Looking to start an online consulting business?
Wondering what to do first?

Here’s the thing.

Starting any business is challenging, but creating a business where your sole goal is to help others run theirs can often prove to be even more challenging – unless you have a strong business plan. 

But don’t give up – all it takes is some awareness about those things that move the needle and leave a larger impact. You should certainly consider consulting online. It’s always a great choice because you can see more clients in less time and therefore make more money. More and more people are opting to do this due to safety and convenience.

 

Finding your niche

The first step to take when starting a consulting business is to pick the area you’re going to operate in. To do so, you must have both knowledge and experience in a specific area. So assess your strengths and figure out where they overlap with your experience and find the sweet spot where you are the most useful. Be aware that, depending on the field in which you want to work, you’ll likely need to have some special certifications or licenses before you’re able to officially call yourself a consultant.

Assessing the needs of your target audience

Having a strong skill set and a large amount of knowledge in a particular area isn’t enough for you to start a consulting business. You need to be aware of the problems present in your field. Understand what your target audience is struggling with. Their struggles and your solutions to those struggles are ultimately your biggest selling point. So, you should take the time to think about the most prominent problems, doubts, questions, and possible niches and sub-sectors within your area of expertise.

Finding the best marketing strategy

In order to build a consultancy from scratch, you need to take marketing strategies seriously. Experts on starting a new business from ZenBusiness outline how to form your own consulting business, they explain that 37% of consultants get the majority of their clients through referrals. This means that they do not have control of the numbers in their business. A consultant should have more that one source of clients, ideally referrals first, then add social and in the second year of business add blogging to establish yourself as an expert in your field.  You can start building an online presence that supports referrals on LinkedIn,  and spread the word about what you do by joining a professional association in your industry or even volunteering.

When it comes to further marketing strategies, there are plenty of different directions that you can take. Still, it all comes down to the same purpose – attracting an audience and providing them with enough information to prove that you are credible and should be hired. If you want to be taken seriously and treated like a professional you will need a good looking website. Ideally, you should also be creating highly valuable content in the form of blogs and online videos that showcases your expertise.

Online vs. Face to Face

Online consulting businesses have an advantage over face to face consulting. Being less immersed often means taking an objective approach to every problem and creating structures and projects that resolve those problems quickly and efficiently.

That being said though, considering the fact that you are going to set-up your business online, it is vital that you work on different ways in which you can ensure that communication between you and your clients is as good and dynamic at all times.

Client proposals

When working with corporate businesses that have multi-level structures, winning a new client and finally closing the sale isn’t going to happen without writing a client proposal. You should therefore be well versed in presenting your idea and backing it up with credible arguments and propositions for solving the problems in question.

With client proposals, it’s necessary that you are clear about what the project entails, why you’re the best consultant for the job, and within what timeframe you expect to complete the project. Don’t beat around the bush, be upfront and clear about all the details. Prepare to answer objections and make sure you’re proposing a great fit for the client. The offer should sell itself.

Once you start getting your first clients and your business starts generating income and becoming established, don’t forget to keep doing your research.
A good consultant never stops developing and learning.
A great consultant yearns to know more and brings passion to their profession.

Are you setting-up your online consultancy right now?
Check out this one-time offer to help you set-up your tools and processes.