Consulting Archives - Glenn Stovall

What Did The Contractor Say to the Consultant?

There are three terms used for a technical service professional, often interchangeably: contractor, freelancer, and consultant. Let’s put a more specific point on it. Contracting… is the closest to employment. As a contractor, you are effectively an employee that doesn’t get benefits or pay payroll taxes. Engagements are often months in length, and 40 hours/week. […]

Who Do You Serve? Defining Positioning

The first problem any service business needs to solve is deciding who they are going to serve. Being a generalist makes marketing harder. If you’re talking to everyone, you’re talking to no one. Other consultants Philip Morgan and Jonathan Stark advocate for what they call the fool-proof positioning statement: I help $TargetCustomer solve $expensiveProblem. Unlike […]

6 Places You Can Look For RFPs

Are requests for proposals a trap? It’s debatable. Some agencies and consulting make a lot of cash from some large clients. Others spend hours writing proposals and don’t make any progress. If you want to try your hand at winning RFPs, here are some sites you can check out: CommBuys Mirren Ariba Find RFP RFB […]

How To Use Pipedrive to Close More Sales

Many sales conversations go nowhere. It’s frustrating and like it’s a waste of time. How often do you start a conversation with a potential client, only to have them ghost you after two emails? Having a process to follow up and start new discussions helps alleviate this problem. I use Pipedrive to keep track of this, […]

Process Documentation: The First Step to Eliminating Tedious Work

Looking for ways to spend less time doing parts of your job that you hate? You have three options: Eliminate. Delegate. Automate. I’m a minimalist. I like to take a Marie Kondo approach in business and life. Tasks get on out plate more quickly than they get off, and we don’t always stop to reflect […]

How to Constructively Handle Clients Who Want Quotes Yesterday

Asking “how much will a website cost?” is like asking “how long is a rope?” or “how much is a house?”. But the client might not know that. They’ll want a quote in the first 5 minutes of talking to you. How do you respond to these requests? Definitely not with a price. Setting a […]

How do You Create a Portfolio Before You Have Clients?

Clients buy based not on what you can potentially do, but what you have already done. A portfolio showcases previous accomplishments, but if you’ve been doing work for a company, you may have an NDA or non-compete clause in your contract preventing you from showing off your work. Having a portfolio reduces the risk of hiring […]

Overcome the Fear of Transitioning to Full Time Freelance

Have you considered quitting your job and becoming a freelancer? Has your startup shut down and now you are forced to consider becoming a freelancer to pay rent? Going out on your own is a scary proposition, but the rewards are worth it:

How to Raise Your Rates with Existing Clients

Every Freelancer I Know(Myself Included) Made The Same Mistake Starting Out: Charging Too Little Maybe it’s because they didn’t have experience. Maybe it’s because they thought the formula was rate = salary rate / 2000. They didn’t consider all the overhead and liability of being an independent business owner. The Good Ones Wise up. They […]

Increase Retainer Profitability Using Assets

One way of selling retainers to clients is what I call the “cell phone plan retainer”: A client pays you $X,XXX dollars a month, and you work for up to XX hours that month. In effect, you are pre-selling a bank of hours. This approach comes with tradeoffs: You get recurring revenue, and your client […]

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