CRACKING THE BILLABLE HOURS CEILINGWritten by C.J. Hayden, MCC
How many of you made as much money as you wanted to last year? Don't be shy; raise your hands. Hmm, I don't see too many hands out there. What would you say is cause of this gap between your goals and your earnings? While you could certainly name economy or inadequate marketing as culprit, I'd like to suggest a third alternative. It may be constraints of billable hours model that keep you from your financial goals. Let's face it, there are only so many hours you can actually bill to clients. For example, national average for consultants is 22 billable hours per week. You can only raise your rates so high and still find enough customers. And if you spend more time on marketing, that's less time you have available to bill. But there's a way out of this trap. No matter what type of business you're in, you can use intellectual property to crack billable hours ceiling. Here are just some of ways to start tapping into this resource today: 1. Package your process. What if every time you began work with a new client, they paid an up-front fee before you spent even one hour with them? If you sell a process rather than your time, clients will pay for access to your previously developed materials. Examples are workbooks, forms, assessments, surveys, games, self-paced programs, and train-the-trainer packages. 2. Give a class. When you assemble a group of people to learn together, you can earn more per hour than working with them separately. Classes can be given at your office, at a rented (or borrowed) facility, on phone, or on web. Your market for classes is not just your clients -- think about what you could teach your colleagues as well. 3. Record a tape, CD, or video. The simplest way to make recordings is to capture your live classes or speaking engagements on audio or video. Make your unedited recordings available immediately on web or by phone. More polished recordings can be made with help of a local studio or editor, or you can learn to do this yourself with right
| | UNDERSTANDING THE CORPORATE BUYER Written by C.J. Hayden, MCC
Selling your services to corporations is an attractive proposition. The contracts are larger than with small businesses and individuals, and often longer-term. There's possibility of repeat business worth many billable hours at respectable rates. But best clients are not always easiest to get. If you don't grasp realities of corporate environment, you may sabotage even a hot lead. Here are five important keys to working with corporate buyer. 1. Managers are busy. This is just as true in economic downturns as during a boom. When business is slow, unnecessary employees get laid off. The people left behind have to pick up slack. Busy people ignore unsolicited email and letters, and will not return your phone calls. Even when you are in final stages of closing a deal, your contact may not return your calls for weeks. If you accept this as normal behavior instead of obsessing about how you may have caused it, you will sleep better at night and use your daylight hours more productively. 2. Hot buttons open doors. If you want to capture interest of a busy person, you need to tell them exactly how you can help them. Calling just to introduce yourself will not get their attention. What do people in your target market perceive to be greatest problems they face, or biggest goals they wish to achieve? Ask these questions of people you serve and other businesspeople who serve them. Read trade literature or special interest publications and educate yourself on key issues in your marketplace. Then tell your prospects in every communication how you can help address these needs. 3. Every choice must be justified. When you sell to owner of a small business or to an individual for his or her own use, your buyer is free to make purchasing decisions based on instinct, whim, or gut feeling. But every corporate sale must be justified to someone else in organization.
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