In my interviews, we found that it is a good strategy for a consultant to advise clients on how to hire another marketing person and still charge the original consulting fee. Why? The reason is that the more marketing and practical help, the better. It especially helps that you understand and appreciate your help. That is why certain things work well for some companies and not for others. They accept help, but do it, only if they know what they are already missing. Many times, a consultant will find people already on staff who can be redirected to new and needed marketing efforts. Sometimes these assets are already there, but hidden and unknown.
This is a wonderful strategy because when you sell consulting services there is no doubt that your client also has to do some work on their part. There is also a strong chance that they don’t want to get involved or are too busy working in business rather than “in business.” I see this as important and recommend that your clients assign some work within the organization to handle much of the execution of certain marketing tactics. This means that you remain in a more consulting position that helps alleviate some of the workload for others.
In an interview with Richard, he said: “Yes. In a way it goes along with what was said above. You need a champion type of person in the client company who understands you and can work with you. The more you get help from that That way, the more likely you are to be successful. This champion could be someone you hire to work with, or one of the managers or employees. It could be the owner. ” Richard had a customer that he was struggling with because the sales staff had not caught the same “vision” that the business owner had.
So the owner of this business was forcing these changes, forcing these mindset changes. Richard says: Because I saw this, I made the owner a champion. This owner then began to say; “You know, I just found out that I have simple order takers. I really don’t have anyone that I can sell.” So he was beginning to seriously contemplate who to fire, who to let go, because of the problem that expert Richard discovered.