La lealtad del cliente está en su punto más bajo
It is noticeable that many customers, and what they report, have had increasing pressure from those in the organizations to find new ways to save money. Some of that squeeze has led to contract revisions and price reductions, but also to quite a few account or project cancellations. On the one hand, clients seemed to be taking less risk and were making an effort to continue the partnership with long-time trusted advisors. But on the other hand, there has been a substantial decline in loyalty. Recent research (Hinge Research Institute) quantifies the decline in loyalty in the professional services space at approx. -20% (which is too much!).
This environment has forced consultancies (all of them: from independent consultants, the small/medium consultancies, but also the large consultancies) to improve their visibility, offerings, pricing, (virtual) delivery, etc. The market is already competitive enough and now it is even more cutthroat. But what has become clearer than ever, in the midst of increasing pressure and incredible market noise, visible authorities and trusted advisors with solid social proof were able to keep most of their clients.
Almost all of the consulting firms investigated reported that they were suspended in the early days of the pandemic or even lost projects. However, all visible experts, specialists and authorities well positioned in their markets recovered quickly and, in 2021, were able to achieve business growth! impressive!
Experience wins! Deep subject matter expertise always wins in the long run, even in difficult times. Such expertise can be vertical, related to customer pain, or it can be horizontal, related to the industry).
Trust building. The most successful consultants are great "trust builders": they generously share their knowledge and provide authentic educational value to their clients. They continued to do this consistently during the pandemic crisis (some of them, having more time, increased/improved content production in a big way).
Systems. Having "systematized" their existing relationships and network made some of my clients very successful. They had created a detailed database of clients, former clients, contacts and prospects and were able, with solid educational content, of course, to quickly activate the network and keep all their contacts abreast of the latest trends and learnings. That's what I did for a decade (updating my network with new learnings and trends) and was privileged to always have a magnetic customer and network loyalty.
Customers want results faster than ever
Consulting clients are becoming less and less inclined to seek out new consultancies to help solve their problems. Over the past few years, they have become less patient and more hard-nosed when it comes to selecting consultants.
According to a study by Source Global Research, 87% of clients feel that trust has become a more important part of their buying decisions because of the pandemic. Potential buyers need to feel that they know the consultant, who you are as a consultant, the level of your expertise, the area of specialization, the approach you take in your work with the client and your point of view. That's the core of consulting authority-led business development. And for consultants at large firms: that is NOT done by marketing but by YOU and your team. In addition, the Grist 2021 Thought Leadership Study found that 19% of executives are now focused on the short term and 38% have their sights set on the long term.
This has inevitably led to the fact that clients seem to become more attached to their existing consultants if these consultants have a solid track record as their trusted internal advisors for quite some time (no risk, quick onboarding of a project or initiative).
Shorter selection lead time for new consultants (shorter) combined with a much stronger focus on selecting visible experts with well-established social proof in their market or industry. Surely, the mindset and/or behavior of this new client will remain unchanged in 2022, if not become (much) stronger.
It is becoming increasingly clear to all consultants and consultancies I have been talking to or working with over the last 1-2 years: prospects are looking for subject matter experts to help solve their problems in a fast and reliable manner. As a consultant, and trying to access new prospects, you better be able to clearly explain in no more than 30 minutes what specific problem you can solve for a client and the how.
Digital marketing will continue to drive the strategy
What do you do when you need to solve a problem at home? You start googling! And what else do you read, besides the details of the solution and the price? ... you check customer reviews. Few or bad reviews? You skip the page. No mercy. Now, what do you think buyers of consulting services do when evaluating candidate consultancies? Exactly, they google the consultant. And hopefully, the predicted consultant profile shows a lot of expert evidence. Without social proof and immediate evidence of deep knowledge (content!), the impatient, risk-averse buyer will jump at your digitally savvy competitor. No mercy.
The data backs it up. The 90-80 rule (Hinge Research Institute) is pretty simple. 9 out of 10 buyers of services will actively conduct their own research on a consultant. Unfortunately, 8 out of 10 consultants are automatically rejected because their digital footprint doesn't point to the desired level of expertise.
Growing my consulting business is about my network and relationships." I've heard variations of this statement more times than I can count. However, in my experience, relying heavily on networks and relationships to sustainably grow a consulting business can result in an unreliable pipeline and an unpredictable future. In an overcrowded consulting market, digital is the way to win new business.
Consulting firms and generalist consultancies have a dark future
It is feasible to assume that it is no longer difficult to understand the far-reaching impact of consulting specialization. In fact, it is perhaps easier to understand by calling it "the narrow focus of your consulting work." Almost all consultants have some sort of ambition (large or small) to become experts. And 95% of those consultants know full well that saying yes to everything is not the best way to take pride in their work. However, most consultants don't end up where they expected. They are either not building a healthy pipeline or they are not working with the kind of clients/projects they really wanted. They understand that being unfocused leaves them scattered and disorganized, confuses their clients (they don't know what they stand for) and burns them out in the long run. In most cases, they played the safe, low-risk generalist game for too long. It's a losing battle in our hyper-connected Google world. No one will come across their profile. Google search will place them on page 59, irrelevant as they are, unfortunately. And no one comes to their rescue. They are not rewarded for trying, failing or working hard. That's the reality of the consulting world of 2022.
Content is the key asset
Consulting business development is NOT about sales. Marketing is not about promoting a product or service. Instead, consulting business development is about sharing your knowledge and providing something of authentic value to your clients. You can still find a good number of consultants who struggle to openly share their expertise. This type of thinking is simply wrong, more than ever.
Maximizing visibility as a subject matter expert in 2022 is more than a feel-good marketing technique. When done deliberately, systematically and strategically, it is a proven business development and inbound marketing tool and there is ample research to back up this claim. Sharing educational content is the best possible way to build a solid, credible reputation as a consultant. Without confidence in your expertise, you won't get that call to meet with a prospect.
It is imperative to give people a great deal of confidence in your expertise by creating a great deal of value and share it over and over again. How consultants don't like marketing and sales. Many of the Consultants I have met in the past believe that marketing is beneath them.
Marketing is not separate from consultants. Like it or not, you are marketing yourself all the time. A good consultant is a good marketer based on the content of their expertise. It is extremely important for you as a consultant to overcome this strange marketing belief and begin to embrace content marketing as a critical activity to build trust and improve visibility. If you are struggling to start developing educational content, start by telling the authentic (and vulnerable) story of your project difficulties, your suffering in the trenches, how you dealt with bottlenecks, how you solved critical customer problems and what others can do...learn from it.
The more you write about how YOU solved customer problems, the more customers will relate to you and build a mental connection with you over time. I've seen this time and time again. Even if all of this could be deeply personal, potential clients will quickly recognize their own problems in your story and really be able to connect with you. In the crowded consulting world of 2022, your consulting experience probably isn't really exceptional, but YOU certainly are.
Don't create to post something, anything, without considering whether what you are sharing is valuable or useful to your audience. Don't post as a desperate means to validate your existence. Don't add to the trash heap of content.
The easiest sale of a career!
Content marketing is not a sales tool. It is designed to build visibility, trust and reputation. It has allowed me to create consulting opportunities that I would not have had otherwise. This is an opportunity that 'fell out of the sky'....
A few years ago, I met with a CIO at a conference. She had been giving the keynote address (as usual, with a 'lessons learned' angle) at the conference, and apparently the learnings I had presented had intrigued her. She asked for my contact information and promised to call me to discuss a collaboration. Months passed, without a single call from her. However, in the background, she continued to receive my new case studies because she was subscribed to our email list. About six months later, her assistant called a meeting in her office.
It was one of those many meetings where I sat across from the "buyer" with a printed stack of my case studies on the desk. He apologized for the delay in getting back to me. He had to study and research in order to make a business case to his boss for a consulting investment, and that took a while. "Your case studies and articles have been my only source of information," she admitted to me with a big smile.
The CIO finally got approval from her boss, and at the end of our 1-hour meeting, she gave me the go-ahead for one of the most rewarding projects I've ever done. amazing!
Educate your buyers, show them best practices, tell them what to look for, give them valuable tips on how to succeed, demonstrate how you have helped others instead.
Not sharing your experience is an inattentive approach
Openly sharing your expertise sends a message that you are not afraid to disclose your experience because you are confident in your own skills and knowledge.
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