How to Sell Advice

In this episode, Jordan and I talk about his transition from freelancer to strategist, how he found his niche working with Amish farmers, and more. • Transitioning from freelancer to strategist (and the steps he took in between) • How he repositioned himself to sell more strategic offerings • Exploring alternative niches before stumbling into a new niche—Amish farmers! • How a "Golden Goose" relat...

I recently interviewed Reza Saeedi —a marketing strategist and former Director of Marketing at On Deck—about his transition from employee to marketing advisor to employee again with advising as a side venture.  In this episode, we chatted about things like: How Reza got into marketing and eventually, as a mentor/advisor to entrepreneurs  How he was able to get one fractional CMO and two advisory c...

So, you want to publish content to attract clients. Do you start a blog? Hammer out posts on LinkedIn every day? Start a YouTube channel? A podcast? Good question. I get asked it a lot.  In fact, someone in Mindshare asked me about it again today, so I thought I'd break out my mental model for how I think about publishing and distributing content. Here is a visual breakdown to look at while you li...

I recently had the privilege of interviewing Brad Hussey—a former web designer turned creator, educator, and community builder. In this episode, we talk about things like: How he made the leap from employee to full-time web designer How he successfully sells web design courses on platforms like Udemy, Awwwards, Teachable, and other places How these courses lead to people hiring him for web design...

The other week, I chatted with former software consultant turned CRM SaaS owner, Reuben Swartz about how to do sales in a way that doesn't feel like selling and instead sets up your relationships for success. In this episode, we chat about things like: Why traditional sales processes don't work How he helps people win clients without being sales-y How having a clear target market helps your sales...

Do you have a proprietary framework or methodology you can build an entire business around? I recently recorded a podcast with Billy Broas, a copywriter, advisor, and educator who has built a business around his proprietary messaging framework, The Five Lightbulbs .  In this episode, Billy and I unpack the Five Lightbulbs and then go deep into how his business works, how he gets clients, and a lot...

I recently decided to rebrand the Mindshare franchise (can I call it that?). Listen in for all the details! —kw

Do you focus much on optimizing your website for search engines?  Personally, I don’t really do much beyond the basic best practices. My strategy has been more focused on email, social media, and Golden Goose tactics to build awareness for what I do. But a part of me feels like I’m missing out—especially as I begin to sell knowledge products to a large potential audience. That’s why I wanted to ta...

A few weeks ago, I invited Mindshare member and long-time marketing consultant, Mark Evans , to talk shop with me about the business of marketing consulting and fractional CMO work. This was a really fun episode. We went deep into the nerdy nuances of fractional/interim CMO and advisory work. Some topics we explored include: Mark’s transition from reporter to marketing consultant How he uses his t...

The other day, I replied to a Twitter friend's (@RodBurkert) open question : My question: What is the 'right next best thing' you should do to create the biggest leverage and productivity boost for your practice? I replied with the following: Taking the expertise in your head and putting it into writing/audio/video, then organizing it into a system or framework so others can learn from you without...

It's easy to believe that as advisors, we get paid to have all the answers. We feel like to add value, we need to be able to tell people what to do. What if instead, our value came from things like: Asking good questions Having good taste Running ideas through your filters Pattern matching against your experience Creating visions to consider Clarifying ideas that aren't well-considered Being an en...

I recently interviewed Kevan Lee, the former VP of Marketing at Buffer and currently Senior VP of Marketing at Oyster . Kevan is a wealth of knowledge when it comes to leading tech startups to significant growth. To give you an example, he helped Buffer go from $5m to $20m in annual revenue and 100,000 new customers acquisitions per month. In his first year at Oyster, he helped the company 20x its...

You may be a rock star when it comes to marketing your clients' business. But when it comes to your own, it might be an entirely different story. And you know what? That doesn't make you a bad marketer. It's incredibly hard to market yourself—especially if you don't have a system to follow. In this episode, I break down the three core pillars to attracting more clients: Looking good "on paper" to...

What if the way to get your emails read and subscribers to stay subscribed was to lower the bar a little? Not in terms of quality, necessarily. But in terms of format or type. Instead of trying to write a grand theory of mathematics every time you publish, what if we treated email more like social media? What if we aimed for a simple, concise, interesting, and/or fun piece of content? Something li...

The most successful businesses have a high degree of customer-centricity. Think Amazon or Google—they're absolutely relentless about the customer experience. And in the consulting world, the most successful advisors are the ones who have a high customer-centricity and low self-orientation . Not sure what this all means? In this episode, I break down how to put your client at the epicentre of your...

The odds of you succeeding with new ventures or ideas out of the gate is low. It’s not fun but it’s true. Even if your idea is good, it might be adjacent to the one the market wants. A small set of tweaks and iterations to the format, offer, or audience might just be what it needs to take off. And that’s empowering! It means you’re not alone. Nobody figures everything out right away. It’s easy to...

Do you ever stop to wonder what it is we are really selling as consultants? Are we selling a website, strategy, or brand identity? Yes... and no. Those are features of our work. And people don't really buy features. Maybe we are selling new customer growth? Better retention? Ease of use? Those are all great benefits of our work. But let's dig a little deeper. What is the emotion behind those benef...

It's incredibly easy to get sucked into being an employee-like figure when you do fractional leadership work. When I first got started as a fractional CMO, I basically had two part-time jobs. The money was good but I worked HARD. I knew I needed to create better parameters. In this episode of Mindshare Radio, I'll break down the five main ways to avoid turning into a set of employee-like hands whe...

This post originally appeared at https://kevin.me/ways You can think about niching in a lot of ways. In many cases, the tighter you go, the easier it can be to sell what you offer. People are swimming in options, they want specific when they can get it. So there are two angles to consider when deciding on how specific you should go with your business. 1. You can get specific about who you serve Th...

I don't position myself as a fractional CMO. I might have a fractional CMO service . Or in a sales conversation, I may say that I'm like having a part-time CMO on your team. But I don't call myself a fractional CMO as my top-level positioning. I'm a consultant. I'm an advisor. I help companies with their marketing strategy. But I'm not a part-time employee. I don't want to be seen as one. Nor do I...

What is your quiet inner voice telling you? The one that whispers. You barely notice it at first. But when you do hear it, you're inspired.  Should you explore it?  Maybe you don't take it seriously at first. Maybe it feels like a pipe dream. It's not always rational. Sometimes it's idealistic. Regardless, when you pay attention to it, it feels directionally interesting.  Where does it come from?...

In this episode, I break down where my advisory clients came from. I also compare my niche (Everspaces) vs. general consulting clients came from to see if there was a difference. And let me tell you, it was enlightening. Do you analyze where your clients come from? Give this a listen and let me know what you find about your own business. —k

Are you having trouble selling your productized service? In this new episode of Mindshare Radio, I break down the four main things to consider when trying to fix the problem. Give it a listen.

Companies are hiring in-house and outsourced marketers differently than they did before. I'm seeing less reliance on using a single in-house marketer or even one full-service agency to "do everything" for them. Marketing has gotten too broad with too many specialties to work like that. But there's still a long way to go. In this episode, I share a prediction on how marketing teams will continue to...

When a client requests your services, it can really help to have multiple options at different prices. You can do this with a product or service ladder at different prices and scope, or you can create multiple options in your custom proposals. In this episode, I break down the reasons why you may want to have multiple options and how to price them based on the value you're delivering. This seeming...