Sales Hub
The Consulting Business Sales Hub
You've arrived at the Sales Hub. Its a subsection of our blog (Insights) where we've put together all of our articles and resources relevant to the key topics of:
Look through the content in the sections below to find the articles and resources that you need most right now.
Pitching your consulting services
You often hear the term of being 'ghosted'. Essentially, in the context of selling consulting services, it refers to when you submit a proposal and then you hear nothing back. Crickets, as the the Americans would say.
Being ghosted is not the prospect's problem. It's usually your fault. Your fault because you gave up control of the sales process. Now, it takes discipline to stay in control. And that control begins from the very first conversation that you have with a prospect.
The articles and resource below provide you with advice and guidance to ensure that you can successfully pitch your consulting services. Start with the Featured Post at the top, or dive straight into a topic in the list below that best matches your immediate needs.
Pricing your consulting services
Pricing is where the sales process really becomes fun! However, it should come towards the end of the process, not the beginning. Most people make the mistake of leading with price, or under pressure they blurt out an unrealistic price range in response to fear. Fear of losing the opportunity. The reality, however, is that you're more at risk from under-pricing than you are from over-pricing.
The articles below provide advice and guidance on pricing your B2B consulting business. Start with the Featured Post at the top, or dive straight into a topic in the list below that best matches your immediate needs.
Other articles and resources
Below is a collection of other articles, such as book reviews and 3rd party tools relevant to selling consulting services.
Books on selling
The below are some highly recommended books on selling.
How Clients Buy
A great book written by Tom McMakin and Doug Fletcher. You can read my in-depth review of this book here.
Selling to Big Companies
If you're going to grow a successful consulting business, then you really need to be selling to large companies.
There are challenges, but generally it's a lot easier than selling to small businesses.
Jill Konrath's book is a great place to start.
Gap Selling
There are few people with as infectious and excitable a personality as Keenan, and it comes through in his writing.
I actually purchased this one on Audible first, then bought the Kindle version so that I could more easily highlight stuff. It's a really great read.
Cold Calling for Chickens
Bob Etherington's book is another fantastic one to help you overcome reluctance to call people.
Personally, I'm not a proponent of cold calling (in part based on my cold calling experiences). However, there is definitely a place for 'warm calling' and the advice in this book is equally relevant.
Pick up the Damn Phone
Us consultants can be a sensitive bunch, and we sure do hate rejection!
In fact, most of don't even want to market and sell - we just want prospects to come and buy!
Sorry, but life in business just ain't like that. Sometimes you've got to pick up that phone.
Black's book is full of advice to help you get over your inertia.
Never Split the Difference
A lot of people really don't like the process of selling. Personally, I find it really enjoyable. It's the final step in being able to help someone - to provide your expertise. Along with the challenge of proving your worth to their organisation.
For those who don't like selling it's often due a view of the process being adversarial. More often the reality is that there's a lack of negotiating skills and ability.
Chris Voss's excellent book will give you skills those negotiation skills in spades.
Selling your consulting services
I don't know about you, but I find selling consulting services one of the more exciting parts of what I do as a leader of a consulting firm.
It's not just about the money, all be it bringing in more revenue is nice (and essential!), but where I get excited is in knowing that:
- I've been able to demonstrate to, and convince, a stranger that I have the experience, the know-how and the team capacity to make a difference to their business
- There's a high value attributed to those services and that my firm will be handsomely rewarded
- When in a competitive scenario, I've proven that we're better than the competition
- Any initial engagement has a high chance of leading to further engagements, thereby improving marketing ROI
- This project will lead to further relationships with people, which in turn will lead to referrals at some point down the line - often unexpectedly!
However, despite all my love of selling, I appreciate that for many consulting business owners and leaders, it's the bit about their business or job that they like the least.
Successfully selling consulting services should be fun!
At The B2B Marketer we know what it takes to successfully sell B2B consulting services to mid-sized and large businesses. That's not just because it's what we do now, but also because it's precisely what we did before we became marketers! I've personally sold consulting engagements ranging in value from £2.5k to over £1m.
So, on this website you'll find lots of information and guidance that's steeped in practical, real-world implementation. Much of it is free, and there are also self-study training programmes available for you to invest in.
If you've broken the 7-figure barrier, we also provide consulting services focusing on:
- Marketing Assessment - reviewing what you're currently doing against proven best practice.
- Marketing Strategy - determining the most appropriate approach and marketing channels for your unique situation.
- Fractional CMO - leading your marketing efforts for you, starting with the above two services, followed by finding the right partners to deliver your marketing, bridging the gap between your internal teams and your external partners, and overseeing the on-going effectiveness, course correcting as needed.
Where to next?
There are two further hubs on this website dedicated to helping you through the challenges of running a consulting business - namely, Growth and Marketing. You can access those hubs via the buttons below.