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In this episode, Genysys consultant Rachel Munaradzi, who works with people experiencing corporate burnout and with organizations on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion initiatives, talks with Andrea about finding her niche.

Highlights from their conversation include:

• Two different approaches to finding your niche:

1. Get yourself and out there and allow the questions people ask you to guide you. OR
2. Ask yourself some defining questions before you begin, such as:
   • What are you interested in? 
   • What are you good at? 
   • What areas do you already have experience in?
   • What areas are most of your network in?

• Why it’s important to be flexible and open to changing or expanding your niche.
• How to use feedback from clients and prospects, as well as trends in the marketplace, to help you further define your niche.
• Why you must look at finding your niche as building your brand.

The Genysys Group’s Founder and The Consultant School’s Chief Learner, Ray Rood, is back in the episode to share his thoughts on how to identify and diagnose what’s causing struggle in your consulting business.

The two most common struggles for consultants: Getting and maintaining clients and self-confidence – believing that you can meet client needs and expectations.

It’s essential to find someone – a trusted colleague, a mentor, or a friend – who can help you process your own questions and feelings as you look at how you’re approaching your consulting business.

Most consultants are on their own and feel very alone so it’s important to have someone who can help you understand what you’re experiencing and what may be underneath any issues or struggles you are having so you can begin to address the causes rather than just the symptoms.

This is one of the top questions aspiring consultants ask – or least worry about. They want to dive in and start doing work that’s more meaningful and fulfilling to them but are concerned – and rightly so! – about how to replace their current salary if they strike out on their own.

Of course, the answer to this question is specific to each person’s circumstances but there are things you can do to give yourself as much runway as possible to ramp up your consulting business.

1. Grow your savings.

The standard recommendation for an emergency savings cushion is 3-6 months of expenses, so you want to add to that, if at all possible, so you have 12 months or more. 

1. Build your consulting business on the side.

This is not an option for everyone but if it is possible for you, you can work on your business during your off hours. This allows you to gain some momentum while still having the safety of your paycheck. Then you can determine when you’re ready to leave your job and jump into your business full-time.

1. Get a part-time job.

If you’ve already left your job or feel like you can’t stay any longer, getting a part-time job to keep some money regularly flowing is another option. This can give you the stability of a paycheck while you focus your energy on building your consulting practice.

How do you get from where you are to where you want to be?

There’s a formula for that! 

Yes, it requires some math along with clarity on what you have to offer and who you want to offer it to, and the ability to talk about it in language that’s meaningful to those ideal clients consistently so you build authority.

It will also require a strong commitment to putting yourself out there – asking for a conversation, making offers, and asking for the sale. These are things many people interested in consulting don’t love to do, but this is what it takes to make your consulting a business and to earn the money you need.

First, let’s define the elements of the formula:

Salary + Overhead Expenses + Profit Margin = Annual Revenue Goal

Salary (what you are currently making or could make in the marketplace)

+ 

Overhead expenses (office supplies, internet expenses, self-employment taxes, business license, etc. – usually 10-20% of your salary) 

+

Profit margin (this is a business and your expected to make a profit – usually 10-20% of your salary)

=

Annual Revenue Goal (the total amount of money you need to bring in annually)

Revenue Goal ÷ Average Project Fee = Number of Projects Needed Per Year

Average Project Fee will likely be difficult for a new consultant to be sure of, but just take your best guess for now. The point here is to start collecting this data as soon as you can so you can update the formula with accurate numbers as you go.

Projects Per Year ÷ Close Rate = Offers Needed Per Year

Your Close Rate – out of all the potential deals in your pipeline, the percentage you actually close – will also be a bit of mystery until you have more experience, but it is usually 20-30%. Best to err on the conservative side if you’re new to sales.

Offers Needed is the number of offers you need to make, knowing that a) you won’t make offers to every lead you have; and b) not all offers you make will be accepted.

Offers Needed x 5 = Leads Needed Per Year

The number of leads you will need is yet another number that will be personal to you, but we’ve found a safe number to use as a multiplier to meet the number of offers you need. 

Be sure to keep track of your own data so you can adjust these formulas with numbers that are accurate for you.

In this episode, Ray Rood, founder and Senior Consultant at The Genysys Group and Chief Learner at The Consultant School, shares his thoughts on how to find consulting clients if you have a small network.

Be intentional about developing your network.

Ray started consulting through a connection in a graduate program he created. He suggests in addition to developing relationships in the areas you want to work, consider teaching classes, or doing webinars or workshops. 

Look at the body of knowledge you have that you’ve developed your consulting around and package it so you’re sharing something of value with people. This can serve the dual purpose of highlighting your expertise and providing you with a marketing base from which to develop business.

You can also consider networking groups, school or neighborhood groups, churches – be on the lookout for one or two key people, who know and can influence people. 

It’s about quality not quantity because that network grows one relationship really at a time, through those connectors.

This is an organic and authentic way to grow your network. Focus on building those relationships – meet with them, tell them what’s happening with you, find out about their world and how you can help, and find out who they know that you should talk to.

In this episode of The Consultant School, Genysys CEO and podcast host, Andrea Nunez, shares her top three best practices for new – and not so new – consultants can boost their credibility.

Credibility = Authority

The first thing to understand about boosting your credibility is what credibility actually means in the context of consulting. Your credibility is your reputation, of course, but it’s more than that when it comes to capturing the interest of prospective clients. 

It is also about establishing yourself as an authority with your particular target market. They must get to know you and what you stand for. They must believe you understand them and what their challenges are. And they must trust you. This is what it takes for people to feel comfortable hiring you.

You must believe in yourself.

The most essential credibility booster is being confident that you have the skills, experience, and tools to support your clients with the challenges they are facing.

But how do you actually get there? One tried and true way is through self-reflection. Spend some time reflecting on what you have to offer that you enjoy and know you’re good at, and where you know you can help produce positive outcomes.

Then, take the bold step of talking to others who know you in a work context – colleagues, clients, even bosses or managers – and ask them what they believe your strengths are and what their experience of working with you has been.

Gathering this information and getting grounded in it will help you to see the value you can bring – and the results you can help clients achieve – as you begin talking to prospects.

This is the essential best practice because when you’re sitting across from a prospect, they have to believe that YOU believe you can deliver before they will ever agree to hire you. 

Use Content Marketing to boost your authority.

Content marketing is any type of content you publish for public consumption: blog posts, social media posts, videos, podcasts, articles, white papers, case studies, etc.

The key to doing content marketing correctly is establishing your particular point of view and sharing it using language that speaks directly to the pain points, wants, and needs of your target market. And doing it consistently.

The more content you have, the more consistent you are, the more credible and authoritative you will be – not only because of publishing but because you will be learning and growing your expertise in areas that matter to your target market. 

Laurie Reinhart, Director of Consultant Development and Senior Consultant at The Genysys Group, joins again in this episode of The Consultant School to share her insights and experience moving from in-house consultant to external consultant.

Fear and apprehension are part of the process.

Even if you’ve got your plan, done your research, are clear on what you’re doing and with whom, stepping off the familiar treadmill of a job – and a regular paycheck – can make for a bumpy transition.

It’s important to give yourself a financial and psychological runway. There will be gaps of time when you’re not working which can be unnerving and it takes some time to find your groove when you’re getting accustomed to this new role.

In this episode, Ray Rood, founder and Senior Consultant at The Genysys Group, shares his thoughts on the difference between coaching and consulting.

Consultants work with organizations. Coaches work with people.

This doesn’t mean you can’t play both roles in the context of a consulting project or engagement. As a consultant you are working on organizational needs. As a coach, you are working on individual needs. In both contexts, you are also focused on the relationship between the two.

The need for coaching can emerge as part of an assessment or intervention process during a consulting engagement. In these contexts, it’s important that the coaching client create a goal that serves both the organization and them as an individual.

It’s also important that the coaching client have a third party that they are accountable to – usually a supervisor – but in the case of executive coaching with a CEO, this can also be the board chair or even a trusted mentor outside of the organization.

With consulting, the organization is the client – not any one individual. With coaching, the individual is the client.

If you have both roles in an organization – consultant and coach –you have to be aware of which hat you’re wearing at any given time because they are interrelated but you’re serving different clients but, ultimately, it helps both.

In this episode of The Consultant School, Laurie Reinhart, Director of Consultant Development and Senior Consultant at The Genysys Group, joins Andrea to discuss how to choose your consulting niche.

Why is it important to choose a consulting niche?

Choosing a consulting niche enables you to say no to work that really isn’t what you need to be doing.

When you know exactly what it is that you do, who you do it for, and what are the services you provide, that allows you to focus. When you don’t have that focus, your efforts are too diffuse and you can waste a lot of energy.

Choosing your niche also enables you to mentally free yourself up for doing the kinds of projects you want to do which is where the passion part comes in.

Balancing passion and feasibility is the name of the game.

We live in the real world where we sometimes have to take the work that is available so focusing solely on passion may not be realistic. On the other hand, focusing solely on feasibility, or money, and always doing things that are outside of your passion is exhausting and unsustainable.

If you have a project that requires you to do things outside your passion, one option is to subcontract or partner with someone so you can stay focused on the things that are really in your wheelhouse.

How can you ensure that your passion and in feasibility do overlap when you’re choosing your niche?

Taking the time to do some self-reflection on what expertise do you bring to the table is a first step. Generate a list of these areas of expertise, areas you’ve been trained in, areas of strength, and then ask yourself, “What’s the part where work doesn’t feel like work?”

It is also helpful to do this in consultation with two or three trusted people who have worked with you over the years and know what it is that you do really well to get their outside perspective on your work.

Key Business Development Relationships include suspects, prospects, contacts, and clients.

Suspects = people you are interested in working with but have not yet established a relationship. They may know about you, though not much, and they have a need for your services.

Prospects = people you are interested in working with who are potentially interested in working with you.

Contacts = your network – people you know who may be willing and able to connect you with people who need what you have to offer. This is your marketing referral engine.

Clients = people who have engaged you by way of a contract to deliver your services. If the engagement goes well, this can lead to a longer term retainer relationship.

The best way to turn a suspect into a prospect is via a key contact, or a referral.

There are three opening questions that help turn an initial conversation with a suspect into a deeper relationship that may then lead to them becoming a prospect and, later, a client.

1. What is going right in your business?
2. What are the current challenges?
3. What needs to change?

It’s important to ask all three questions to get as full a picture as possible of what is happening in the business.

Asking what’s going right or what has been successful is a question that many consultants don’t ask in that initial conversation, but it helps you to see what’s important to the person you’re talking to and starts things off positively. It also allows people to open up and tell their stories so you when you begin talking about the challenges and what needs to change, there’s appropriate context. It opens up the conversation so it is an actual conversation versus a typical sales call.