When you’re running a small (or solo) consulting firm, it’s tempting to think that you don’t need to invest in technology or client communications in the same way as say your much larger competitors.
Resist.
Because every industry is ripe for disruption and ours is no exception.Take homeowners insurance as an example. I recently shopped online for a policy and was truly shocked at the wide array of prices for the same set of coverage conditions.I finally landed on lemonade.com and was immediately smitten with their business model, easy communications and tech-savvy.Of course I signed up immediately, but when I mentioned this to the mortgage broker, he steered me to a local resource since “they will be much easier to deal with”.Wanting to be open, I got a quote from the local agent at roughly 2X the price. The only thing easy about getting that quote was that my mortgage guy did all the work.Naturally, I stuck with my choice and was rewarded when I received
this “super transparency chronicle” from Lemonade.If you’ve ever struggled with how to deliver complex information to your client base, do read the piece in its entirety.It’s chock-full of personality and their hit-‘em-between-the-eyes delivery of the bad news makes me trust the good news. It’s like a master class of how to share potentially deadly dull information while staying true to your brand voice.And if you’ve ever searched for homeowners insurance—hey any kind of insurance—wondering why such an archaic process still exists, try bringing that same sense of wonder to your firm and how you market and sell.Imagine you are a potential client or buyer shopping for the type of services you provide. Become your sweet-spot client for a moment as you look at how you engage visitors to your site.Related:
How to Sidestep Brand Envy And Own Who You Are Now try experiencing your site from the outside in.
Where does your client typically land? On your home page from a google search or a blog post or article you’ve distributed in social media?Once they’ve landed, where does your navigation send them—to clearly marked signposts (About, Work With Me, etc.) or dead-end links?Does your “voice” on each page sound uniquely yours or could almost any other firm in your space have written it?How hard do site visitors have to work to get to you? Have you automated the routine kinds of requests that come via your website (even if your brand is exceedingly high-touch, you can still make use of tools to simplify their experience)?Are your low-end offerings—especially any productized services—clearly identified and enrollment or purchase streamlined?Are your communication touch points all on-brand and working? If you operate any email sequences, are they functioning? Are your sign-ups opening and clicking through your early messages or dropping out like flies?This process is a must at least annually, but that still isn’t enough.
You have to keep evaluating the core elements of your consulting services and look for ways to do them like no one else.Those giant admin-heavy insurance companies can’t act outside the box—they are mired in existing systems and people and ways of thinking.
But you are not.
Chances are one of the reasons you started your business is so you could be nimble as well as independent.So keep using your beginners mind to see not what is, but what could be.How can you
deliver your critical core competencies to your ideal clientsin ways that delight them, engage them and make them want to share their experiences with everyone they know?
