Download Episode Transcript

Whether you are new to consulting or have been consulting for a while SURELY you have considered the possibility of landing work with the larger companies.

Perhaps this question has been top of mind for a while. You've probably wondered:

"How would I meet those larger companies?"

"Can I speak their language? Can I get them to trust me? 

"What would I offer them? Do I have what they are looking for?" 

But you didn't know where to search for the answers....so you invest more money in your marketing, consider getting a new certification and continue working with small clients...

But there is a better way. 

I'm excited to announce my brand-new podcast channel that I am calling Consulting Matters: Mastering the Art and Science of the Business.

The truth is - in order to do good as a consultant, you have to be good, maybe even the best.

With this series, I am going to unveil for you the secrets behind how organizations function and create...

It was the scariest moment of my life. 

I was leading one of the most strategic and high-profile projects the Disney operations executives had ever collectively embarked on and I knew it was time for me to quit. This big decision wasn't about Disney - as the company and its executives were (and still are) the best of the best.

My massive career transition was about so much more. For sure those 70-hour workweeks were getting to me. I felt like my two small children that were growing up without me. 

But the real motivation was this internal discontent that started to take root in me two years prior. My Dad's death from lung cancer was a wakeup call to reconsider my life priorities.  

So I leapt from the corporate ladder for the adventure of finding my highest potential and started my own consulting business.

Like all new entrepreneurs, I was full of money fears. I wondered IF I was going to replace my salary with consulting revenue and how QUICKLY...

If you are like me, you're a consultant because you want to change the world.

You want to help leaders and companies create healthy work environments filled with engaged employees and customers.

But you leapt from the corporate ladder (or are thinking about it) because you also want to create greater success...on your own terms. 

The question that keeps you up at night is HOW.

• How do you monetize your experience and turn it in to a thriving consulting practice?
• Or how do you leverage your strengths to take your business to the next level?
• As well as how do you accomplish these goals while remaining true to your values around service and integrity?

Smart and values-driven consultants like you don't have one minute to waste questioning what it takes to accelerate your consulting success. You need to convert the energy you spend second-guessing what to do next into positive action because your future clients need you. There are people who not only want what you...

When you are trying to figure out how to price your consulting, you’re really asking three related but very different questions.

Sure you want to know about the nuts and bolts about pricing.

You also want some insight into how to increase your fees and make more money consulting.

But ultimately, you want to know the answer to one key question: Am I getting paid what I am worth?

There are several reasons why you need REAL answers to these essential pricing questions. When you know how to price your consulting and can truly own the value that you create, you will be able to:

• More confidently market yourself
• Ask high-paying clients to work with you
• Avoid the time-for-money trap
• Get out of the labor intensive projects that suck all of your time (and are infamous for boundary-creep
• Sidestep those low-paying "one off's" that make you feel little more than an order taker

So, in this article, I am giving you my 5 Steps to the Getting the Price Right. But before I jump into...

"But what a fool believes he sees
No wise man has the power to reason away"  (Kenny Loggins/Michael McDonald)

Not everyone you consult to is the same and therefore you cannot use the same strategies to support their resistance to change.

According to author, psychologist and business advisor, Henry Cloud there really are three kinds of people: wise, foolish and evil. While we all have these characteristics and behaviors at times, our consistent behavior choices make one of these categories more predominant. 

Understanding these categories is essential for our consulting success because if we going to stay effective, healthy and sane, we have to accept this reality. And not only that, we have to learn to customize our consulting in order to match the type of character our client's authentically possesses. 

The easiest way to discern what type of character your client possesses is to watch to what they do when they are presented with difficult feedback or...

Here's the thing: If you are a consultant (internal or external) at some point you'll be asked to design and deliver a training experience. 

It's not that there's anything wrong with training because sometimes lack of knowledge and skills is the root cause to performance challenges. And when it is...you can truly add client value and deliver a powerful ROI.

But if lack of knowledge and skills is not the culprit behind performance challenges, you may be paid well BUT I hate to break it to you (and your client) that what you offer won't create any lasting value for your client...or for your business.

The impact for your client is hopefully obvious. They spend money on a solution that will not likely resolve their challenges. 

However, there is a massive impact to you and your business that you may not be aware of. If you say "yes" to a training request without trying to help you client identify their REAL performance gaps and the pinpoint the REAL causes to...

Interview Transcript:

Betsy Jordyn:    Hey there everyone, this is Betsy Jordyn and I’m super excited to have my colleague, my long-term colleague and friend, Bill Johnson here.  BC Johnson.  To share more about his experience.  He’s the most recent graduate of the Consultant’s Institute and he has just launched his consulting business.  Thank you, Bill, so much, for being with me today and sharing your experience.

BC Johnson:    Thanks Betsy, pleasure to be here.

Betsy Jordyn:    So, let’s first talk a little bit about this great new business that you’re launching.  Tell me a little bit more about the consulting business that you are putting out there and what you want to do.

BC Johnson:     Well, it’s interesting that you kind of asked that question because as I—I’ll give you a little backdrop about me.  One of the things I’ve always...

Working for yourself is scary. Anyone who tells you otherwise is lying!

The only way to conquer the normal fears that come along with entrepreneurship is to understand them and face them head on. You don't overcome them, you befriend them.

There are five fears that you can expect:

1. MONEY

Swapping out a steady paycheck for the variable income that comes with working for yourself is the most common fear. Fears including making as much as you do now and questions about where the next “paycheck” will come from.  

Spotting It:

It may come to your awareness directly, but it will also manifest itself by:

•  Reactive actions to “just go, go, go.”
•  Not properly investing in your business with the right partners (seeking the cheapest options vs. the best value.)
•  Taking any work – even work that you don’t do well, doesn’t pay well or with clients you don’t particularly care for.

How it Serves:

...

If you have been consulting for a while, more than likely you have been asked to design and deliver a leadership training program. If your proposal only included options around the training experience, you are leaving a great deal of value on the table for you...and your client.

When it comes to developing leaders - training is often necessary but rarely sufficient. To transform leadership performance back on the job, your develpment initiative needs to have four components:

• Leadership Performance Expectations: These are explicit guidences what leaders need to DO with their employees on a day-to-day basis. These performance expectations work alongside competencies and define for leaders what their employees need them to DO everyday to empower them to do their jobs and go above and beyond. It is essential that these behaviors are customized to each company and employee base because not all employees want or need the same type of leadership. Armed with this clarity on...

Do you feel stuck with your brand building efforts? Do you struggle with attracting leads and converting them into paying clients? Is your struggle getting so bad that you are questioning if you have what it takes and thinking of giving up your dreams of making money doing what you love because you just need to live in the "real world"?

I've got great news with you. It isn't that you don't have the foundations of a great brand and marketing strategies. And it isn't that the techniques that you are using to figure this all are ineffective.

It's just that you have been given the HOW, without really understanding the WHY's behind your brand building and marketing efforts.

Most smart people try to sell their experience, methodologies and even tangible business results thinking that the rational logic is what closes the deal.

When in reality, those messages are not even getting close to the real buyer. In contrast to what you think, when you find your buyer, it is not simply about...