AdaNomad AdaNomad

Thoughts on Marketing, Positioning, and Scaling my Consulting

As a former MLE, I had always relied on my hands-on coding skills to excel in my career. However, a hand injury forced me to adapt and pivot towards consulting. In this essay, I share my journey of becoming a successful AI consultant and the lessons I've learned about marketing, positioning, and scaling my business.

How Do I Close Leads Using Situational Assessments?

When it comes to closing leads, I rely on the situational assessment framework outlined in Alan Weiss's book, "The Consulting Bible." This framework helps me structure my proposals and communicate value to potential clients.

A situational assessment includes several components:

  1. Appraisal: Understanding the client's current situation and challenges
  2. Objectives: Defining the desired outcomes of the engagement
  3. Values: Highlighting the benefits the client will receive from the engagement
  4. Metrics: Establishing how success will be measured
  5. Timing: Outlining the project timeline and milestones
  6. Accountabilities: Clarifying roles and responsibilities
  7. Credentials: Demonstrating my expertise and experience in solving similar problems
  8. Terms & Conditions: Detailing the project scope, deliverables, and payment terms

When presenting options to clients, I prefer to separate the options from the pricing. This allows me to focus the conversation on the value and outcomes of each option, rather than getting bogged down in cost discussions prematurely. Once the client has a clear understanding of the options, I then present the associated pricing for each.

Conclusion

Transitioning from a technical role to consulting after a hand injury was challenging but rewarding. Leveraging frameworks like situational assessments from "The Consulting Bible" helped me grow my business and attract larger contracts.

The key to my success has been creating valuable content that showcases my expertise and attracts potential clients. Continuously turning client insights into blog posts and videos maintains a steady stream of leads.