Category: Business
The five Ws you need answered by a prospect
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You’ve probably heard of the Five W’s (and one H) before. If you don’t remember them, let’s review them — or at least a variation of them you can use with prospects. Who is responsible? or Who is the buyer? What needs to happen? Where do we expect to see change? When does the project
Show interest in your prospects’ problems with echoing questions
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When your prospects read your proposal they want to read about their problems — in the words they use. When your prospects talk to you before a proposal they want to hear their words coming out of your mouth. They want to hear their business problems and know that you’re interested. They want to feel
Using the 5 Whys Questioning Method with Your Prospects
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Most business owners are looking for a quick fix to a problem. They search out a developer, designer, or consultant to quickly devise and implement a solution to their problem. What they’re really asking for is generally a Band-Aid for a wound that really needs antibiotics. While you could take on this project it’s probably
Are you asking the right questions in your initial prospect meetings?
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This month we’re going to talk all about questions since they’re a very important part of running a good consulting business. If you want to earn more you need to start asking better questions so you can find the true problems a prospect has with their business. Without good questions you’re not going to find
A System to Turn Leads into Clients
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One of the biggest issues consultants have is getting new clients. We rush proposals in the fear that someone else will snap up that client we need. The stress of finding new clients keeps us up at night and takes much of the fun out of being your own boss. It doesn’t have to be
GTD and My Productivity Apps in 2016
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Just about this time in 2014 I wrote about my use of Redbooth and examined Nozbe vs Todoist. Out of those two posts I said I was going to use Todoist for all my personal tasks and all my client work. While there’s plenty to like about Redbooth, for me, the friction involved in task
Reasons your proposals get rejected and how to combat them
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While it would be great to tell you that I win 100% of the proposals I send that would be a lie. Just today I sent a proposal and the prospect said ‘no’ for very legitimate reasons that I was unaware of (but should have been, and that’s my fault). Let’s look at the main
Crafting a Successful Proposal
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Today we’re going to talk about how to craft a successful proposal. Before we start, though, let’s step back and consider the goal of a proposal before we dig into the details of what actually goes into it. The sole job of a proposal is to lead the buyer into a purchase with you. It
Defining Deliverables, Outcomes, Metrics and Values
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Real business owners who want to take their business to the next level aren’t interested in airy-fairy notions of how your work will help their company. They want tangible, concrete evidence by which they can measure the success of a project. They want to know that you both line up in your thoughts on the
4 reasons you rush a proposal and why they hurt you
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What is your proposal win percentage? Are you happy with the rates you get on the proposals you win? If that win percentage is below 80%, or you’re not happy with your rates, you’re most likely rushing through the proposal phase. I did the same thing when I was starting out. Someone would call me
