How to get clients as a consultant

"They are probably already in your phone book." Maja Voje, answering this question after 15 years of working for herself

Write one sentence people can repeat

People can't send you work if they can't say what you do. "I'm a business consultant" gives them nothing to work with. Erik Dietrich, a programmer turned consultant, puts it well: a vague note leaves your friends with homework, because now they have to work out who might need you.

So fill in this line: I help [who] do [what].

Now test it. Say it to three friends and ask, "Who does that make you think of?" If they say a name, it works. If they say "Oh, nice," make it narrower.

It feels risky to leave so many people out. It isn't as risky as it feels. You can still take other work when it comes along, and you can change the sentence next year. It's the same for anyone who sells their own know-how. Someone chasing fitness coach clients, career coach clients or health coach clients gets nowhere with "I help people" either.

Write to 25 people this week

List 20 to 30 people who know you. Think of old bosses, old coworkers, past clients, suppliers and people from your trade group. Include people who could never hire you. Your old coworker's sister may run exactly the kind of company you want.

Send five notes a day. Write each one yourself, and keep it short:

Hi Dana, I've gone out on my own. I now help family-owned manufacturers raise prices when their costs jump. Who's the first person you'd think of with that problem? If nobody comes to mind, that's fine. I'd still love to hear what you're up to.

Ask "who's the first person" instead of "do you know anyone?" The second question is easy to answer with no.

Three things make this work better:

• Make a note they can forward. Add two lines at the bottom that they can paste to a friend. Now they don't have to write anything.
• Start with your old employer. They already know you're good, and they know the mess you could fix. Read your old contract first, since some of them limit who you can work for.
• Follow up, but not forever. Greg Kogan, a marketing consultant, follows up three times at most. After that, he figures the problem isn't urgent for them.

Keep a simple sheet with four columns: name, date you wrote, what they said, next step. That's your whole sales system for now, and it's enough.

Make the first job small

A stranger won't easily hand a new consultant a $40,000 project. A small job with a clear end is a much easier yes. So offer one.

A good first job has a fixed price, a short timeline and one thing they get at the end. For example: "In two weeks, I'll go through your last 12 months of quotes and show you the three prices to change first. The fee is $2,500." Change the work and the fee to fit your field.

Find out what they want before you offer anything. Ask three questions when you talk:

1. What made you start looking for help now?
2. What have you already tried?
3. What happens if this stays the way it is?

Then offer the thing they just described, in their own words. Don't push the method you spent six weeks naming.

Before you start, ask if you can write up the result if it goes well. Three short lines will do: the problem, what you did, what changed. That little story is what wins you the next client.

When the people you know run out

This will happen, so plan for it. Catalina Parker, who now teaches nonprofit consultants, says the people she knew gave her a good first year. Then she ran out of people to ask, and she had no steady way to find anyone new.

Pick the one method below that fits you best:

Give it eight weeks before you judge it. Ask every new person who contacts you, "How did you hear about me?" and add that to your sheet.

Write directly to companies

Consultants disagree about this one, and both sides have a point. Kogan won't send cold emails, but he gets plenty of work through introductions. Jorge Colon, a software architect who started without much of a network, says on the advice site Clarity that writing directly to people was the only thing that helped him.

So if you have no introductions coming in, do it. Just do it by hand and for a real reason.

List 50 companies that fit your sentence, and write to 10 a week. On LinkedIn, check who you both know first. If there's someone, ask them to introduce you. If there isn't, look for a reason to write now: a new location, a new hire or a job ad.

Hi Sam, I saw you're opening a second shop in Denver. I help family-owned retailers fix their stock counts before a second location makes them worse. Is that on your list right now? If it isn't, no need to reply.

Under 50 words is plenty. Email like this has rules, even when you're writing to another business. In the US, the government agency in charge, the FTC, says a selling email must show who you really are, include a postal address, make clear it's an ad and tell people how to stop getting your emails. Add those under your note before you send it. Other countries can be stricter, so check yours.

Use job ads and marketplaces

A job ad tells you three things: the company has a problem, it knows it has one and it probably has money set aside. Michael Von Irvin, a business consultant, says on the same site that he's done this dozens of times. He answers the ad and shows them in the interview how he could help. Then he says he'd rather do it as a consultant. Try it with ads that have sat open for a while.

Marketplaces like Upwork and MBO Partners are websites where companies go to hire people like you. Use them to pay this month's bills and collect your first results. Keep working on clients of your own too.

Answer questions where your buyers hang out

Greg Kogan quit his job and spent three months going to meetups every week. Everyone in the room had come to sell, so hardly anyone was buying. A friend from those meetups did send him one project, but two more months of meetups brought nothing. Then a single helpful comment on Hacker News, a site his buyers read, led to an email, a project and a long-term client.

So skip the rooms full of other consultants and find the trade group, forum or LinkedIn group where your buyers ask each other for help. Answer properly and don't pitch. Read the group's rules first.

Swap introductions with other experts

An accountant, a lawyer or a web designer may serve the same clients as you. They get asked for things they don't do. Be the person they send those requests to.

Be choosy. Kogan found that swapping referrals with other consultants and agencies rarely brought him good clients. Parker asked herself who was already talking to the clients she wanted. That led her to technology companies that served nonprofits, and they sent clients her way. Look for someone like that, and send them a good client first.

Publish what you know

This one is slow and hard to predict, but it keeps paying. Kogan started writing about ten months after he quit. A few months later, two of his articles drew huge crowds, and he was booked for the next six months. He says part of that was luck. Don't count on it if rent is due next week.

Writing also brings introductions from strangers. In a survey by Hinge, a marketing company that studies firms selling expert advice, about 8 in 10 firms got referrals from people who had never worked with them. Those people knew the firm by its reputation and know-how, often through talks and articles. Pick one format you won't hate, and write about one problem your buyers have.

Keep looking when you're busy

This is where a lot of consultants get stuck. Consulting has two seasons. In one, you're too busy to look for clients. In the other, you have all day to look, and you spend it checking that your email still works.

The way out is to do a little every week, including the weeks you're full. Block two hours on the same day each week. Spend it sending notes, following up and answering one question in your group. It feels pointless when you're busy, and six months later it's the reason you aren't panicking.

Fix what people see when they look you up

Say a friend gives someone your name. That person doesn't call you. They look you up first.

In Hinge's survey, more than half of buyers said they had dropped a recommended firm without ever speaking to it. The top reason was that they couldn't tell how the firm could help them. That survey is more than ten years old, but people haven't stopped looking each other up. You'll never hear about the ones you lost, either.

Kogan says people who get sent to him want to answer two things: can this person solve my problem, and will I like working with them? You don't need a big website to answer those. A few plain pages will do. Check for these:

• The first thing they read is your sentence. Who you help and what you do for them.
• One or two short stories of real jobs. The problem, what you did, what changed. Ask the client first.
• Your face and a little about how you work. People are hiring you, so let them see you.
• One clear next step. A button that says "Book a 20-minute call" beats a contact form with nine boxes.

Your LinkedIn profile needs the same sentence in its headline. You can also add your services to your profile: click the Me icon, then View Profile, then Add profile section, then Add services.

When visitors have a question they won't email you

People often arrive with one private worry: is this for someone like me? They won't write to you to ask, so they leave. You can start by adding a line that sorts them: "Most of my clients come to me because of A, B or C." Link each one to the right story.

If you'd like that to happen by itself, we built Possible for this, so it's our own product and you should read this with that in mind. Possible is an AI built on real sales psychology. It asks each visitor the right question at the right moment, remembers the answers and guides them to booking a call. It's free to start, and there's more about our AI sales assistant for coaches and consultants. It only helps once people reach your site, so if nobody is visiting yet, go back to writing notes.

Don't forget the clients you already won

Your easiest next client is the last one. They know you, they trust you and you don't have to explain yourself. Kogan says his clients renew so often that he only needs one or two new ones a year. That's why customer retention strategies matter just as much to a one-person consultancy as to a big firm.

Do these three things near the end of every job:

1. Ask what's next. "What's the next problem on your list?" Often it's something you can help with.
2. Ask for an introduction. "Who else do you know who has this problem?" People say yes more easily right after a win.
3. Tell the person who sent them. If someone introduced you, let them know how it went. Kogan does this, and it gives them the confidence to send the next person.

Then check in every three months with something useful, like an article you know they'd want or a question about how the work is holding up.

What to skip for now

• A brand package. A logo and color palette won't get you a single call. Use your name and a plain font.
• Networking breakfasts. Go only if your buyers will be there. Ask who attends before you buy a ticket.
• Bought email lists. You'll end up writing to strangers with no reason to write. Ten good notes beat 1,000 bad ones.
• Paid ads. Wait until you know which sentence makes people call you.
• Free work with no end date. If you do it at all, give it a clear finish and a clear reason.

Your first 30 days

1. Week 1: Write your sentence and test it on three friends. Make your list. Send your first 25 notes.
2. Week 2: Finish the list and follow up. Book every call you can. Write down the words people use.
3. Week 3: Offer a small paid job to anyone who described a real problem. Put up your plain pages.
4. Week 4: Pick one method for strangers. List 50 companies if that's your method, and send your first 10 notes.

Then keep your two hours a week, whatever else is going on.

Questions about getting clients as a consultant

Go deeper on conversion tactics.