Are you crystal clear about your exact *ideal* client? (If not, try the “Nail Your Niche” tool.) Do you talk to your referral partners? Do you know who they are? (Mimiran helps you track and have the conversations.) Do you … Read More
referrals
The real challenge with follow up
The real challenge with follow up for solo consultants isn’t lack of leads or time (although those can be issues, too). After all, if you had exactly one person to follow up with this week, you could easily make that … Read More
Using a CRM for effective networking
Traditionally, CRMs are for a VP of sales tracking the sales team’s efforts to push deals through a pipeline by the end of the quarter. They don’t have much to say about networking and referrals. But if you get most … Read More
Pivots vs Tweaks
Solo consultants often suffer from feast-or-famine cycles, and even if you manage to smooth things out, there’s always some up and down that makes you consider adjusting. But when you’re really busy, it’s hard to make the tweaks to incorporate … Read More
What do you do?
“What do you do?”, is one of the most common questions people ask Americans, especially entrepreneurs. What do you say when someone asks? I attend a lot of networking events where seasoned entrepreneurs act like they have never heard this … Read More
Turn “Zoom Networking” into a Useful Referral Network
If you’ve ever been in a Zoom networking meeting where attendees post contact info in the chat, and the host reminds everyone to save the chat, and you actually remember to do that, but the then file disappears somewhere in … Read More
Zoom Networking, the Fortune is in the Follow-up
Zoom networking followup (or lack thereof) is the most essential task if you want to make Zoom networking effective. You could spend your whole week in Zoom networking meetings and never move your business forward if you don’t have good … Read More
Why “Sales” Sucks for Solo Consultants, and Trying to Fix It Just Makes It Worse
We’ve all experienced the attack of the aggressive salesman, chasing us across the car lot, shoving a business card at us while we’re just trying to grab a drink, calling and emailing incessantly, trying to wear down our resistance until … Read More
How not to ask for referrals
When your business depends on referrals, you should have a strategy and a process for generating those referrals. (Unfortunately, I’m an expert at screwing this up, having spent years (decades?) not doing anything intentional to generate the referrals that built … Read More