Skip Navigation
consulting pipeline abstract

Consulting Pipeline: 4 Steps To Consistent Consulting Clients

Leave a Comment

Recently, a Clarity Coaching client reached out about the challenges they were having with their consulting pipeline.

“My main challenge is filling my pipeline so I’ve been putting a lot of energy into marketing.

This fall I changed the focus of my non-profit consulting practice. By far, most of my work had been with a local university. That ended and I decided that I wanted to focus on offering performance management services to local nonprofits.

Basically I have good credentials and experience but it feels like I’m starting from scratch. I don’t have much of a marketing budget. I’m already involved in lots of local networking events. Last year I did around 8 presentations and that yielded one client. There is significant competition which is one reason why I’m focusing on a specific issue.

Any advice?

Al H.”

Does this sound familiar?

You’re an expert at what you do. When it comes to serving your clients, you deliver.

But you struggle with getting those clients in the first place.

In other words, your consulting pipeline — your incoming flow of potential business — is dry.

And you don’t know how to fill it up.

In this article, I’ll explain the 4 steps to fill your consulting pipeline to the brim with new clients yearning to work with you — and empower you with the tools and knowledge to consistently fill it up.

Ready? Let’s dive in…

Step 1: Identify Your Target Market

In our article Don’t Focus on Leads For Your Consulting Business (Until You’ve Done This), we outline what you must do before you think about lead generation and filling your consulting pipeline.

And the first step is to identify your ideal client.

All marketing for consultants begins by gaining clarity around your ideal client.

There is a reason why the first lesson we teach in our Clarity Coaching program is dedicated to helping you do this.

This isn’t just choosing a niche.

It’s figuring out precisely who it is you best serve — understanding your ideal clients at a deep level: their desires, problems, uncertainties, and more.

Identifying your ideal client is an exercise in disqualification. Elite consultants are very focused on who they serve. They understand that most prospects aren’t a good fit.

You want to know basic information like…

  • Industry
  • Company Size
  • Location
  • Seniority
  • Job Title

And you also want to know qualitative information like…

  • What challenges are you they dealing with in their work
  • What solving those challenges means for them and their organization
  • Insights, data and ideas on how to create the result and outcome they desire

When you write this information, you’ll have a much better understanding of your ideal client. And you’ll be able to use this understanding in your marketing.

Next, I’ll help you use this newfound clarity to build out your marketing strategy: the actions you’ll take to fill up your pipeline.

All marketing for consultants begins by gaining clarity around your ideal client.

Step 2: Create A Lead Generation Strategy

Now that you’re clear on your ideal client, you can begin to build out a lead-generation strategy: marketing activities that will get the attention of your ideal client and entice them into starting a conversation with you.

There are 4 sub-steps to doing that:

1. Write Your Magnetic Message

Your lead generation effort begins with your magnetic message: a message that gets your ideal client to take notice and think, “how do they do that?”

Inside our Clarity Coaching Framework, we teach Magnetic Messaging.

Here’s the formula:

I help [WHO] to [solve WHAT problem] so they can [see WHAT results]. My [WHY choose me]…

Let’s break each part of the formula down.

  • WHO: Who you serve.
  • WHAT (Problem): What problem you solve for them.
  • WHAT (Result): What result you create for them.
  • WHY: Why they should choose you.

This formula is so effective because it covers everything your prospective clients want to know before they take a deeper look at you and your business.

When done right, it will attract potential clients like a magnet.

2. Active Your Network

Once you’ve written your magnetic message, you have something you can start sharing with the market.

We recommend you start with your own network.

We call this the “Network Reactivation Campaign.”

It’s a process of reaching out to everyone in your network so that they’re aware of what you’re doing. And it’s an easy way to jumpstart your lead generation efforts.

First, make a list of everyone you know. LinkedIn is great for this.

Think past clients, colleagues, employers, family members, friends — EVERYONE you know. You never know who will provide a referral.

Then, send each of them an email. It might look something like this:

Hey NAME, how are you and the family doing?

{Insert a line about what’s going on in your personal life}

{Insert a line about what’s going on in your business — what you’re working on and your Magnetic Message}

Do you know anyone that might be interested in this or might need help in these areas?

Best,

YOUR NAME

Make sure EVERYONE you know is aware of your Magnetic Message. You’ll systematically market your business and increase the chance that you’ll be referred.

3. Reach Out Directly

Direct outreach is the art of being able to reach out to ideal clients without any existing relationship to them.

It’s more challenging than simply being referred to a potential client.

However, when you master direct outreach, there’s truly no limit on how much new business you can win.

At the heart of successful direct outreach in consulting is personalization.

What works is writing a highly custom and personalized message that shows you are interested in the recipient, and not merely promoting your service.

For example, a direct LinkedIn message or email sharing valuable content with an ideal client to add value to their lives — and to get them interested in what you offer.

So reach out to your ideal clients, find out what’s going on, comment about an article that they wrote or some news you saw about their company, or how you’ve worked with others in their industry before.

If you want help to develop these messages and get a system in place specifically for your situation and business get in touch here.

You’ll get on the radar of your market and inevitably start to generate conversations about how you can help your ideal clients.

4. Create Thought Leadership

Thought leadership marketing is a form of marketing where you create content that demonstrates your subject matter expertise while providing value to your ideal clients.

That’s what thought leadership marketing is: banging a particular drum over and over and over again on a specific topic — and providing genuine value — until your name becomes synonymous with that topic.

As consultants, our expertise is our product. Therefore it’s critical that we demonstrate our expertise to our prospective clients.

For example, think about Simon Sinek. His name is synonymous with “start with why.”

Consider Peter Drucker. When you think of Peter Drucker, you think of “management.”

And if you think about Nancy Duarte, you think of “presentations.”

Each of these thought leaders became associated with these phrases because they consistently shared their expertise on the topic.

It’s no secret that we’ve used thought leadership at Consulting Success®.

We lead by sharing valuable information for consultants, by consultants.

That’s why we create…

And there’s no reason why you can’t do the same for your market.

Here’s an exercise you can do today to start your thought leadership marketing.

  • List the top five problems your ideal clients are facing.
  • For each problem, write a one-page (250-500 word) piece on how you think about, approach, and solve that problem.
  • Share each piece anywhere your ideal clients hang out online (LinkedIn, newsletters, guest publications, etc) — and you can even send it to them directly.

Remember: thought leadership marketing isn’t limited to writing (or this particular type of writing).

You can speak on podcasts, publish white papers, host webinars & online presentations, and send out a weekly newsletter — your options are unlimited.

The medium isn’t as important as the fact that you consistently create thought leadership around a specific topic: an industry, a type of software, a set of problems, a particular phrase, etc.

All of these activities will help in adding leads to your consulting pipeline.

And in the next section, you’ll learn how to take these leads down a streamlined path to becoming your client.

Every prospective client of yours will go through this same pipeline. Make sure that you are updating it consistently in real-time to get the best results.

Step 3: Implement Your Consulting CRM

Now that you’re doing your daily marketing activities, you’ll start to build your pipeline. You’ll use customer relationship management (CRM) software to make that easy.

CRM software helps consultants manage their relationships with their clients. Ultimately, you use them to track your funnel — and ensure you don’t miss out on opportunities.

We’ve written an in-depth article on CRMs for consultants. Among our favorites is Hubspot, which we use ourselves. They have a generous free plan which is great for newer consultants.

The tool isn’t as important as the fact that you choose and stick with one you’ll use consistently.

Once you’ve chosen your CRM, it’s time to set up your consulting pipeline.

Think of it this way: there is a clear progression for your prospect to turn them into clients.

In our Clarity Coaching Program, we teach an entire lesson on this in our Marketing Engine & Sales Pipeline module.

consulting pipeline

The easiest way to use your CRM to create your pipeline is to customize it, setting up 6 “stages:”

  • LEAD. You’ve identified the prospective client and have begun reaching out to them to set up a conversation.
  • CONVERSATION. You’ve had a sales conversation with the prospective client.
  • PROPOSAL. You’ve sent a proposal to the prospective client.
  • WIN. The prospective client has accepted your proposal and you won the business.
  • LOSS. The prospective client has declined your proposal and you lost the business.
  • NURTURE. Most people you reach out to won’t be ready to buy or make a decision right away. In fact, even people who say ‘No’ to a proposal now, may buy from you later as long as you stay top of mind through your nurturing process.

Every prospective client of yours will go through this same pipeline. Make sure that you are updating it consistently in real-time to get the best results.

For example, when someone responds to your outreach message, demonstrates interest in one of your LinkedIn posts, or signs up for your newsletter, you enter them into the “Lead” category.

Then you begin your business development activities: sales conversations and proposals to try and win the business if they are a good fit.

When you successfully take a lead and turn them into a paying client, they end up in the WIN column.

If they decline, they end up in the LOSE column.

For leads who are interested, but not ready to work with you right now, they’ll remain in the NURTURE column for you to follow up with over time.

By using your CRM in this way, you’ll avoid a chaotic marketing “mess” full of unknowns into a simple, streamlined system. It’s not an address book. It’s a pipeline with a clear start and finish.

But make no mistake: a CRM is no replacement for a proper business development strategy. Get that right first, and then implement a CRM to manage it.

Next, I’ll share how you can schedule regular reviews of your pipeline and determine how to improve your results.

Step 4: Measure & Analyze Your Pipeline Performance

The value of setting up a consulting pipeline is that it enables you to keep a pulse on your business and identify where you should focus your business development efforts.

And when you set up your consulting pipeline in a CRM, you can do so at a quick glance.

In our Clarity Coaching Program, we recommend that consultants review their pipeline every week.

For example, schedule a 25-minute chunk on Friday morning to review your pipeline.

Examine which areas you are lacking. Identify your weakest link.

For example:

  • If a consultant is sending many proposals, but they aren’t closing them, they should focus on this area of their business. It could mean their sales conversations prior to sending the proposal aren’t as effective as they need to be. Or, it could mean their proposal review process with the client is broken.
  • If a consultant is having a lot of conversations, but they aren’t moving the leads to the proposal stage, that signals that there is something wrong with their initial sales conversations. Perhaps they aren’t transitioning into making a clear offer and setting up the stage to move to a proposal.
  • If a consultant has identified many leads, but they aren’t having conversations with these leads, that signals there is something wrong with their outreach process. They might not have a proper marketing system in place, or it could be weak subject lines in their outreach emails to ideal clients.

You can use this review to help schedule your marketing and business development activities for the next week.

By simply paying attention to and tracking these numbers, you’ll stay focused on what areas of your business need the most help.

You’ll be surprised at how many ideas will come to you — and how much easier it is to focus on the right things — once you’ve set up your consulting pipeline.

Get Expert Help Filling Your Consulting Pipeline

Filling your consulting pipeline is easier said than done.

It requires you to have strong positioning, a clear value proposition, and strong execution of the correct marketing tactics.

If you’d like help implementing everything you read in this article, we can help.

From high-level pipeline strategy to proven scripts and templates, he help consultants build thriving pipelines in our Clarity Coaching Program.

In our Clarity Coaching program, we’ve helped over 850 consultants to build a more strategic, profitable, and scalable, consulting business. And we’ve helped many of them become leaders of their consulting businesses — growing from independent consultants to consulting firm owners.

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.

You’ll learn how to make more money with every project you take on — and how to land more clients than ever before. Learn more about Clarity Coaching and get in touch to talk about your situation and goals.

LEARN MORE ABOUT CLARITY COACHING

Leave a Comment, Join the Conversation!