Episode 149: How To Start A Consulting Business That Actually Gets Clients

Want to know how to start a consulting business that actually gets clients and not just likes, views, or compliments?

In this video, I break down the real reason most consulting businesses struggle to gain traction and what to do instead if you want to attract paying clients consistently.

If you’ve been wondering how to start a consulting business, get consulting clients, or position your expertise online, this episode will help you build a business that creates real demand.

Ready to Go Deeper?

Take the FREE email course and find The High-Value Consulting Offer You Did Not Know You Already Had (Without Needing More Experience, More Credentials, or More Time)

Ready to figure out what you could offer as a consulting service, or if your offer has what it takes to sell? Check out How to Sell What You Know!  This training shows you how to connect your experience to real demand so you can clearly see what you can offer and actually move forward.

Know what you want to sell and need to land more clients? Revenue Runway may be exactly what you need. 

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Transcript

Why Would Someone Choose You

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You've been researching how to start a consulting business, you've probably heard the same advice over and over again. You know, pick a niche, build a website, post on LinkedIn, and technically none of that is wrong. But the thing that people don't tell you is that you can do all of that and still end up with a consulting business that nobody buys from. Now, this is not because you're not qualified or because you don't know what you're doing, but it is tied to the fact that where you were told to start was never designed to make you the obvious choice. It just wasn't. So today we're not just talking about how to start a business. You can find that online anywhere that you look. We're going to talk about how to start a business that actually attracts clients, real clients, paying clients. So if you're tired of spending your time trying to figure out what platform you should be posting on, what type of proposals you need to send, do you need to have a logo or website or a funnel? We're going to forget about all that for a moment and we're going to focus on a real question. Why would someone choose you? And if that answer isn't clear, then this is the episode that you need. They say the odds are stacked against us as women, especially women of color, trying to thrive in the consulting world. But rather than wait for a seat at the table that may never come, what if we build our own table? What if we channeled our talents into guiding each other towards the success we deserve? Welcome to the Black Girls Consulting Podcast. I'm your host, Dr. Antoina Davis, and I've walked the path from healthcare consultant to a mentor for women like you. Ambitious, unstoppable, and ready to make waves in the consulting world. This podcast is your go-to spot for all things entrepreneurial consulting. For us as women, especially women of color, think of it at your weekly coffee date with a friend who's here to dish out real talk on building a solid business, elevating your thought leadership, and mastering that all-important mindset. And let's not forget, we're doing all of this while balancing day jobs, family life, and running teams. Yes, we can do it all. So if you're ready to dive into how you can grow a thriving consultancy or get strategies and insights that actually fit your busy lifestyle, then you're in the right place. Grab your coffee, tea, or hey, even a glass of wine. I won't judge. And let's get started. Now, I mentioned how the way that you were probably told how to start your business is likely the problem. So let's start there. Because once you understand this part, then I think everything else that I'm going to share with you will make a lot more sense. Now, there are three specific mistakes that I see over and over again, especially when it comes to smart, experienced professionals who are trying to start a consulting business. And the tricky part is that these mistakes are not very obvious. They actually look like the right things to do. But when you take a closer look, it doesn't lead you down the right path, which is why so many people get stuck and stay stuck for far longer than they need to. So if you're listening to this, I really want you to check in with yourself because if even one of these hits, then that's actually going to be your starting point. Now, the first mistake is building your business around services instead of outcomes. When I first started coaching, one of the things that I noticed with a lot of the clients that I served was that many consultants tend to have a laundry list of services they offer. And it made a lot of sense because if you are starting a business and you don't exactly know what people want, then our first thought is to offer a lot. If we offer enough services, then someone is going to find something that they want us to do. And we feel like it'll be a lot easier to sell, but it causes a lot of problems. Because what it often sounds like is I offer strategy sessions or I do audits or I provide support with XYZ. The thing is that when we're very general and we're making offers in that way, the client doesn't know what they are looking for or what they even need from you. They're not out here searching for a strategy session. They are trying to solve a particular problem. So if we're selling a lot of services, it has us looking kind of like a diner. You know those late night diners where you walk in and there's food of all kinds on the menu and you have no idea what you need to order. Honestly, like to avoid a lot of diners unless it's just late at night and there's nothing else to eat. And so many people who stumble upon your business with a lot of different services, that's how they feel. They feel overwhelmed, they feel unclear. And if they feel unclear and they're overwhelmed and they're not confident in what they're asking for, then most often they don't buy because they're not looking for the service. They are actually looking for a result. So they're looking for clarity. They may be looking for business growth. They are often looking for a particular problem to be solved. And so when you're positioned around what you do, the services that you actually offer, it's hard for them to then decide, hey, I want to work with that person because they have this pretty cool service. They usually are going to instead focus on those things that are going to change in their lives or in their business because of you. And those outcomes, those results, those are the things that you actually need to be marketing and selling. So this helps to force you to think about the client first, to actually do the mental work to understand what is my client looking for, what do they need most? And that is going to help you figure out what value you can actually bring. And most people don't take the time to do this. And instead, they move on and start their business around something that seems obvious, a service that they see other people offering or something that they've seen sell in their industry, and they find that it doesn't work the same for them. And that's because more than likely the business that you're copying or that you may be referencing when you are creating these services are not positioning themselves around the service. They are actually positioning themselves and building their business around the result. And so one of the first things that we can do is stop selling services and sell the result, the outcome, the thing that we're going to help them achieve. Hey, real quick, if you have been listening to this show for a while, you already know that I believe you have more to offer the consulting market than you think. So I created a free five-day email course to help you find it. It's called Your Expertise Is Worth More Than You Think. And it is built specifically for women who are ready to stop giving their expertise away for free. You know you keep doing that, and start building something of their own. Check the episode description for the link and I'll see you inside. Now, the second mistake may not be as obvious. It is when we start our business leading with our credentials instead of our insight. Now, this looks like buy from me because I hold my doctorate degree or I have my master's or I have a certification in whatever specialty is in your field or industry. If we are being real for a second, most people don't really care about the credentials. And it's not that those credentials are not valuable, those credentials hold a lot of value. And having them is meaningful. Having them helps you to provide a better service. It is going to help you charge premium rates in many cases. It is something that you have accomplished. And therefore, you need to understand the broad value that it brings. But people don't buy the degree alone. Yes, you've got degrees. Yes, you've got certifications, yes, you have years of experience. You're not new to this. But what people want to know is how do those degrees and certifications and all that experience help them? The credentials tell the person what you've done, what you've accomplished, the knowledge that you hold. But it does not demonstrate how you utilize that experience to get the result. And like I said before, the result is what you're selling. It needs to show how you're able to solve the problem differently, or how you're able to offer a better result, or how you see things differently because you have that training and those credentials and that education and that experience. It is your way of building more trust around the work that you do. But it is not the value that you're actually selling. Instead, you want to share your perspective. How do you think differently? How do you see the world in a different way? Your industry, how do you look at it in a different way? So that when someone stumbles upon your business or they decide that they are going to consider you as a consultant, they better understand how you're different from the competitor down the road. That is what the credentials offer. They offer a level of credibility, they offer a level of trust when it comes to what you know. And because of that, they are extremely helpful. But they're not what you market and sell. What you are going to market and sell is what these degrees and credentials have allowed you to do in your work because you have this higher level expertise and insight. Now, the third mistake, and this is a really big one, is that we often are taught that we need to create demand for the offers that we're selling. And this is a big mistake. Because what this will have you doing is waiting for clients instead of positioning to capture demand that already exists, especially when you're getting started. It is much harder to try and build demand for something that is new. You knew as an entrepreneur or as a business owner and a consultant. And then also the offer being new. It is asking that client to take on a lot of risk. And we don't want them to do that. Instead, we want to position ourselves for demand. And that way, we don't have to rely on just referrals or word of mouth or an occasional opportunity that comes along. We can actually start to generate business and leads for ourselves because we are going to position our business to capture the demand that already exists in the market, the things that they are already searching for, that they're already looking for. And what's happening when you do this is that your business is not being reactive, but it's actually being very intentional. Instead of you waiting to be chosen or waiting for someone to somehow share that you're doing this work, you are going to have a presence that makes you the obvious choice before the opportunity even exists. If you are a position for demand, you are sharing your perspective and you have your business position so that people are going to stumble upon the work that you do simply from searching to solve the problem. You see how all these things connect? When they are searching to solve a problem and they find that your perspective on how to solve that problem and the solution you offer, then you become the natural next step. And this is what makes it a lot easier to get your business off the ground and to get clients flowing into the door. So if we reflect for a moment on the three mistakes that we've been discussing, what you'll notice is that they all point to a very different way of building your business. And what I will offer a more intentional way, because it really comes down to three main shifts that you want to make. The first shift is focusing on solving a problem, not selling a service. If you anchor your business around how to solve a problem, how a client is going to get more clients today or fix a process in their system or stop their business from breaking, your work becomes immediately relevant. Now, the second shift you have to make is how to market and sell a result that they can achieve based upon your unique perspective. There are a lot of consultants out there offering solutions, but how you actually solve the problem in your unique way is the difference maker. And then the third shift is in position yourself to capture demand. You don't want to create it, you want to look at the market, determine what people are already looking for, already searching for, so they can actually find you. This is going to save you a lot of wasted effort. And in reality, if people are actively looking for a solution, they are much closer to buying. And when you're able to make these three shifts, everything starts to change. It starts to become a lot easier. The content creation gets easier, the lead generation gets a lot easier, the offers that you create get a lot easier. You are going to be recognized for the value you already bring, and that helps you get the business up and running a lot faster. So again, this is not starting from scratch. This is about starting with what you know and expertise you have right now, and then looking for ways to capture the man that exists so that you're not chasing opportunities, but instead you are creating them. So I hope you enjoyed this episode. I hope you better understand now how to get your business started in a way that attracts clients and stop making the mistakes that often cost us a lot of time and resources. If you enjoyed this episode, make sure that you subscribe to the YouTube channel, share the episode with a friend, and until next time, take care. Thank you for tuning in to the Black Girls Huntle 2 podcast. If you enjoyed today's episode, be sure to leave your review on Apple Podcasts, subscribe, and share it with a friend. We're on a mission to increase the success and longevity of women in consulting. And you can help us do just that. Also, I'd love to hear from you. So let's connect at Dr. Angelina Davis on Instagram or LinkedIn. And don't forget to visit excel at consulting.com for more information to support your consulting journey. Until next time, keep breaking glass filling. All right, take care.