Consulting: Which way to turn

I'm sure most contractors (and for that matter, publishers like me) would not mind earning $250 an hour or more as a consultant. It's pretty good money for sharing your knowledge, insights, and experience.

The question of course, is it worth spending that kind of cash especially when things are tight and your business is faltering?
The answer, of course, is "it depends".

If you are fortunate enough to find an honorable consultant who minimizes his time waste and knows how to help you solve your problem, the hourly fee is not only reasonable, it could be your wisest bargain.

But you can also get caught in the trap of paying large dollars for self-serving advice, or boilerplate business management stuff you can pick up just as well by reading a few books or attending a local community college course. Finally, if you are lured by a big name expert, you may be shunted to a "coach" who has been trained in that guru's systems, but lacks the brains or independence to actually understand your business.

Consulting, after all, comes in many models. There is nothing wrong with a consultant having an agenda -- as long as you know it correlates with your best interests.

For example, Michael Stone in his latest newsletter outlines what he thinks are the essentials in choosing a consultant especially if you are a smaller scale or residential contractor. His advice is unabashedly self-serving, but there is nothing wrong with that -- he is marketing his own services, and they are undoubtedly worthwhile. I recommend him. I'm confident, that when you write the cheques for his $1,000 for four hours service, you will receive far more than that in value -- and you may solve your crucial problems, quickly.

Can you obtain the advice you need for less money?

Sometimes free consulting is part of a package to serve the interests of marketing a particular product or service.

Here, I make full disclosure. We sell advertising, and promote editorialized advertising features in regional and national (see The Design and Construction Report) publications.

I started this blog two and a half years ago when I realized our business was falling into the trap of some scuzzy publishers who, using relationship and supply chain methodologies, were roping subtrades and suppliers into advertising costs for editorial features, but giving them nothing in return. It didn't feel right to me, so I sought to share everything I knew about marketing with our advertising clients.

Since we charge between $285 and $485 for a small ad, the blog seemed a good, fast, and inexpensive way to deliver this client service. (Of course, all clients can call on me for personal advice and guidance; thankfully relatively few take up the offer, or I wouldn't have time for anything else, but the service is always there for them.)

Meanwhile, I researched success stories, best marketing practices, and achieved certification through the Society of Marketing Professional Services (SMPS), while contributing on the editorial board to the associations' national magazine, The SMPS Marketer. In other words, I've achieved the level of expertise to be a valid consultant for the construction industry, at least as far as marketing is concerned.

While we don't charge $250 an hour -- and often our services are provided to you without any cost at all -- we still make money in the process, and that is fine, because when the dust settles, you (and your suppliers) will achieve more value than you invest.

I know of a few other businesses which provide this type of service. Consider Jon Goldman, for example, whose business markets promotional items and campaigns. You can elect to purchase his services or not, but he offers really useful ideas and insights in his marketing materials.

I'll conclude this posting with a thought: Could you be an expert consultant in your area of knowledge and experience? I hope so; after all, you should be really good at what you do to be n business, especially in the current economy.

Can you leverage this knowledge and insight into your marketing strategies, perhaps by contributing and speaking to relevant community and business groups or associations, and writing articles, starting a blog and expressing your thoughts?

Will sharing your expertise this way help you in your marketing? Absolutely.

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Buying, marketing and selling -- an explanation of why the best contractors are often the least successful at marketing

Readers here may recall this rather fascinating piece of literature I received in the in-box a few weeks ago.

You are an idiot. Remove me from your sophmoric (spelling as sent by Arthur House/ed) trash!

You should attend my seminars - and maybe you should have attended my construction marketing classes at FIU (Florida International University/ed)

But you probably are not MBA material. What a bunch of crap you spew!

Respectfully;

Arthur T. House
207-338-5285

www.arthurhouse.com

What provoked this rather amazing observation?

I had tried to turn my e-letter and blog into a selling tool for a truly ill-conceived Construction Marketing Course, something you would actually pay me to receive. House, with some legitimate teaching credentials, thought this laughable, and wrote his response. (Incidentally, no one took me up on the original offer -- perhaps two people tried the email address in my marketing piece, on a list of about 10,000 names, but they certainly didn't say 'yes' to my proposal.)

Yesterday, Susan Simion provided a clue to what provoked House's negative outburst and the lack of positive response when I actually tried to sell something here.

What makes people almost buy? What makes them get most of the way there, then drop out of your shopping cart at the last second? What makes them stare at your landing page, wanting what you have to offer, and yet, ultimately, close the page and move on to something else?

It turns out there’s a hideous troll hiding under the bridge. Every time you get close to making a sale, the troll springs out and scares your prospect away. Get rid of the troll and your copy will start converting better than it ever has before.

The ugly, smelly, dirty, bad-mannered troll is prospect fear. And it’s sitting there right now, stinking up your landing page and scaring good customers away.

She goes on to describe a variety of marketing tools and techniques designed to entice you to part with your money, only to find the entire experience disappointing. It seems the online (and real) world is full of scams.

One of the classics around is the variants of the "Google ATM" offer, in which people sign up for a "Work at Home" opportunity to make big money passively by running Google Adsense on their websites. (Like all good scams there is a grain of truth underlying the rip-off. Google Adsense provides great passive income for really well established and successful websites, but you certainly aren't going to get rich quick with a new home-made endeavour, and Google doesn't charge a cent -- certainly not $70 or so a month -- to set you you up in the business.)

Once burned, twice shy; twice or more burned, you are totally turned off by most marketing and sales conventions. You don't want to do that sort of stuff, do you?

So you don't. You build your reputation for quality, to the point that clients call you, refer friends, and you feel great about your work. Periodically, telemarketers break through your resistance, offering seemingly irresistible leads services or advertising opportunities. You "bite" only, always, to end up disappointed. You vow, to yourself, that you will never stoop that low; you will never waste money on marketing and sales, and you will continue to rely on word-of-mouth.

Then your business dries up. You are desperate. And perhaps you listen a little more closely to those marketing guys who call you (and who you listen to, because no one else, certainly not clients) are phoning you these days. Maybe, just maybe, it will be different this time. But it isn't. And you are worse off than before.

Maybe you think you are an "idiot".

You aren't. But you will have to get around some fundamental resistance whenever you go out to seek business, rather than passively wait for it to come to you. Susan Simion certainly has part of the answer in her blog posting, and this resistance explains why, whenever I try to "sell" using this blog, I end up disappointed. Similarly, you can see the consequences whenever you go out against competition in the marketplace, trying to entice people to respond quickly to your advertising or marketing messages. Fear, and bad experiences, build resistance and make it harder, much harder, to break through.

There are answers, however and here are some worthy of consideration.

You can use word-of-mouth in making your marketing choices, much like you like word of mouth referrals for your own business.

This is where forums such as contractortalk.com and your local industry associations are really helpful. Members share their best experiences, and biggest problems, and (with this information) your risk of disaster is much lower than if you go out cold.

You can certainly work with your current clients,and learn from them, about what they read, like, and care about. This gives you ammunition in deciding your best course of action.

You can set up a plan, budget, and disciplined approach to marketing expenses. And within this budget, you can try different approaches, gradually gathering a group of tried-and-true methods that are effective in most conditions. Then when someone calls you with a brilliant construction marketing idea, you can elect whether or not to reallocate some of your budget or (more likely) decline the unsolicited offer, unless you only need to pay in arrears, if the great idea is truly successful.

These ideas work, I'm sure. But what about this blog? I can't get you to buy anything from me here, right? No, but I've told my wife that in 10 years I will be a highly paid Construction Marketing Ideas consultant. (If you click on the Construction Marketing Ideas consultant link, your email browser will open, and you will be free to write your own "idiot" email -- or ask for my insights into your biggest current marketing challenge, free.)

Years of accumulated experience, insights, and knowledge, coupled with practical understanding of what works and what doesn't, will achieve the results no get-rich-quick scheme can achieve.

She remarks: "But you are giving everything away for free."

Yes, with good reason.

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