Back in science class everyone learned that a chain reaction is a sequence of reactions that causes additional reactions to take place. In nuclear physics, what happens to a single neutron can result in a nuclear explosion.
A metaphor for a chain reaction is a rolling snowball causing a larger snowball until finally an avalanche results (a.k.a the "snowball effect,” which Warren Buffett biographer Alice Schroeder uses to explain the world’s greatest investor’s success in The Snowball). Chemically, the equivalent to an icy avalanche is a spark causing a blazing forest fire.
Those who want to attract high-paying clients are looking for the secret of creating a client attraction chain reaction.
In my latest book, Marketing With a Book, I begin by quoting management visionary Peter Drucker, who famously said, “There is only one valid definition of business purpose: to create a customer.” To do this, each and every independent consultant or a business coach must answer three classic questions: What is my business? Who is my client? What does my client consider valuable? (Drucker, 1954, The Practice of Management).
The number one challenge for independent consultants and coaches is attracting new clients. Ironically, many consultants and coaches feel marketing is too time consuming, expensive, or undignified. Even if they try a marketing or business development program, most consultants and coaches are frustrated by a lack of results. They even worry if marketing would ever work for them. And no wonder. According to David Maister, a researcher from the Harvard Business School, the typical sales and marketing hype that works for retailers and manufacturers is not only a waste of time and money for consultants and coaches, it actually makes them less attractive to prospective clients.
However, research has proven there is a better way. There is a proven process for marketing with integrity and getting an up to 400% to 2000% return on your marketing investment. My nickname for this client attraction chain reaction system is the Educating Expert Model, and the most successful professional service and consulting firms use it to attract high-paying clients.
To attract new clients, the best approach for consultants and coaches is to demonstrate expertise by sharing valuable information through writing and speaking. For consultants and coaches, this I believe with my heart of hearts: the number one marketing tool is a book and the number one marketing strategy is a speech. Research shows independent consultants and coaches can fill a pipeline with qualified prospects in as little as thirty days by offering advice to prospects on how to overcome their most pressing problems.
What should consultants and coaches do to increase revenues? First, understand that generating leads is an investment and should be measured like any other investment. Next, quit wasting money on ineffective means like brochures, advertising, and sponsorships. The best marketing investment you can make is to get help creating informative websites, hosting persuasive seminars, booking speaking engagements, and getting published as a newsletter columnist and eventually book author.
Rather than creating a brochure, start by writing how-to articles. Those articles turn into speeches and seminars. Eventually, you gather the articles and publish a book through a strategy called print on demand publishing. Does it work? Here are a list of three business best-seller titles that started out self-published, according to a March 2005 article in Southwest Airlines Spirit:
- The One Minute Manager by Kenneth Blanchard and Spencer Johnson: picked up by William Morrow & Co.
- In Search of Excellence, by Tom Peters (of McKinsey & Co.): in its first year, sold more than 25,000 copies directly to consumers—then Warner sold 10 million more.
- Leadership Secrets of Attila the Hun, by Weiss Roberts: sold half a million copies before being picked up by Warner.
Even if you believe in the Educating Expert Model, how do you find time to do it and still get client and administrative work done? No business ever believes they have too much time on their hands. The answer is to buy out the time for marketing. You need to be involved, but you should not do this all on your own. Trial and error is too expensive of a learning method. Wouldn’t it be better if someone helped you who knows the tricks and shortcuts? We can show you how to leverage your time and get others to do most of the work for you, even if you are a solo practitioner.
How much should independent consultants and coaches invest in marketing? That depends on your business goals, but here are some norms.
During the last dozen years various studies have been done. Law firms generally spend about 2% of their gross revenues on marketing, and the average expenditure is about $136,000. Marketing costs for accounting firms average about 7% to 10% of gross revenue, according to an article in The New York Times. The typical architecture, engineering, planning, and environmental consulting firm spends 5.3% of their net service revenue on marketing, according to a ZweigWhite Marketing Survey of A/E/P & Environmental Consulting Firms.
Mark LeBlanc, author of Growing Your Business, has coached more than 1,000 consultants and coaches and advises them to invest 35% of gross revenues into business development and 15% into office and administration expenses.
If that is what it takes to create a client attraction chain reaction, the investment is well worth the snowball effect.
