Mid-Atlantic Consultants Network

submitted by: Peter R. Lantos, Ph.D., P.E.

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At one point in my consulting career, I decided to examine an important question: was there any one marketing approach which was singularly effective for me? I decided to recall how we managed to secure our ten largest assignments with the hope of gaining insights into optimizing our marketing.

The self examination turned out to be an eye opener, and perhaps so might a detailed recounting of our findings. If nothing else, it may help persuade you to embark on a marketing program which is broad-based. The following is a summary of how our 10 largest client assignments came into being.

1. Former client’s recommendation

One day (clearly a most fortunate one) I received a phone call out of the blue, with a corporate president inquiring whether we had expertise in assessing a company’s marketing/sales capabilities. The prospect, head of a Fortune 500 company, volunteered that they did not quite know how to go about finding the right consultant and they had asked a business friend for a recommendation. That friend happened to be a client of ours (obviously a satisfied one) some 8 years earlier and had given them our name together with a very warm recommendation. From that beginning, an unsolicited referral, came our largest ever client assignment which involved a project of global scope.

2. Presentation at conference

On another occasion I was a somewhat reluctant presenter of a paper at an industry conference. I was reluctant because the presentation entailed a fair amount of preparation and I had agreed to do it mainly to help the conference chairman who had done me favors in the past. At the conclusion of the conference, a member of the audience approached me; he was a division general manager of a large firm who expressed surprise at my in-depth knowledge of the subject at hand and who wanted to discuss with me some similar issues. The result: two concurrent assignments of significant proportion.

3. New contact at a conference

Presence at an industry conference helped also in another way. During a coffee break, as part of my habit of networking on such occasions, I was talking with an old business acquaintance (a former client who had changed jobs) and who proved to be both astute and thoughtful. He pointed out that he was not in a position at that point in time to retain a consultant, but introduced me to an associate of his in a parallel division who might be looking for one. That contact eventually resulted in a series of assignments from that second manager.

4. Repeat business

Relatively early in my consulting career, in the course of beating the bushes for new prospects, I knew that I will have some business in a city 2 hours from my office, and realized that I would also have some free time during that day. It seemed like it might be a good opportunity to make some sales calls. I therefore made a telephone call for the purpose of maintaining contact with a former client in that city, suggesting a lunch meeting. He, however, informed me that he would be out of town that day and would have to forego the lunch. Just before hanging up, however, he suddenly remembered that he did have some burning issues and, in the course of the phone conversation, had realized that it was something I might help him with. He therefore suggested that I visit at his office on another day. The result: a six-month assignment.

5. Bread cast upon the waters

There was another unexpected telephone call from a company which had never been a client, inquiring whether we might be of help to them. Discussing the matter with them revealed two facts: one, that we could indeed help them and, two, that they had obtained our name (and a recommendation to go along with it) from another former client of ours whom we shall call Mark. The latter, it seems, had engaged us a year earlier for an assignment which we were not especially keen to perform, furthermore, we had done the job at a bargain-basement price to help a friend with a limited budget. Mark was so pleased with our work that he recommended us, and only us, for the assignment. It was a broad-scope, meaningful one. I call it payback on bread cast upon the waters. Or maybe just good karma.

6. Publication in a trade journal

During a period of low-level activity, I chose to write an article for one of the major trade publications, and was happy when they accepted and published it. I was even happier when the president of a medium-size company, having read that article and having concluded that we might be the ones to be of help to him, informed me of his need for some planning assistance. It resulted in a 5-month assignment with a client who would have been difficult to find by other means: I have found it difficult to locate and then persuade managers at the smaller companies of our ability to help them, and here was one who came to us of his own initiative!

7. Prospecting letters

During another period of low-level activity, I tried a new approach: I wrote to fifteen company presidents offering a generic assessment and updating of their marketing strategy, indicating that we had a new approach for conducting such an evaluation. In response, I immediately heard back from one of the presidents who had been a client some years earlier: no, he did not need help with that particular kind of study, but might have for us another, related project. He had completely forgotten about us and the scope of our activities, and was happy to get my letter which acted as a reminder. We of course were happy to undertake his assignment.

8. Unexpected phone call

Perhaps the most straightforward situation arose when the president of a company called me for some help. We had executed a series of major assignments for him several years earlier when he had been the president of another major corporation. I lost track of him after he had moved to a much smaller company, but he remembered our work of 10 years earlier and now called on us to help him in his new position. A pleasant and unexpected contact!

9. Directory listings

Being listed in directories has paid off on several occasions. Listing in the directory of a trade association brought us to the attention of a major corporation for a growth and diversification assignment. Another listing in a directory of specialized consultants has resulted in several assignments of narrower scope. Being listed in a directory of expert witnesses has resulted in about one expert witness case per year: these cases are not only stimulating and demanding, but lucrative as well. And one of our bigger assignments came about from a listing (in a major directory of consultants) of which I was not even aware.

10. Ex-employer’s referral

Even a satisfied ex-employer of mine was a source of work for us. That company was contacted by a lawyer, defending a client who had used that company’s product, supposedly a defective one. The lawyer thought that one of their technical people might serve as a good expert witness. On further reflection, however, they decided that this might have the appearance of being self serving, and the company recommended me, their former employee, to serve as the much needed expert. I was happy to oblige.

Conclusion

My analysis suggests that no single marketing approach is the best one for us. One common factor: somewhere in the marketing chain somebody knew me or of me. Another important underlying factor was the importance of keeping our name in front of prospective customers. On a number of occasions, as seen here, prospects either had not connected our expertise with their particular situation, or had not remembered us specifically, or had not even considered engaging a consultant. Reminding the prospect by means of a publication, by presenting a talk, or by phone call or letter, has proven productive on a sufficient number of occasions to make us decide that no single marketing approach is sufficient., We have to make a concerted, ongoing effort to have prospects remember us and our capabilities.

All in all, a pretty basic approach, but a powerful one. It works.

Excerpted from the book CAREERS IN CONSULTING, by Peter R. Lantos, Ph.D., P.E. (ISBN 0-938609-74-2).