. Keep in mind; your client will be evaluating you, so be honest with yourself if you want to work for them again:
Were you able to deliver results?
When the project was completed, did you provide the client exactly what they were looking for? Were you in agreement with the client that the scope of work and the deliverables turned out as expected? Not all projects go as planned; most do not. If both you or the client are not satisfied, then there is a good possibility your consulting engagement was not appropriately defined, and the expectations were unreasonable.
Successful consultants will establish clear expectations upfront and communicate with their clients regularly to ensure that there is alignment with any changes in scope and deliverables. Take the time to figure out the best way to establish this communication with each client. Remember, you are there to help "solve problems" for your client, and sometimes their problem is that they need help defining the expectations and deliverables.
How was your performance?
Did you feel like you were able to apply all of your skills and experience effectively? Take the time to assess all the aspects of the project that did not allow you to perform effectively, including:
Communication: Poor communication can be the root cause of poor performance. Remember, the first rule of consulting is to listen to your client and then communicate back with clarity. Do not assume that your client communicates well. Inform your client on the positive and negative issues that are affecting your performance. Your ability to be effective has a direct impact on your billing cost, so they should want to help you out. Also, be honest if you are assigned tasks that you are not competent at or familiar with (assuming you did not promise the client that you were an expert!). Poor communication may have the most significant issue that affects your success as a consultant.
Collaboration: Did you find that you could collaborate with the employees and stakeholders of the clients? If your experience has primarily been with a few companies or in a specialty role, it can take a while to understand the culture of your client and how to collaborate with the staff effectively. Take the time to figure out approaches and tools that your client uses to ensure effective collaboration. Figure out how their workplace ticks, including how they hold meetings, what technology and apps they use to collaborate, and how they socialize within a team. As an "outsider," you need to earn the trust of the others on a project you are working on to ensure that they will collaborate with you.
Work Environment: In many cases, consultants are given the worst desk location, with the least resources, and oldest equipment. Your work environment can cause you to perform poorly and be very costly to the client. To be clear, a consultant will not get the corner office, but if your performance is hindered, you need to be honest with your client about how this affected your results. As a consultant, you may be expected to provide the tools and resources to work effectively, so be sure to know what you agreed to.
Would you consult for this client again?
When you are done a project for a client, ask yourself if you would consult for that company again. If not, then write down all the reasons why not and evaluate if these factors to consider with your next client. Determine the factors that are within your control and ensure these are addressed when you work with your next client. Likewise, you should identify all of the positive aspects of your consulting engagement, as these may help you decide what companies or projects to pursue your next consulting engagement.
As a consultant, you will be most effective when you are self-aware. When an engagement is not working out, there is a tendency to be a "victim of your client"; this is not helpful as a consultant. Your ability to perform for a client in even challenging circumstances can also be your strategic advantage. Always put yourself in your client's shoes and ask the question, "Would the client want to hire me again?"
2) Cultivate future work with your existing
As an independent consultant, you are an entrepreneur, which means that you are responsible for your next job. When you start, you need to "eat what you can kill," in other words, you may have to take any work you can to pay the bills. As you get more established, you hope to become more of a "farmer" of clients and keep going by cultivating work with an existing client and growing new clients through referrals.
Future work with your current client:
A common saying with consultants is that "They hired me for a week, and I stayed for a year." Often, a client will hire a consultant to tackle a specific project or problem. Once you are in a company and prove that you can solve one problem, you hope to gain the client's trust to work on other projects. In time, other managers become aware of your abilities, and it will be easy for you to help out on their projects. Many companies have significant barriers when hiring a new consultant, so having a contract in place can be a considerable advantage for you to move you to various projects within a company.
Do not take it for granted that you will continue to work for the same company. Some factors that will determine if you will continue to work on future projects are:
You Deliver Results: If you have demonstrated that you add value, then your client is more likely to include you on other projects. Your reputation is all you have as a consultant, so the most important thing you can do for future work is to deliver results.
You have developed an internal network: The advantage of being "inside" is that it allows you to understand how the company is structured and works. Take the time to cultivate relationships so that you will be on the radar if new projects come up.
You understand the company culture: Understanding a company's culture, allows you to know what motivates the employees and how they will embrace or resist change. As a consultant, you will be most effective if you align your approach with the culture to find the best way to deliver results.
You can help to identify solutions and opportunities: As a consultant, you can see the company through the lens of an "outsider." For many companies, you can bring an external perspective with fresh ideas and understand how they can be more competitive. Without being judgmental, help your client to identify both internal and external drivers that they should be considering. Internal opportunities include process efficiencies, productivity improvements, technical solutions, cost reductions, and quality improvements. External opportunities include understanding industry trends, disruptive technology, market shifts, and regulatory changes.
3) Hunt for future work with new clients:
We all have seen that a company can change suddenly. Economic changes, corporate changes, takeovers, re-organization, or just changes in management could end your engagement quickly. As wonderful as it would be to keep working for one client indefinitely, it is essential to have new clients on the horizon. Here are some successful approaches to getting future clients:
Word of mouth and referrals:
Once you have established your reputation, there is a good chance that your next consulting engagement will be through word-of-mouth or a referral. Generally, within industries, it is just one-or-two degrees of separation between you and most potential clients, so a reference from someone they trust may be all it takes to get your next job. Recruiting and selecting a good consultant can take a lot of time, so if you have a good reputation and deliver results, you will be a low-risk solution. Timing can be everything with word-of-mouth referrals, so stay connected with your network and past clients so that you are "on-the-radar" if an opportunity arises.
In addition to word-of-mouth, the best source of new work is through formal referrals. When a person takes the time to refer you by phone or in writing, they are committing their good reputation on your abilities, which can carry a lot of weight with a new client. The secret to getting referrals is simple: Give referrals! Be willing to share a referral and help others succeed as they will be more likely to do the same for you. Be the first to refer as it can be incredibly impactful if someone sees that you are vested in their success. Also, if possible, get permission to quote referrals on your website or any marketing material.
Old clients move to new companies:
As a consultant, it can be quite nerve-racking when there are changes in a company that causes managers to leave or move to other divisions. This is especially true if they are the champion of your project or consulting engagement. If this happens, stay focused on the project you were hired for as it is paying your bills. However, if people do move, then the company or division they move to could potentially be a new client.
It is valuable to maintain relationships when clients move and most importantly, do not burn bridges as you never know where people end up.
Other similar projects:
Stay in tune with similar projects to ones you have worked on that are occurring with your current client or at other companies. If you are involved in software implementations, find out other companies that may be planning the same type of project and get to know who the decision-makers are. Similarly, if you are helping a company work on a business initiative, do some research on other companies that might have a similar need. Often other companies may not know what initiatives should be important to them, and you may be able to demonstrate the value proposition and your proven ability to deliver a successful solution.
Team up with other Consultants:
Sometimes projects come along that requires more work than one independent consultant can provide, or requires a different skill-sets then you have. These projects are an excellent opportunity to team up with other consultants to provide a packaged service to a client. If you have a network of reputable consultants that you trust, you may find that you have the opportunity to help each other get work. You may also help the clients if they do not have the time or resources to find the consultants themselves.
Staffing Agencies
Many companies have a policy not to hire Independent Consultants, or for large projects, hire all consultants through a staffing agency to manage all of the administration and billing on behalf of the client. Although this may not be as lucrative, it might be the best way to participate in a project. Get familiar with the staffing agencies that are leading project work and be prepared to be a subcontractor if required.
3) Marketing
Most of your work as an Independent Consultant will probably come from word of mouth and referrals; it is still essential to have a market presence. In Part 2 Article - Consulting as Business, we discussed marketing that a consultant should set up. We will explore some ongoing marketing that may be important as a consultant.
Everyone has their preferred social media, but if you are a professional, keep your LinkedIn up to date. At a minimum, keep your profile updated so that any of your potential clients can look you up and see if you have the skills and background for possible work. For many clients, the first impression of your credibility will be your LinkedIn page, so make sure it reflects the story you want to tell.
LinkedIn is also a great platform to stay relevant to current business topics and maintain a presence within your professional and client community. Liking or sharing posts and articles will keep your name visible to potential clients and help to reflect your brand. Even better is to write articles with content that increases your subject matter credibility and is searchable to prospective clients.
Website
If you have a website, ensure to keep it up to date. Your webpage is your "storefront" window, so it should reflect what you are selling and how to contact you to buy it. LinkedIn will tend to have more traffic, but having a website will give your customers a sense that you are an established consultant. However, if you are not prepared to keep your website up to date, you are probably better not to have one. An old and outdated website may give the impression that you are no longer relevant or consulting at all.
Client Recognition
The simplest and most effective marketing you can do with a current or future client is to take the time to recognize them personally. Generally, you are working at a company because a person was the champion who decided to hire you or assign you to a project. Sending a thank-you card, a gift at Christmas, or buying lunch occasionally will go a long way. Don't make the recognition too costly or extravagant that would put them in a conflict-of-interest but do find personal and meaningful ways to recognize them.
You should also recognize those who refer you or help to get you a contract, and they will gladly assist you again. As mentioned earlier, get in the habit to pay-it-forward with referrals as they are the best way to get people to refer you.
"Make a careful list of all things done to you that you abhorred. Don't do them to others, ever. Make another list of things done for you that you loved. Do them for others, always." – Tom Peters
Previous "Independent Consultant" Articles:
Part 1 - Establishing yourself as a "Subject Matter Expert"
Part 2 - Consulting as Business (Welcome to Entrepreneurialism)
Part 3 - Retaining and Gaining Clients
In these uncertain times, these articles are meant as a form of encouragement, motivation, and discussion. Please provide input and comments if you have the advice to contribute to others who are considering becoming an Independent Consultant.
Ron Bettin is a Canadian executive with more than 25 years of leadership and entrepreneurial experience. He is the co-founder of several companies and provides management consulting to both large and small corporations. Ron has a strong understanding of the importance of building value and creating success. He is a graduate of the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology and has an MBA from Queen's School of Business.