Have you ever struggled trying to get started in consulting? How do you get that first gig, or if you’re already started, how do you scale up? In this segment, Jason and I talk about the fundamentals of building trust with your client, how to price your consulting project as a smart ROI (Return on Investment) and the #1 lever that all coaches and consultants have to accelerate trust, and consequently business with your clients.
A full transcript of the video follows:
Video Transcript
Jason Bell: So let’s take a deep dive.
This is an outstanding foundation and
talking about the competencies you need
now you grow and I think we’ve done good
there. You know to kind of have a better
understanding of like a day in the life
of a consultant or day and not
even the life not a day like the project
of a consultant right so maybe, I don’t
know if you have a project that we could
maybe deep dive into and kind of talk
about maybe cradle to grave of how and what
your approach was . . . I don’t know if you
can think of a client but and obviously
you know, non-disclosure, share what you can
today enough to at least give us some
scope and perspective to understand
how it got started, that kind of stuff,
anything coming to mind?
Rocco Luongo: Oh yeah, so I’ve got
my processes for everything, and that’s
just the engineering background again
plus it builds an asset into my company
so that even though it is just Rocco my
company has a certain market value
that’s saleable. I wouldn’t be able to
just sell it in and leave I’d have to
sell it and then you know do like
probably a two year transition to make
sure it would be taken over but I could
sell my company for money because of the
assets and processes that I’ve built. So
what I’m what I’m getting at here is
there is a process. So when I asked you
earlier what’s the most important thing
to know about being a consultant and
I’ll tell you that, it’s because it’s a
relationship game, right, being a
consultant or a coach is about a
relationship and relationships are built
with people not with organizations.
My client is not Gravis law my client is
Brett Spooner, CEO and managing partner.
You build a relationship with people and
the best way to build a relationship
with someone is to provide value early
because that builds trust. Relationships
are built upon trust and the lever that
a consultant and a coach has to build a
relationship and trust
is to provide value early. Alan Weiss.
JB: Can we talk about some of the work you did
with I’m sorry what was his name?
RL: Brett Spooner.
JB Brett Spooner. Can we
dig into that a little bit?
RL For sure.
JB So, when you first started providing
consulting services to Brett how did
it get started? Did he approach you,
did you cold call him? I mean
how did you two initially get connected
and where did the project begin?
RL I met him through an organization
that is a co-working space called Fuse, a
co-working and business accelerator
right when it was a fledgling operation.
He had just started his law practice [and] he
left software, started his law practice
and [in] one little room off the side of this
accelerator and I knew him I just met
him said hello and I didn’t even make
him a proposal for months after that.
Now I’m not saying it has to take that long.
Some other people I’ve met and had
proposals in their hands and you know
only a couple of months or in days,
but the way I do it and because I’m in
it . . . it’s not good to rush a relationship.
And I use the analogy if you if you go
on a date with someone,
have a cup of coffee are you
immediately going to ask her or him to
marry you on that day.
And I’ve got one
client who actually said, “Actually, I did
that with my wife!”
And it’s okay, that’s okay, that’s fine if you
did but you’re a rare one for doing that,
and so I like to play the long game and that’s
how I am as well I like to build the gravity.
I have a lot of gravity around me, I’ve got
social media, web presence, people know
me, people talk about me, so I’m known
and so I have something of a reputation
already and I built my relationship by
providing value constantly . . . . constantly
providing value and this is one of the major
differences
between a successful and unsuccessful
consultant or coach is that we give away
our best stuff for free. It’s the easiest
thing to do provide value early
and don’t risk deselection by not
providing value.
If you sit there aloof like I’m the expert
I’m just taking it but I offer nothing . . .
click you’re done!
You need to take in those data points,
get it on a line and then give them
something targeted and focused.
Don’t try to give them everything One talk,
one topic.
I keep it focused. Part of what they’re
hiring me for is focus. They’re trying to cut
through all the miles of BS and get down to
what matters and if I give them 17
different things to work on in thirty
minutes, I am just as bad if not worse
than them. I am I am way worse because
they’re hiring me for focus so it’s
important to build that relationship.
I like to play it long and consequently
I don’t have just 90-day
Engagements. I have overlapping
multi-year engagements and I have lots
of recurring customers and I have people
who come back to me who referred to me
and it’s you build a level of gravity.
JB: So tell me more about the work with Brett.
so what was the what was the initial
problem that Brett had presented to you
that he needed assistance with?
RL: Initially it was a three-month coaching package
straight up we just talked about it he
said yeah I want to know more let’s give
it a try, so we signed
up for a three-month coaching package
and it went it went extremely well
and we extended that out for a coaching
and consulting package that’s wrapped up
through 2019 and he requested an
exclusivity clause so I wouldn’t work
with any other law firms because he
doesn’t want anyone else using what I
know and frankly he also knows it as I
work with him on learning tactics and
techniques about how to build a great
law practice. Right he’s he went from
that one room thing to I don’t know by
now something like different
employees and we’ve got some lofty
targets I’m integrated into their team I’m not
just coaching him now I’m coaching all
the partners. I led an off-site
facilitation afterwards it was such a
resounding success I asked him what was
the value of this day and he said if I
had to put a number to it $100,000.
JB: For a day!
RL: For a day. So now here’s the
next question, now that you know the
value, how do you set a smart price?
You have to be able to take the value of what you’re
Doing, what’s the value of your clients
improved condition, both in tangible,
intangibles and the amortization of that
growth and create a reasonable ROI for
that dramatic increase in the quality,
the position that your client is in.
It’s not a hundred, or two hundred, or
one thousand dollars an hour times this many
hours of work, it’s I’m going to move you
from here to here, your company makes ten
million a year, you’re going to go to fifteen
million a year that’s a five million
dollar value proposition in a year.
What’s the equitable compensation for my
contribution to that growth?
How do I set my price as an ROI, and that takes
experience and it takes tools and it
takes confidence.
JB: Six figures sounds like a good starting point.
RL: If it’s a five million annual gross, depending on how
depending on how specific you are in that field it could easily be
seven but yeah that would definitely be
in the six figures.