July 31, 2010

The join between small business consulting and the Internet

small business consulting

I manage a Saas company that delivers help in the form of small business management and accounting software tools and wisdom to thousands of startups and small businesses worldwide and whenever I explain to people what I do, I repetitively get asked the same question “Given my years of experience, how could I put it to use and make regular money from small business consulting? I am always delighted to provide advice as I am lucky enough to spend a large percentage of my day talking to small business owners and personnel happy to to communicate their issues.

This is the advice that I offer:

The online world is the ideal place for finding customers and it makes it easy to speak to them and sell your expertise. A lot of small businesses turn to the internet to find knowledge or trusted advisors who can provide them with wisdom and help them fix key challenges.

Information marketing – package and sell your expertise to businesses through the Internet

Make no mistake this opportunity isn’t just to be found in small businesses it’s equally applicable to large businesses. You can repackage and sell your expertise in a multimedia format such as video, audio or documents. The tools to construct high quality material are readily available on the network. Producing a course in simple to use internet formats is now straight forward and doesn’t cost much to do. You just have to be prepared to dedicate a small amount of time playing with the tools. The objective here is to produce some valuable material that you can either sell or give away to customers to encourage them to do business with you.

Commence by determining your overall goal. Consultancy and Information marketing can work together and if you do both can be very provide a substantial income as the consultancy will provide you with the questions, the answers to which you can repackage and sell in digital format and sold over and over again.

If you are starting from scratch with no customers but have expertise you know would be valuable to others then plan to create a very short video to introduce yourself and your expertise to your potential client(s). Unless you know the potential client(s) precise problem then make the video generic and adhere tothe following format – S.T.A.R (Situation or Task, Action, Result). Make your messages as interesting as you can and keep the narratives short. Now upload the video to your website/blog or even YouTube if you don’t have the former and send the target(s) an invitation by e-mail containing a personal message and a link to the video. Follow this up with a phone call. If you know the specific nature of the target(s)problem then don’t make the video public, just put it somewhere privateon the Web or even on a disk and post it, again follow up with a call.

This approach is ideally suited to situations where you are individually targeting target(s). The one objective you should be constantly pursuing is the creation of a list that you can converse with and sell product to.. With the right interaction with your list you should easily be able to discover what people want and deliver it. The bigger your list the more opportunities for consulating and selling information products you will unearth. If you would like to find out more about how to do this then click on any of the links in this article. I would be very glad to help you.

So you would like to be a small business consultant and work online

small business consultant

I lead a Saas company that provides help in the form of small business management and accounting software tools and knowledge to thousands of startups and small businesses worldwide and whenever I explain to people what I do, I always get asked the same question “Given my working knowledge, how could I apply it and make earn cash quickly from small business consulting? I’m always happy to offer advice as I am privileged enough to spend best part of my day talking to small business owners and their teams always prepared to talk about their issues.

Here are my standard answers which I hope you will find useful:

The digital world is a great place for finding customers and it makes it simple to interact with them and sell your expertise. A lot of small businesses turn to the internet to find knowledge or trusted advisors who can provide them with guidance and help them address issues.

Information marketing – repurpose and sell your expertise to small businesses everywhere via the net

What I am about to tell you doesn’t just apply to small businesses. You can repackage and sell your expertise in a multimedia format such as video, audio or documents. The tools to create high quality content are readily available on the net. Making a course in easy to consume digital formats is now simple and inexpensive. You just have to be prepared to dedicate a modest amount of time understanding the systems. material] that you can either sell or give away to get your target customer’s attention.

Commence by determining your overall goal. Consultancy and Information marketing are great bedfellows and if you do both can be very lucrative as the consultancy will provide you with the questions, the answers to which repurpose for sale through the internet and sold over and over again.

If you are starting from scratch with no customers but have expertise you know would be attractive to others then plan to create a very short video to present yourself and your expertise to your prospect(s). Unless you know the market precise problem then make the video generic and usethe following format – S.T.A.R (Situation or Task, Action, Result). Be creative and concise. Now deploy the video to your website/blog or even YouTube if you don’t have the former and send the target(s) an invitation by e-mail containing a personal message and a link to the video. Always follow this up with a phone call. If you know the specific nature of the prospect(s)problem then don’t make the video public, just put it somewhere privateon the Web or even on a disk and post it, again follow up with a call.

This method is ideally suited to situations where you are individually targeting potential client(s). You should always focus on growing a list you can interact with and make sales to. Treat the people on your list well and they will tell you their needs to which you can match and your content products. The more people on your list the more consulting and information marketing opportunities you will find. If you would like to know more about how to do this then visit any of the links in this article. I would be very glad to help you.