There are some things you understand, past any shadow of a doubt, in regards to the means of producing income to your consulting agency:
- Relationships are important to profitable consulting engagements.*
- Prospects might be suspicious of your relationship-constructing overtures, even when your intention is to nourish a private bond.
- Sending small presents can inject vitality into your enterprise constructing course of. (Notably if the presents are chocolate lined almonds… and also you ship them to your self to reward your successes.)
Are there instances or conditions which can be notably ripe for constructing relationships, for avoiding skepticism and for sending chocolate?
Sure there are.
They are often neatly wrapped up within the pithy saying your 2,000 12 months-previous grandfather used to supply: amicus certus in re incerta cernitur.
Or as your dad and mom would translate across the household dinner buffet:
A Good friend in Want is a Good friend Certainly
In different phrases, one of the best time to construct a relationship with a contact isn’t when you want extra shoppers, it’s when your contact wants a pal.
It’s after they’re struggling.
Different consultants, who used to claw and scrape for a 15-minute appointment, have deserted your contact as a result of the chances of profitable enterprise have change into decrease than discovering a golden ticket to tour Willy Wonka’s manufacturing facility.
Two particular examples:
A Good friend in Want:
When your contact loses her job, her confidence is shaken, her funds are unsure, and he or she definitely can’t promise you a consulting mission.
By the third month of her job search, few persons are calling her to examine in, supply help, encourage her efforts, and lend an ear.
You’ll be able to, although. You’ll be able to advise, console, function play, and extra.
When she does land a job and he or she does want consulting assist, who will she flip to?
You. Your consulting agency.
What in case your contact by no means pays you again with a mission? You’ll nonetheless really feel richer.
A Good friend in Want:
When your contact’s employer is being acquired, his future is in jeopardy, his spending authority has been curtailed, and he worries each assertion he utters may dissatisfy his new overlords.
Most suppliers play it coy, ready to seek out out who comes out on high in an acquisition. They don’t expend beneficial time in your prospect, when he could possibly be out on his ear in a couple of months.
You, nevertheless, might be the affected person, exterior, secure ear your contact desperately wants throughout his turbulent transition.
Possibly he survives the inevitable purge, possibly not.
Both manner, you have been a secure shelter within the storm, and that’s irreplaceable relationship capital.
Being a pal when your contact is in want epitomizes the lengthy play.
It’s betting that relationships you spend money on, regardless of no probability of close to-time period payback, will ship consulting jackpots 5, 10, and even 20 years down the highway.
In reality, it doesn’t matter whether or not your determination to step in when others have walked away yields profitable consulting rewards.
You’ll be a wealthier individual the place it counts most: your relationship financial institution.
James Taylor lyrics and singing cherubs however, there’s a sensible fact too:
Consultants who give deeply, generously and unselfishly when their contacts are in want obtain (or exceed) their consulting targets.
Are there different Good friend in Want conditions when you may add worth to a contact?
Textual content and pictures are © 2025 David A. Fields, all rights reserved.
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