If you’re an independent consultant or run your own small consulting agency, you may have seen a spike in demand for your services recently. According to Consultport, from 2020, there has been a 20% to 30% uptick in the demand for independent consultants.
We’ve all been there. When you run into feast-or-famine periods, where the workload, demands, deadlines, and client flow can be inconsistent, you may find yourself in a juggling act. You’re trying to deliver projects and keep current clients happy while landing new ones at the same time.
Client acquisition isn’t just about landing and onboarding new projects and clients. It turns out that solid project management can feed into client acquisition, and vice versa. This means remaining steadfast and having systematic approaches for your business to thrive.
With this in mind, let’s explore some top consultant client acquisition strategies to consider.
Understanding Client Acquisition for Consultants
In the world of consulting, client acquisition is the process of attracting and securing potential clients. As you can imagine, it’s crucial for you to focus on landing clients who are looking for what you offer and, ideally, interested in establishing a long-term, mutually beneficial collaboration.
While there’s generally no one-size-fits-all approach to client acquisition for your consultant business, there are a few foundational tenets that come into play. These can inform — and inspire — your strategies you decide on:
Target market identification.
Start by identifying the cluster of attributes your ideal, preferred clients share. When you hone in on your core customer base, you can better understand their pain points and potential challenges.
Use this information to focus on the most effective client acquisition strategies for your audience. It can also help you build project management workflows that best serve your clients —and can help save you money, time, and effort while potentially sparing you hassle and headache.
My consulting colleagues specialize in everything from crisis communications for nonprofits to conflict resolution for corporations and narrative strategy for women of color who work in higher education. The more niche, the better.
Value proposition development.
Value proposition development is what you offer your clients that helps you stand out from the crowd.
What you bring to the table includes your specialization and all the experience you have under your belt. For example, I have a colleague who specializes in hypnotherapy and corporate consulting. As a result, she focuses on helping clients who have experienced corporate trauma and would like to learn deep realization techniques.
Understanding client needs.
Getting your head around your client needs is a constant process, and it’s particularly important when you’re working on landing new clients. You’ll want to know what their pain points are at different points in their journey and how you can best solve them.
Key Client Acquisition Challenges for Consultants
There are a handful of hurdles consultants need to contend with when trying to land clients. Let’s take a look at some of the common ones:
- Market saturation. You might face a lot of competition from fellow consultants and larger companies with similar offerings and value propositions.
- Establishing credibility. Unlike product-based businesses, where you can look at a review site or test out the products firsthand, it might be more difficult to establish your credibility.
- Demonstrating return on investment (ROI) to potential clients. What consultants offer can be a bit intangible. Because you’re running a service-based business, clients can’t hold it in their hand or “try it before they buy it,” so to speak.
What are the key performance indicators (KPIs) or metrics you can use to demonstrate your value? The value proposition is specific to the client, so what you offer may look different for each customer.
Effective Client Acquisition Strategies
Let’s start by looking at three key tactics you can consider using to land new clients as a consultant.
Referral-based acquisition.
No matter your niche or industry, referral-based client acquisition can be the difference between a “warm welcome” or having to “cold-call” or knock on someone’s door as a complete stranger.
The majority of my client work has come from referrals. Namely, a publication or client asking for referrals of content creators who specialize in personal finance, as an example.
But to really excel at client acquisition, consider building a systematic referral program. For example, reach out to your network regularly and let them know you’re available for new consulting clients and which services you currently offer.
And if it makes sense for your business, you can offer a referral incentive. For example, a coaching colleague of mine kicks over 25% of her earnings from every coaching client I refer to her.
You can also leverage how much your current clients enjoy working with you by posting testimonials on your website and by sharing them on social media platforms, like LinkedIn if you receive permission.
Digital presence and thought leadership.
You might understand that you can build your digital presence by developing thought leadership pieces and posting them online. But where should you begin?
Creating and sustaining a digital presence can help you attract clients in new avenues that go beyond attending business chamber mixers, going to in-person events, and getting referrals. You can also create an email marketing campaign by promoting your referral program.
To start, do your homework and see which digital marketing and content creation avenues can yield the best results. On top of that, which ones are you most passionate about?
Personally, I’ve signed up for coaching and workshops after following a coach on social media and reading some of their posts. When you create valuable content that speaks to your target client base, it positions you as an authority, builds trust, and deepens engagement. It also helps you maintain visibility in the places where potential clients search, such as LinkedIn or industry-specific professional sites.
Networking and relationship building.
Consider beginning by promoting your business locally and building from there. Whether by becoming a member of an industry association, forming a strategic partnership, or getting involved with the community, you can network and build relationships. And those connections can potentially lead to new clients.
My colleague landed clients through chamber mixers and — believe it or not — a meetup for tiki enthusiasts. She did it by explaining what she did and how someone could benefit from working with her. You can think of yourself as a beacon shining the “light” of what you offer, clearly and explicitly, which can draw those who are in need of your services.
From Acquisition to Management: The Client Journey
Now, let’s look at how you can put a steady, systematic approach in place to help you springboard from landing the client to managing projects.
Streamlining your onboarding process.
From day one, it’s important to create systems that set client expectations and establish clear communication channels. Here’s an example of a checklist of questions to answer to help:
- What is your general process for onboarding?
- What documents need to be signed before proceeding?
- Do you start with a kick-off or alignment call? And what is the anticipated cadence of communication and through which channels?
- How often do you review and report metrics? For example, do you provide a monthly or quarterly report? A monthly sync to go over KPIs and goals?
Project management essentials for consultants.
Let’s dig into some consulting project management tips to help make things as straightforward, simple, and streamlined as possible.
To start, for example, you’ll want to create simple frameworks, like your basic internal process for managing projects or hitting KPIs. You should also tell the client about your strategies for pipeline tracking. For example, what project management tools and platforms do you use to make sure you check off all steps and meet deadlines on time?
Managing client expectations throughout the engagement.
Meeting your clients’ expectations throughout your time together is key to keeping them satisfied. In turn, this can lead to repeat work or referrals.
Bake in communication protocols to build trust and keep you and the client on the same page. For example, schedule weekly or monthly check-ins.
Plus, you’ll want to factor in a process to prevent scope creep. This starts with a clear and outlined project proposal. If scope creep starts to happen — which is quite common — how will you handle it?
Figure out what you can communicate about or negotiate so both you and the client are happy. For example, you could ask for a higher rate or a one-time fee, or take some project menu items off the table.
Client expectations can change — and meeting their demands and hitting their goals is an evolving process. Make sure to refine approaches and communicate as much as possible.
Implementing Your Client Acquisition System
Once you set up your client acquisition system, you’ll want to consider putting the following in place:
Creating your ideal client profile.
By pinpointing and targeting prospects that sync up with your expertise and your own business goals, you can form mutually beneficial partnerships. For example, if you have credentials and experience that can best support their projects and meet their objectives, you can offer a high ROI.
Finding clients who are in line with your business goals ensures you’re putting forth resources and energy into propelling your consulting work forward for both the short and long term.
Developing a consistent outreach schedule.
This one can be tough, especially when you’re juggling existing client delivery and meeting their expectations while being on the hunt for new clients. But aim to build routines and get on a schedule that can help steady pipeline development chug along without overwhelming your capacity.
For example, my colleague who specializes in podcast producing and B2B content creation carves out time during her slow season to build a prospect list of potential clients. She’ll also draft introductory and follow-up emails to send out regularly.
Measuring success and refining your approach.
To help you identify key metrics to track your client acquisition success rate, you can use a customer relationship management platform to help you keep track of and organize customer data. It can also help you manage data and your interactions and engagements to see what’s working and what isn’t.
What can you do differently? Are there certain types of clients that are most responsive to your initial inquiries? What is the drop-off rate? And are there particular times of year when you have a bit more downtime to build out your client acquisition lists or processes?
Building a Sustainable Consulting Practice
Slow and steady wins the race. While it can be tough-going to manage the workload, expectations, and deliverables of existing clients and try to land new ones at the same time, it is entirely possible.
The key is to stay consistent and focus on systematic approaches in both your client acquisition and project management. This includes a thorough, A-to-Z approach, such as zeroing in on your ideal client, clarifying what you offer, and laying the groundwork to onboard and meet client expectations. Doing so can help pave the way for long-term success for your consultant business.