The Business of Consulting

Program Outline

1. Service Definition

• What do consultants even do, anyway?
• What kind of consultant should I be? Is there more than one type?
• How do I determine my rates compared to competitors?
• How broad or narrow should my service offering be?

2. Setting up Shop

• What should I name my company?
• Do I need a logo and website from day one?
• What professional services and technology do I actually need to start?

3. Business Development

• How do I do business development if I hate sales? What’s the difference?
• Should I focus on a specific industry?
• Should I go after large corporations, small businesses, or nonprofits?
• Should I partner with other consultants, tech vendors, or join referral programs?

4. Marketing

• What should my marketing budget be?
• Are industry conferences worth the investment for networking and leads?
• Is content marketing (webinars, blogging, articles) an effective lead generation tool?
• Should I invest in brand marketing (advertising, event sponsorships)?
• Do I need a CRM system?

5. Proposals

• Do I need a proposal, or will a Statement of Work suffice?
• Do I need to do a pitch as well? What’s a pitch?
• How much detail should I put into proposals?
• Should I offer discounts to early clients to build my portfolio?
• What’s a realistic timeline to go from a verbal agreement to a signed contract?

6. Engagement Economics

• How do I come up with an accurate estimate for cost and timeline?
• Should I structure engagements as fixed fee, hourly, or retainer-based?
• What is a profitable engagement, and how do I calculate it?
• At what point should I expect for my engagements to be profitable?
• What does it mean to “lose money on” an engagement?

7. Contract Negotiation

• Do I need my own agreement templates or should I just use the client’s paper?
• What are some key terms I shouldn’t compromise on?
• What’s the importance of the Statement of Work?

8. Client Relationship Management

• How formal do I need to be about communication, admin, and project management?
• Is Deliverable formatting important? Does it really need to look pretty, if the work is good?
• How do I say no to a scope or timeline change?
• What if I can’t deliver what I promised due to personal issues?
• What if the client is behind on payments?

9. Engagement Management

• How do I know how much time to bill when I’m multitasking or get sidetracked?
• How granular should I be with timekeeping?
• What level of detail should I provide if they ask me how I’m spending my time?
• Do I bill the client for administrative tasks like sending invoices?
• How do I make sure I actually get paid on time?

10. Growth

• How do I move beyond trading time for money?
• Should I hire employees or work with independent contractors?
• Should I partner with other consultants to bid on larger projects?

Program Agenda

• Day 1 - Intro, Service Definition and Setting up Shop
• Day 2 - Business Development and Marketing
• Day 3 - Proposals and Pitches
• Day 4 - Engagement Economics
• Day 5 - Contract Negotiation, Engagement Management
• Day 6 - Client Relationship Management, Growth

Materials Provided

• Slides
• Sample Proposal
• Engagement Costing Worksheet
• Sample Statement of Work
• Sample Policies: Payment Terms, Expense & Travel