Small business consulting using the Internet
I manage a web company that provides help in the form of small business management and accounting software tools and knowledge to thousands of startups and small businesses in all corners of the world and whenever I explain to folks I meet what I do, I always get asked the same question “Given my skills and experience, how could I capitalize on this and make earn a living by becoming a small business consultant”? I’m always prepared to supply my opinion as I am privileged enough to spend a major amount of the time of my day communicating with small business owners and their teams enthusiastic to chat at length about their problems and needs.
Here is my response:
The web is the perfect medium 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 effective techniques and help them fix issues.
Information marketing – package and sell your expertise to businesses through the Internet
Make no mistake this opportunity isn’t just to be found in small businesses it’s equally applicable to large businesses. You can repackage and sell your expertise in a multimedia format such as video, audio or documents. The software to make professional standard material are readily available on the network. Creating a educational piece in simple to use web ready formats is now straight forward and doesn’t cost much to do. You just have to be prepared to dedicate a little time studying the tools. The mission here is to generate some valuable material that you can either sell or give away to customers to persuade them to do business with you.
You have to begin with the end in mind. Consultancy and Information marketing can work together and if you do both can be very provide a substantial income as the consultancy will provide you with the questions, the answers to which repurpose for sale through the internet 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 very short video to introduce yourself and your expertise to your target(s). Unless you know the potential client(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 marketproblem then don’t make the video public, just put it somewhere secureon 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 prospect(s). The one objective you should be constantly pursuing is the creation of a list that you can converse with and sell product 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 bigger your list the more opportunities for consulating and selling information products you will find. If you would like to know more about how to do this then visit any of the links in this article. I would be more than willing to help you.
Tags: business management consultant, small business consultant, small business consulting, small business management consulting