So you would like to be a small business consultant and work online
Posted on July 31, 2009
Filed Under Internet Marketing | Leave a Comment
I run an online company that provides help in the form of small business management and accounting software tools and wisdom to thousands of startups and small businesses across the globe and whenever I explain to people what I do, I repetitively get asked the same question “Given my years of experience, how could I use this and make regular money by becoming a small business consultant”? I am always prepared to give wisdom as I am fortunate enough to spend best part of my day communicating with small business owners and employees who are always willing to discuss their issues.
This is what I tell them:
The web is the best way for finding customers and it makes it straightforward to interact with them and sell your expertise. A lot of small businesses turn to the internet to find knowledge or trusted advisors who can provide them with coaching and help them identify and solve issues.
Information marketing – package and sell your expertise to businesses through the Internet
What I discuss here is equally appropriate to businesses of any size. You can repackage and sell your expertise in a multimedia format such as video, audio or documents. The software to produce professional standard material are readily available on the Internet. Creating a series of lessons in easy to consume internet formats is now simple and inexpensive. You just have to be prepared to dedicate a bit of time mastering the tools. The objective here is to produce [content.
Commence by determining your overall goal. Consultancy and Information marketing are great bedfellows and if you do both can be very lucrative as the consultancy will provide you with the questions, the answers to which you can repackage and sell in digital format and sold over and over again.
If you are starting from scratch with no customers but have expertise you know would be needed by others then make a two minute video to present yourself and your expertise to your prospect(s). Unless you know the target(s) exact problem then make the video generic and usethe following format – S.T.A.R (Situation or Task, Action, Result). Keep it short, interesting and sweet. Now upload the video to your website/blog or even YouTube if you don’t have the former and send the target(s) an invitation by e-mail containing a personal message and a link to the video. Always follow this up with a phone call. If you know the specific nature of the prospect(s)problem then don’t make the video public, just put it somewhere away from prying eyeson the Web or even on a disk and post it, again follow up with a call.
This method is ideally suited to situations where you are individually targeting potential client(s). You should always focus on building a list you can interact with and make sales to. Treat the people on your list well and they will tell you their needs to which you can match and your content products. The more people on your list the more consulting and information marketing opportunities you will discover. If you would like to discover more about how to do this then click on any of the links in this article. I would be delighted to help you.
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