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6 Ways Consultants Can Handle Capacity Issues & Increased Demand

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Have you ever felt like you were so busy delivering on consulting projects that you had no time to work on your business?

This is a very common scenario for independent consultants and small firms.

You’re at the point where your marketing is dialed in. You’re winning business consistently.

You’re doing the right things, and new clients are coming to you.

However, you only have so much time.

You eventually reach a point where you can’t handle more work. You can only take on 1 or 2 more clients — but you’re already beginning to feel stretched thin.

It becomes more and more difficult to process new opportunities, and you’re quickly becoming overwhelmed.

Not fixing these capacity issues can cost you six figures — or even much more.

Recently, I delivered a training for consultants in our Clarity Coaching Program called “How To Deal With Capacity Issues and Increased Demand.”

The consultants in our program found it very helpful, so I wanted to share it with the whole Consulting Success® community.

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By the end of this article, you’ll learn the 6 steps to handle capacity issues. You’ll build a more optimized practice where you regain control of your business — and feel great about taking on new clients.

Let’s dive into tactic # 1.

Not fixing these capacity issues can cost you six figures — or even much more.

1. Accept Now, Start Later

The first tactic is to accept the work you can’t take on now but start the project at a later date.

Let’s say an ideal client approaches you and wants to work with you.

You don’t want to say no to their business. But, you don’t have the capacity to take them on right now.

What you do is say “Yes” to the business, but you start it at a later date.

First, ensure that you get a signed agreement and receive a deposit from the client. This commits them to the project by putting skin in the game.

Tell your client the day or week when the project will start. Whether it’s days, weeks, or months, giving them a timeline will make it easier for them to commit.

When the buyer knows that you’re in demand, it will be easier to sell projects to them. It’s proof that you’re time and expertise are scarce, which is a demonstration of your value to the market.

Also, think about what you could do to move the project forward with your upcoming client before you begin the work.

  • Could you send them an assessment?
  • Could you do a short, paid strategy call?
  • Could you get them to prepare all of the necessary assets?

This way, they start receiving value before you begin delivering the work.

Using this tactic, you’ll be able to book your calendar full of work and avoid turning ideal clients away.

It’s proof that you’re time and expertise are scarce, which is a demonstration of your value to the market.

2. Nurture

The second tactic is to nurture your prospective clients.

The most dangerous thing to do as a consultant is to stop your marketing.

Sure, you might have a calendar full of consulting work and you’re busy delivering on projects for clients.

But what happens when that work is done?

You weren’t marketing, so you’ll have no clients.

Even when you’re busy with client work, don’t stop your marketing.

So instead of stopping your marketing, ensure that you stay “top of mind” with your prospective clients.

By continually following up and providing value to the market, you’ll avoid this “consulting income roller-coaster.”

Here are some specific ways you can nurture your prospective clients:

  • Send out a weekly newsletter with valuable insights and points of views.
  • Set up a CRM for prospective clients so you can engage in regular follow-ups: a simple message like “How are you doing? I’ve been thinking about you” can go a long way.
  • In your content, include a call-to-action for your services. Let people know how many spots you have available.

Even when you’re busy with client work, don’t stop your marketing.

By continuing your nurturing, content, and follow-up, you’ll ensure that new clients are always knocking on your door.

3. Increase Your Fees

The third tactic is to increase your consulting fees.

This is one of my favorites.

Why?

Because it’s the lowest-hanging fruit. You can do it right now.

And it’s something I believe every single consultant should do on a regular basis.

For example, let’s say your average client invests $40K to work with you.

If that’s your typical project investment — and you’re fully booked — then increase your average project rate to $50K or $60K.

Typically, you’ll get fewer buys when you raise your rates.

But raising your fees increases the value of each client.

If your average project is worth $60K instead of $40K, then 2 clients are now worth the same as 3 at your previous rate.

You can work with fewer clients to generate the same amount of revenue (or more).

This increases your capacity and overall profitability.

Remember: you can always dial your pricing back.

If you offer your increased rate to 3 potential buyers and they all say no — and you’re getting a lot of pushback on the price — you can dial your pricing back to your previous rate.

But, as long as the value is still there for them, you’ll find that new clients are willing to invest in a higher rate.

4. Grow Your Team

The fourth tactic is to grow your team.

This is the tactic that most consultants default to.

The biggest misconception about building a team is that it will significantly increase your costs, and that it’s going to be a massive commitment.

That’s not the case.

Growing your team is an investment, not a cost.

There are many different ways tor how you can build your team.

For example, let’s say you’re a solo consultant.

Your first hire might be a personal/virtual assistant to help with the administrative tasks you’re spending your time on.

That’s an example of growing your team. And it doesn’t have to cost you a lot.

In fact, this will make you more money.

Your virtual assistant might cost you $10 or $20 per hour. But your value is significantly higher than that.

Let’s say your time is worth $200 per hour. But, you spend 2 hours per day doing administrative work.

If you spend $40 on a virtual assistant to take that 2 hours of administrative work off your plate, then you’re making $260.

Growing your team is an investment, not a cost.

Hiring an administrative assistant will also unlock greater potential for you to work on higher-value tasks.

Your time should be spent on the areas where you can create the most value.

Administrative work is important, but you shouldn’t be doing it.

Building a team to handle this kind of work increases your capacity to deliver. You’ll be able to do more marketing, more sales, and take on more clients.

There are many ways you can build your team, whether that’s freelancers, contractors, part-time employees, or full-time employees.

Now, building a team will often impact your margins…

…but, you’ll have more time, make a bigger impact, and focus on areas where you can create more growth.

And it increases the value of your business because you are no longer the bottleneck. Your business becomes a saleable asset.

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You can delegate the work you don’t like to do so you can spend more time on what you love to do. You’ll have a lot more energy and feel more fulfilled.

Finally, building a team is an investment in buying back your most important resource: your time.

So, if you want to spend that time on your health, your hobbies, or your family, this is how you do it.

5. Systems & Processes

The fifth tactic is to implement systems.

For example: productizing your services.

If you’re customizing your consulting services to every single client, you’re limited in terms of how many clients you can work with.

Let’s say you customize 80% of your offer, but 20% is similar across every project.

What if you were to flip those percentages?

You customize 20% — but 80% of it is the same, repeatable process.

Sure, you’ll charge less. But you’ll be able to deliver more, and take on more clients.

This type of productization works best for consultants with more experience who know exactly what their ideal clients want, and the steps to get them what they want.

A few years ago, we had a client in our consulting community who was generating $1.4M per year.

But they had a long, drawn-out process for delivering their highly-custom consulting service.

We worked with them to analyze this process, and we discovered that their process contained a lot of waste. They were overdelivering and giving the client more than they truly needed.

For example, if you give a client a 100-page report, you might feel as though you’re giving them a lot of value.

But for the client, it’s too much information. You’re creating more for them to do.

Your clients likely don’t need every single aspect of your service.

Identify the most valuable aspects of your service that create the most value — the value your clients want — and experiment with removing the rest.

When you don’t customize every service and you begin to productize your offers, you’ll increase your profitability.

It also makes your team more efficient, because they’ll have systems & processes to use.

6. Performance & Equity

The sixth tactic is to engage your clients on a performance/equity basis.

Doing this can potentially increase the value of your engagements by 5-10X.

We’ve personally seen it add hundreds of thousands of dollars per year to consulting business.

However, you’ll only use performance and equity deals in specific situations.

You must have a strong relationship with the buyer.

And you must have a process where you are 100% confident you can generate results.

Here’s an example of how this might work.

You’re a sales consultant, and you help your clients generate more sales.

If you know you can help create a specific, measurable, and tangible result (like generating more sales and more revenue), you can say…

“My typical fee for this is $60K. The other option is that I can do this for $10K per month.”

Then, you have a value conversation with the buyer to discover what their baseline level of sales is per month. For example, their average is 8 sales per month.

For every sale you help them make above 8, you charge X% percentage of that sale — like 10% (depending on the scale and scope of what you’re doing).

This type of fee structure benefits your client because they invest less upfront.

You’re essentially saying: “We’re so confident in the results that we’ll create for you, that we’ll take less up front and only get paid when we deliver said results.”

You’re removing risk for the client.

But they’ll pay you more than they would initially if, and only if, you perform and create results more than the agreed-upon target.

There are a lot of different ways to structure these deals:

  • % of revenue generated
  • % of money saved
  • equity in the company

This is where you can exercise some creativity with your pricing.

However, when you do this type of deal, ensure that you protect your downside.

There are some situations where consultants take $0 upfront. Their clients only pay when the consultant delivers results.

This fee structure demonstrates the highest level of confidence — but it requires you to take on too much risk.

You might deliver for the client and create the results you set out to achieve. But if the client goes bankrupt, you’ve lost all your compensation.

The best practice here is to always take something upfront.

Require a baseline investment from the client so that you’re compensated, and so that the client has skin in the game.

This fee structure isn’t for every consultant. But, if the situation is right, it unleashes massive upside.

We’ve personally seen it add hundreds of thousands of dollars per year to consulting business.

Get Help Building A Profitable, Strategic, And Scaleable Consulting Business

Start by applying one of these tactics.

Don’t overwhelm yourself. Choose the one that feels right for you, and take imperfect action.

Even applying one of these can make massive changes in your consulting business.

After you’ve successfully applied one, experiment by trying another.

This is how you work ON your business instead of just “in” it.

And it’s how you’ll build a high-six or seven-figure consulting business, just like many of the consultants in our programs.

Eventually, you’ll create systems, fee structures, and offers that allow you to take on far more clients than you can right now —all without overwhelming yourself.

If you’d like our help building a strategic, profitable, and predictable consulting business, our customized Clarity Coaching program is for you.

We’ll work hands-on with you to develop a strategic plan and then dive deep and work through your ideal client clarity, strategic messaging, consulting offers, fees and pricing, business model optimization, and help you to set up your marketing engine and lead generation system to consistently attract ideal clients.

Schedule a FREE growth session today to apply for our limited capacity Clarity Coaching Program by clicking here.

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