Leaving Offline Marketing to Consulting Only

Wow, that's a big change and I know you'll do great. I've read a lot of your posts and appreciate your information.

For your consulting page, I would tie your bullet points to specific benefits.

For example, you say

* Create Video or Slide Show to Promote Business

That's a good feature of your consulting. It's even better to say something like

* We'll Create a Video or Slide Show which will help Promote Your Business by Demonstrating How You Solve Customer Problems

(or something)

Many people think that prospects already know the benefits, or that the benefit is implied in the feature statement. That is possible.

Don't take that chance!

Spell it out for them.

Tell them exactly how they will benefit from each thing you can do for them. Use feature rich words to make the benefits sing.

Just adding benefits will put you ahead of 98% of your competitors.

Hi James

Do you think you might be better to emphasise why companies need the consulting as opposed to lists of what you will be consulting on?

Not sure how this will work out for you, but I wish you the best of luck!

Congratulations, James! I've read many of your posts on here and know you'll do quite well.

In looking at your site, specifically the consulting page, I'm curious about the exact market you're looking to attract. Are you branding yourself or the business?

If you're looking to attract mid-to high end clients I don't think it connects or sells well and suggest less narrative, more proof at a glance and all copy and design get a polished look.

Hope that helps, and again, congrats.

Hey James - I do this, as well as run my marketing company. How generate clients from this is always the same though: LinkedIN.

I'd soak up every product out there on Linkedin. I recently came across LinkedINfluence.com. There is another WSO by William Meers on Linkedin that I'll probably purchase.

LinkedIN is easily the best source of qualified clients for your new consulting business.

Hi James

Could you explain your decision in a bit more detail? I think that some of the more experienced offliners are considering focussing on the consultancy.

I would love to hear your thoughts on the benefits of consulting over doing the delivery as well.

Thanks

Chris

I think consulting only is great. I do think it is a lot of stress reduced too. It'd be great to motivate and coach people in this industry in the right direction.

All the best to you!

Here is an update since I first posted this thread. Many of my consulting clients stick around for 3 to 6 months, then you have to look for new ones. I do have a few on retainer of $1,000 to $1,500 per month though. :-)

I do like doing this much better, I also created a digital course that I can sell business owners and along with it I provide a Internet Marketing Plan - Internet Marketing Business Course - Home - Internet Marketing Business Course

I am going to roll this out on a more national/global level. Any feedback would be welcome.

This is a great idea as there are many business owners who know they need to have a website, be visible on Google, and have a social media presence, but do not know how everything fits together and how to execute.

Delivering plans and process is certainly valuable.

Sorry I don't have anything to contribute but what plugin do you use to have the facebook popup?

Hi James,
I also want to wish you well with your new approach. I did not consciously decide to move in the direction you are moving, but it happened just the same.

Based on my own trial and error and what you've said here in this thread, I would recommend you set your landing page on the "Internet Marketing Training Center" tab. Great message there relevant to what you're attempting to do.

And just as a suggestion, change the title to "Work Directly With James Hickey". Best of luck to you. Greg Tucker

Some businesses want it done for them. Some want "consulting or coaching"... but most dont want anything until they realize they "need" it.

it sounds more like coaching is what you do.

Consulting is very viable but you always have to replenish your clients. It is best to "license" your work.

Meaning, try to work on a flat fee plus peformance. Performance could be gross sales or lead costs (amount of leads, etc...) This way as long as they are using your "systems" (creative, keyword research, landing pages, etc...) to generate a reulst (lead, sale, etc...) they have to pay you... like a royalty.

This way you get 20 clients set up their "systems" and relax. That's a business.

I do it a little bit differently as most businesses don't want to do it themselves.

I am consulting to the designers and developers and this allows me to still get clients but I farm them out to y consultants.

Just created a webinar to send to business owners explaining my consulting services. Now its time to find out where all the business owners nationally and globally are looking for a solution to their problems. Webinar below, any feedback will be welcome. My first crack at it

Internet Marketing Business Course - Home - Internet Marketing Business Course

2 things:

1. Your blog seems dead. Can't access any articles on the right sidebar of your site, that doesn't look well..

Design is old too, with WordPress you could find spend 35 bucks on a more professional one at Themeforest.com and it will look awesome. But hopefully, you're already fixing it

2. Isn't teaching actually more stressful then just consulting? Jay Abraham or Dan Kennedy are doing 6 figure deals + percentage of sales yearly only...

You mention you're tired of talking businesses into doing SEO, etc. But you will have to convince them not only to use it but to convince them that you should teach them that. Seems to me like more work. Maybe you could just raise your prices and adjust positioning?

Eager to see how you do tho! Just interested in learning your point of view as it's but different from most peeps here.

Hi James,

I think if you're really passionate about teaching others, then go for it! Here's some things to consider:

1. Possibly build a monthly subscription option for ongoing training or consulting? This way you build your residual income and allows you to build a long-term relationship with the client instead of a "one and done" setup. Of course, this subscription would be optional to those interested beyond the 90 days you offer.

2. For your sales page, add some client testimonials of people you've worked with. Being a LinkedIn addict, I noticed you have an awesome number of them..so definitely add those on to act as social proof.

3. For sales copy, try to figure out who your ideal client is and write about them. So asking questions that your training will help solve would I think allow any potential prospect allow themselves to quickly identify as your targeted market and move on the next stage. Right now, reading the copy, I know all the "things" I'm getting but I want to read more about the "benefits", what will my business be like after going through your training? what problem will it solve? how will it help to grow my sales/leads/keep me ahead of my competitors?

5. Bring the opening headline "are you a business owner..?" to the top of the page, the moment they land on the page they should be able to determine if they fall into the category of your ideal client or not

6. How about asking for a name/email/phone (or whatever you wish) and then offer the webinar as a freebie? This way, you have their contact details for followup!

7. I know you said you're looking for biz owners to promote this too...*cough* LinkedIn *cough* lol Yes, didn't I mention I'm a LinkedIn addict?!? LOL

Hope this helps!

I have a question for you James....

Why do clients only stick around for 3-6 months?

Especially for $1k/month on the low end....

If you are good at what you do... You bring them in at least a 3x return on investment.
Why would they not want to keep you on board?

I understand you are there to train, but IM evolves everyday.
So, wouldn't they need to be consulted continuously?

Sorry, I am looking into this some more.
I am looking to consult with around 20 businesses to start, then move to 100 or so.

I have an "in"..... Won't go into it...
But, would like to know the answers to the questions above.

I mean, if that's not the case, I would be better off marketing seo, web design, etc.
Why? Because I can get them on retainer for $1k per month for these.

Or, I could sign them up for $1k/month and lose them after 3 months with consulting?

Don't mean to be a jerk here, but consider hiring an editor to look over your homepage. It is filled with grammatical errors and uses many proper nouns in places that actually call for common nouns. I stopped counting after 10 because it was so blatant.

I get a feel for a person's attention to detail and errors like this are a non starter for me. You may as well be seen as someone who has a good command of the English language if you expect people to put their trust and checkbook in your hands. It can't hurt and it may help. Sorry if this offends. That's not my intention. Good luck with the consulting. I've seen your Linkedin page and it is impressive. You will do well.

Hi James

I have to admit. I'm a little confused. What exactly are you offering these companies that you are working for?

Hey Sir,

First of all, the content on your site looks straightforwardly interesting (as you are offering to coach others on all these marketings) and definitely yea, lots of success for you

regards

Consulting is the way to go.
The best way to build a real passive income.

I wish you much success as I have gotten into consulting myself, but on an individuals level. Whew...there is definitely money to be made in consulting. I'm consistently banking over $500/day just by consulting groups of 10 individuals at a time for a total of 20/day with 2 30 minute sessions. I repeat, THERE IS DEFINITE MONEY TO BE MADE IN CONSULTING....Good Luck