Your marketing efforts have paid off. All of your activities on social media and doing speeches worked. You created a proposal, negotiated and renegotiated with your client and the deal is done.

And now you’re wondering what to do now.

Just like your clients have processes in place to ensure consistently high customer service, you have to do the same. This consulting process is what I call the “Consulting Engagement Cycle.” It is not an exact formula you need to follow but a guideline that helps you ensure that you can deliver excellence every time, with every client.

There are five steps in the Consulting Engagement Cycle:

Step 1: Establish Winning Partnerships

Sales is not what you get through in order to get to the work. It is actually the first step in your consulting delivery. During contracting, you and your client come to agreement on the business objectives at hand and how the two of you will partner together to achieve those objectives. This phase of the...

If you are interested in leaving your current job for the potential of running your own consulting practice, there is only one thing you need. You may think you need a lot of money in the bank and a "rolodex" of potential clients and referrals. While those things are important, they are not nearly as important as your wholehearted commitment to the adventure of running your own consulting practice. In my experience, there is a direct correlation between the most successful consultants and their ability to commit fully to their practice and making it a success.

There is a big difference between having a yearning to start your own consulting practice and actually making the decision to leave the comfort and security of your day job for the unknown world of entrepreneurship.

The fear of the unknown is to be expected. There are many sources of help to overcome these type of predicable fears but there is only one response if you are going to be truly successful as a consultant: Again, by...

Most consultants get anxiety attacks when it comes to talking about money with potential clients. 

While it is important for you to address your own underlying issues for why it is hard for you to ask for equitable compensation for your worth, have you considered the significance to YOUR client that you do ask for your worth?

If you are a consultant, you are a change agent. Your proposal reflects so much more than simply an offer for work in exchange for fees. It is in fact the moment of truth for a client who is considering making an important change. When you stand in and ask for your worth, you are not just putting yourself in a position to make money. You are providing your client an opportunity to put their money where their mouths are for something that have deemed important.

So, let me share with you why your client NEEDS you to ask for your worth:

1. Agreeing to work with a consultant or coach is a sign of commitment to change. When they sign on the dotted line, they are...

If you struggle with determining how to set a price for your consulting services, don’t worry you are not alone. It’s a real challenge for those of us who get paid for our knowledge and insight to come up with the EXACT RIGHT AMOUNT TO CHARGE that both honors our expertise and is fair and reasonable to our clients.

To help you master the art and science of pricing consulting services, let me share with you 5 Guiding Principles:

1. Pricing is not a separate activity you to do earn money for your consulting. It is an integral part of your consulting offer. You establish your brand with potential clients through your marketing messages, how you interact with them, what work you pitch for them and how you frame that work as well as what you charge AND how you charge. Therefore, your pricing strategy is an essential aspect and extension of your consulting brand.
2. Fee ranges are project driven NOT market driven. It doesn’t matter what others out there are...