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High End Offline/Local Business Consulting Fees

by ChristopherDittemore
18 replies
I've seen posts of people generating 30k to 500k contracts in the offline niches.

Can anyone share what products/services that they are offering for these types of contracts?

Is it because the company has more stores, keywords etc?

For instance say, I'm handling a marketing budget of 50k/mo what would be my consultant fee? If I'm doing a web redesign for a 1000 page website, what would be the fee?

Anyone out there playing in the big ponds and want to share what pricing I can command or should be starting at?

Thanks!

Christopher

P.S. Is there a mastermind of offline marketers that I can attend? I have a ton of ideas and experience in online/offline marketing and I'd like to create mutually beneficial relationships.
#consulting #end #fees #high
  • Profile picture of the author MichaelHiles
    My average contract is $50K. I offer several services, but all start with a complete redevelopment of the strategic marketing and sales process for a company. I don't work with companies smaller than $3-5 million in sales, and my average size client is $15-20 million.
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    • Profile picture of the author zx88
      Originally Posted by MichaelHiles View Post

      My average contract is $50K. I offer several services, but all start with a complete redevelopment of the strategic marketing and sales process for a company. I don't work with companies smaller than $3-5 million in sales, and my average size client is $15-20 million.
      That is an inspiration to all of us. ^^
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    • Profile picture of the author Geek3000
      Originally Posted by MichaelHiles View Post

      My average contract is $50K. I offer several services, but all start with a complete redevelopment of the strategic marketing and sales process for a company. I don't work with companies smaller than $3-5 million in sales, and my average size client is $15-20 million.
      Awesome! Great Post!
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  • Profile picture of the author Dexx
    Originally Posted by kingliness View Post

    I've seen posts of people generating 30k to 500k contracts in the offline niches.

    Can anyone share what products/services that they are offering for these types of contracts?

    Is it because the company has more stores, keywords etc?

    For instance say, I'm handling a marketing budget of 50k/mo what would be my consultant fee? If I'm doing a web redesign for a 1000 page website, what would be the fee?

    Anyone out there playing in the big ponds and want to share what pricing I can command or should be starting at?

    Thanks!

    Christopher

    P.S. Is there a mastermind of offline marketers that I can attend? I have a ton of ideas and experience in online/offline marketing and I'd like to create mutually beneficial relationships.
    You are looking at it completely wrong.

    Don't ask what service we are providing to charge that much...ask what VALUE you can start providing businesses to increase their profits enough that they GLADLY pay you that much.

    ~Dexx
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    • Profile picture of the author ChristopherDittemore
      Originally Posted by Dexx View Post

      You are looking at it completely wrong.

      Don't ask what service we are providing to charge that much...ask what VALUE you can start providing businesses to increase their profits enough that they GLADLY pay you that much.

      ~Dexx
      Thanks Dexx,

      My post was to figure out a starting point to determine which services are commanding these types of fees, and then to structure the proper prospect finding/qualifying/educating/nurturing system.

      I agree that it's all about value or more importantly perception of value though.

      Christopher
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    • Profile picture of the author Dr Dan
      Originally Posted by Dexx View Post

      You are looking at it completely wrong.

      Don't ask what service we are providing to charge that much...ask what VALUE you can start providing businesses to increase their profits enough that they GLADLY pay you that much.

      ~Dexx
      Dexx always have a great way to reverse engineer it! He has that missing part of my brain that is supposed to do that for me.

      Its funny because I have a good friend in the industry that has clients paying her 50-200k per year and she is now trying to get into the IM world so she can get away from the clients. She is always complaining that the more they pay or the bigger the brand, the more they complain and are not happy no matter how good of results you get.

      I personally like to target the small business owners "low hanging fruit" that are happy to pay me $197-400 per month all set up on subscription payments.
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  • Profile picture of the author danielkanuck
    With deals such as $30k to $500k, it's more than likely an overhaul of the existing marketing process. Before you acquire a client, ask them (or have them fill out) a series of qualifing questions.

    For example, how much are they currently spending on advertising, what is their backend marketing strategy, how far negative they can go to acquire a new customer, what's their strategy for getting referrals, what's the lifetime value of an average customer, do they have an internet marketing strategy, and etc.

    Depending on the answers to these questions (and there are much more that you should ask) you can get a good idea of how much of your services that they will really need. Personally, i think the minimum that you should start your services off at is $10k.
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  • Profile picture of the author tpw
    Be aware that SEO is not necessarily the best doorway into the high-dollar consulting fees.

    As you know, I only use it as a doorway to other services.

    Companies like SEO, Inc. are capable of getting $16k - $20k per month for SEO, but they are dealing with companies in the multi-million dollars of sales, and they are dealing with companies who are heavily-reliant on the Internet. Additionally, they are required to do a lot of work for those high-dollar SEO fees.

    The bigger money is in other services.
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    • Profile picture of the author ChristopherDittemore
      Originally Posted by tpw View Post

      Be aware that SEO is not necessarily the best doorway into the high-dollar consulting fees.

      As you know, I only use it as a doorway to other services.

      Companies like SEO, Inc. are capable of getting $16k - $20k per month for SEO, but they are dealing with companies in the multi-million dollars of sales, and they are dealing with companies who are heavily-reliant on the Internet. Additionally, they are required to do a lot of work for those high-dollar SEO fees.

      The bigger money is in other services.
      Which services have you found have the bigger money? Assumption says that monthly services will pay out more. For instance, advertising campaigns like media buys/ppc/email drops.

      It appears from Michael Hiles response that the "strategy fee" is where the separation is. Basically the ability to build your own brand, automatically increases your pricing. Either from testimonials, case studies, results, or the client's awareness of you in the marketplace.

      It reminds me of the chunky spaghetti sauce speech by Malcolm Gladwell. Campbells tried to find the perfect formula for spaghetti sauce, but discovered there are 4 styles that people wanted. So there was no perfect formula. Since, the criteria of perfection changed based on each individual desire.

      You can either be a great low end provider or you can be a selective high end provider. Selling Porsches or Tempos or Yugos.

      This of course brings up two interesting questions -

      If Ford developes a car with similar features/benefits as Porsche can they command the same high price tag?

      Can a provider charging a couple thousand for a simple website also walk in and command a 50k consulting fee for their "proprietary" strategy & integration package?
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      • Profile picture of the author John Callaghan
        Originally Posted by ChristopherDittemore View Post


        Can a provider charging a couple thousand for a simple website also walk in and command a 50k consulting fee for their "proprietary" strategy & integration package?
        It depends on which one you start with and who you are selling to.

        If you sell a 50K strategy & integration package to a reasonable sized company (for me that's $10M or more in revenue), you can easily sell websites, seo etc as add-on services. But if you start with the website it's hard to reposition yourself as a strategic consultant and sell the 50k deal. Not impossible, but darn hard.

        I'm not offering this anymore but I used to sell/deliver a Strategic Marketing Transformation project to my target market. The process is pretty simple...
        1) documented my proprietary process
        2) collected evidence that the process works
        3) taught the process to business owners and managers
        4) sold a $20K Strategic Design project
        5) sold a $40k to $100k implementation project

        If you are selling to a small business you're better off keeping the strategic component very small. Sell a $500 strategic IM blueprint and then sell the individual services.
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      • Profile picture of the author MichaelHiles
        Originally Posted by ChristopherDittemore View Post

        Which services have you found have the bigger money? Assumption says that monthly services will pay out more. For instance, advertising campaigns like media buys/ppc/email drops.

        It appears from Michael Hiles response that the "strategy fee" is where the separation is. Basically the ability to build your own brand, automatically increases your pricing. Either from testimonials, case studies, results, or the client's awareness of you in the marketplace.

        It reminds me of the chunky spaghetti sauce speech by Malcolm Gladwell. Campbells tried to find the perfect formula for spaghetti sauce, but discovered there are 4 styles that people wanted. So there was no perfect formula. Since, the criteria of perfection changed based on each individual desire.

        You can either be a great low end provider or you can be a selective high end provider. Selling Porsches or Tempos or Yugos.

        This of course brings up two interesting questions -

        If Ford developes a car with similar features/benefits as Porsche can they command the same high price tag?

        Can a provider charging a couple thousand for a simple website also walk in and command a 50k consulting fee for their "proprietary" strategy & integration package?

        Ford is doing a pretty good job of selling a fairly high end sportscar... the Shelby Mustang Cobra.

        Even though they're both in the $50K range to start, the buyer of a Cobra is very different than the buyer of even a Boxter. It's back to the marketing fundamental of tapping into the key desires of your targeted customer profile, which comes down to a very succinct understanding of that profile.

        I'd be lying to you if I said I understood the profile and characteristics of a wholesale fashion buyer or a oil refinery.
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  • Profile picture of the author James Foster
    You'd probably find it helpful to pick up Dan Kennedy's book "No BS Marketing to the Affluent."

    It'll help you figure out who they are, and how to provide value (and perceived value) in a way that lends it self to premium prices to the right clients.
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    • Profile picture of the author mjbmedia
      dont you find the bigger companies will have more inhouse people to do the work for them though

      Surely the majority of multi million £/$ companies arent gonna be sitting around not knowing what to do waiting for a warrior (or whoever) to call them or visit and blind them with their internet knowledge, theyd already have taken steps to sort that out either in house most likely, or outsourced maybe.
      Theyll not be sitting there amazed at that guy who just rang , you dont become or remain a multi million company without being proactive , of course there are exceptions

      PS I ask this from a respectful point of view, not to challenge in any way
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      Mike

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      • Profile picture of the author MichaelHiles
        Originally Posted by mjbmedia View Post

        dont you find the bigger companies will have more inhouse people to do the work for them though

        Surely the majority of multi million £/$ companies arent gonna be sitting around not knowing what to do waiting for a warrior (or whoever) to call them or visit and blind them with their internet knowledge, theyd already have taken steps to sort that out either in house most likely, or outsourced maybe.
        Theyll not be sitting there amazed at that guy who just rang , you dont become or remain a multi million company without being proactive , of course there are exceptions

        PS I ask this from a respectful point of view, not to challenge in any way
        No.

        Big companies are a bunch of small companies joined at the hip by a common executive team and master set of accounting books. These are called "divisions". The bigger the company, the less likely any individual division shares resources with any other division.

        And most specialized talent within a large company is typically evolved into "project managers". In-house specialized talent is seen as dead weight, especially when it's only used sporadically. The "marketing person" could be overseeing 20 different campaigns and projects at any given time. Not focusing on any particular strategy.
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  • Profile picture of the author sdentrepreneur
    Here is a breakdown of a $60K a year client and services performed.

    My Business Marketing

    Connect your Website with My Business Marketing Platform
    Custom Graphics for all Social Media Sites
    Set Up Accounts For Top 20+ Social Media and Feeds
    Branding Your Business as Leader in your Industry
    Create Custom Blog Page
    Extensive Keyword Research To Pin Point Target Market
    Set Up 10+ Google Adwords Campaigns or Adgroups
    Add 1,000 Keywords
    Dominate Google Front Page PPC in 24 hours
    Client Pays Google Directly For PPC Fees
    Dominate Facebook Ads Campaign
    Client Pays Facebook Directly For PPC Fees
    Twitter Account Setup – Pictures, Backgrounds and Bio
    LinkedIn Account Setup - Pictures and Bio
    Facebook Account Setup – Pictures and Bio
    YouTube Account Set Up - Pictures, Backgrounds and Bio
    Set Up System to get 2,500 Friends/Followers/Connections every 90 Days
    Create Video or Slide Show to Promote Business
    Use Video on all your Social Neworks
    Keyword Research on Where to Place Ads on Google/Yahoo/MSN
    Get Video on Google/Yahoo/MSN Front Page with 3 Different Keywords per month
    Set Up Article Submission Service to 30 Different Social Bookmarking Sites
    Custom E-Mail Marketing Campaigns
    Complete Auto Responder System Set Up
    Training on E-Mail Marketing and Social Media Training
    Get Your Business On First Page of Google Maps
    Foursquare Marketing Campaigns For Retail Businesses
    Create Internet Based Sales Funnel For Lead Generation and List Building
    Two Hours Of Personal Coaching with James Hickey
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    • Profile picture of the author OfflineMan
      Originally Posted by sdentrepreneur View Post

      Here is a breakdown of a $60K a year client and services performed.

      My Business Marketing

      Connect your Website with My Business Marketing Platform
      Custom Graphics for all Social Media Sites
      Set Up Accounts For Top 20+ Social Media and Feeds
      Branding Your Business as Leader in your Industry
      Create Custom Blog Page
      Extensive Keyword Research To Pin Point Target Market
      Set Up 10+ Google Adwords Campaigns or Adgroups
      Add 1,000 Keywords
      Dominate Google Front Page PPC in 24 hours
      Client Pays Google Directly For PPC Fees
      Dominate Facebook Ads Campaign
      Client Pays Facebook Directly For PPC Fees
      Twitter Account Setup - Pictures, Backgrounds and Bio
      LinkedIn Account Setup - Pictures and Bio
      Facebook Account Setup - Pictures and Bio
      YouTube Account Set Up - Pictures, Backgrounds and Bio
      Set Up System to get 2,500 Friends/Followers/Connections every 90 Days
      Create Video or Slide Show to Promote Business
      Use Video on all your Social Neworks
      Keyword Research on Where to Place Ads on Google/Yahoo/MSN
      Get Video on Google/Yahoo/MSN Front Page with 3 Different Keywords per month
      Set Up Article Submission Service to 30 Different Social Bookmarking Sites
      Custom E-Mail Marketing Campaigns
      Complete Auto Responder System Set Up
      Training on E-Mail Marketing and Social Media Training
      Get Your Business On First Page of Google Maps
      Foursquare Marketing Campaigns For Retail Businesses
      Create Internet Based Sales Funnel For Lead Generation and List Building
      Two Hours Of Personal Coaching with James Hickey
      What a great post ! thanks for that info!
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  • Profile picture of the author lingo
    wow, post from MichaelHiles is really inspiring.
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  • Profile picture of the author eWebCats
    I know you guys are rocking the world; but for people just getting in to the business, do you think that google places is a good foot in the door? I mean if you do a good job for them wouldn't you expand to SEO and include places as part of the service, then build it up that way?
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