How to Sell Advice

We’ve all been there. You need to fire your client.  Something is not working or feeling right, and it’s just better to part ways. Ideally, you find a way to part ways amicably, learn from these experiences, and watch for red flags in the future so you avoid repeated scenarios.  In this episode, I talk about the 8 signs it’s time to fire a client. At a high level, they include: They make you feel...

Join the conversation for this episode: https://society.mindshare.fm/c/mentorship/85-should-you-do-project-management-for-your-advisory-clients Last episode (I said 84 in the recording, I meant 83), I talked about the various ways some advisory clients can’t or won’t implement your advice, and what to do about it when that happens. Mark had a follow up question about whether to do project manageme...

If you’re working in an advisory capacity, it’s critical that your advice gets implemented. If your recommendations aren’t being executed, you aren’t creating enough value for your clients, which means you become a cost . And that’s not good. In this eposide, I share some ideas for what to do when your clients can’t (or won’t) implement your ideas quickly enough, including: Bringing in additional...

It can be hard to know how to position your services. Are you the high-quality option, the "cheap and cheerful" one, or somewhere in between? I've spoken before about being in a reasonable price range so clients can justify staying with you longer. But "reasonable" is a big vague, so I wanted to explore this topic deeper. To me, it comes down to the pain potential . Not the pain, necessarily, but...

Join the conversation for this episode here: https://society.mindshare.fm/c/general/81-why-sharing-your-backstory-matters * * * *  Have you ever noticed how dramatic movies tend to start with lots of backstory behind the characters? Think about Apollo 13, for example. The first part of the movie is focused on their family life, children, etc. Why do they bother going into all that backstory? What...

Join this episode's conversation in the community: https://society.mindshare.fm/c/mentorship/80-how-to-make-your-products-or-service-more-compelling . . . . Lately, I've been paying attention to the factors that convince me to buy things—especially when I'm not super familiar with the product or creator who made it. By far, the most compelling factor in my decision to puchase was the positioning....

Join the conversation around this episode here: https://society.mindshare.fm/c/mentorship/79-how-to-come-up-with-interesting-topics-for-your-content-marketing . . . . I had a great question come in about whether to interview clients for content ideas or not. In general, I'm not against asking clients what topics they might be interested in, but like a lot of things, people don't know what they don...

Every client engagement comes to an end, eventually. And when it does, I'm a big believer in having an "off-boarding" call. In my opinion, these are critical. It can sometimes be a little uncomfortable—even when things end on a good note. But they are extremely valuable to both you and the client. I'll explain why. In this episode, I talk about:  Why you want to have off-boarding calls with your c...

It's late on a Friday night and I'm sharing this quick audio with you. It's about consistency. The value of showing up even when you're tired and don't want to. Writing and publishing content consistently has been the sole driver of most of my businesses since I started. If I didn't create lots of content over the years, I wouldn't be in business today. It's that simple. And while I've gone throug...

When you get paid to do implementation work, you're ultimately being paid to solve a problem. Maybe it's anything website or content-related. Or maybe it's more broad, like anything marketing-related. Anything within that purview becomes your problem.  In other words, you own the entire problem of X for your clients. The challenge when switching to advisory work is that you end up facilitating the...

Positioning yourself effectively kinda hurts. It should feel like you're leaving a LOT on the table. And the reality is, you are. You're leaving MOST of your opportunities on the table. And yet, counter-intuitively, by saying no to most, you say yes to more. In the episode I talk about how and why you should tightly narrow your positioning. It shout hurt a little bit, which is why I recommend doin...

We’ve been talking a lot about business models and positioning lately but not enough on how to generate leads for your consultancy. In this episode, I break down the way I've been able to get a consistent flow of clients in my consulting work, resulting in me being booked solid for most of this year. Here's an overview of what I talk about: Positioning  Choose something you have an existing advant...

As a marketing advisor, I’m biased towards done- with -you services. While I see the merits in done-for-you work (freelance/agency style) or do-it-yourself (one-off strategy sessions and/or info products), the thing thay works best for me is clearly the done-with-you offering. In this episode, I talk about the three ingredients required to make done-with-you work into a high-profit and low labour...

There are lots of ways to price your consulting engagements.  You could be the low-cost consultant, the high-price consultant, or anywhere in between. Usually, I recommend companies focus on being either one of the lower cost, convenience providers (and do it at scale) OR create a world-class experience and charge high rates.  This idea came from a book called Trade-Off by Kevin Maney. I highly re...

Hello friendly people! Oren had some questions about my coworking consultancy's membership program , whether people upgrade to the 1:1 premium "inner circle coaching" option, and whether it's the same things my Propeller Program . In this episode, I break down: How many people are in those groups Whether people upgrade to the premium 1:1 coaching The surprising benefits of memberships outside of t...

I was recently asked how I am able to find clients for all my different services.  So, I thought I'd break down my business strategy, marketing strategy, and marketing plan to help you get the full picture in case it helps you get clarity. Currently, I have: 8 x 1:1 advisory clients 1 x 4 members group coaching clients  40+ people in a memberrship program This community which is in it's infancy I...

Yesterday, I wrote a quick post on my personal website about how your job as a marketing consultant is as much about de-risking your clients' situation as it is about growth. It might seem counter-intuitive for a marketing consultant to be thinking about risk mitigation when your day-to-day job is to help clients win new business, but you might be surprised to hear that they are two sides of the s...

Hey!  Today is my birthday and I felt like recording this little bit of encouragement for those who are thinking of starting a group program or mentorship of your own. Yours, —k P.S. The community is being rebranded as Mindshare.fm and has been rebuilt using Circle (community platform), Memberful (payment and private podcast functionality), and Transistor (podcast host). If you want to get access...

When a prospect asks to speak to one of your pasts clients as a reference, what do you say? Do you say yes or no? Is it a red flag or normal procedure?  Let's dive in.  Yours, —kevin

Happy Friday, everyone. I wrote a blog post today and thought I'd do an audio version for you to make it easy to download into your brain while you do something else. The TLDR is: Most consultants don’t  publish their pricing. While custom quoting based on value isn’t wrong,  it can lead to a poorer buying experience, less trust at the beginning  of the relationship, and even fewer opportunities o...

A client recently asked to downgrade services to my lowest 1:1 advisory tier. During that conversation, I walked them through several levers of value that they would be missing from the tier they were currently on.  Since my work isn't based on hours or "deliverables", the value clients get from each feature might be nuanced but are worth talking about so they can make the right decision.  In this...

Is there a difference between selling consulting vs. advisory work? In my world, there certainly is. A big one. Advisors sell their advice. They sell access to their knowledge and expertise . Consultants do, too. But according to my definition, they also produce deliverables .  And of course, there's nothing wrong with producing deliverables as part of your services. But from my experience, they'r...

I recommend ActiveCampain to a lot of my coworking clients. It's easy to use and has a CRM/email marketing/automation built in. When one of my clients signed up recently, the folks at ActiveCampaign asked where they heard of them. Of course, they mentioned me.  So, ActiveCampaign then reached out and asked if I'd like to be an affiliate partner, earning commission for all referrals for the lifetim...

Unsure what to put in a case study?  The key is remembering to think like a prospect. What do they want to see? 1. That you've helped people like them 2. That you actually do things they want done 3. That you get results they are looking for 4. That you can get results for them specifically, too The first step before you begin is knowing what kind of clients you want to attract. There's no point i...

I interviewed Jonathan Stark today for a new podcast I'm creating.  The focus of the podcast is to help marketing freelancers, consultants, and agency owners package and sell their expertise, not their hands, in an effort to create leverage and scale.  And Jonathan is a wealth of knowledge on this subject.  Right before the interview ended, I asked him what his best advice would be to someone who...