Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] Made in the UK for HR consultants worldwide. You're listening to the HR Marketing Guys podcast.
[00:00:14] Hello James here, and welcome to this week's podcast. In this week's main event, I'm going to answer a question that I get asked all of the time. And that's James, how should I start marketing my consultancy? It's a very good question and I'm going to talk you through the main areas that you should focus on that will make the biggest difference and stop you from having to rely on referrals. And in this week's thought of the week, I'm gonna talk to you about client cancellations. Yes, they can be heart wrenching, but I want us to reposition how we see them. And I've got some awesome tips to help you to not only retain those clients, but to increase their average spend with you too. So let's jump straight in.
[00:00:48] This week's main event, every consultant I know, whether they're a startup or million pound consultancy, has got off the ground and grown to through word of mouth and referrals. They're a great way to grow your consultancy and very low maintenance from a marketing point of view. But relying on word of mouth and referrals alone to grow your consultancy, I think is really risky business. As business owners, our personal income and survival hinge on the success of our business. And when you rely on referrals, you're really leaving your future earnings in the hands of the HR consulting gods. Sometimes they come through, sometimes they don't. But most worryingly, it's completely out of your control. And this isn't cool. Consultants who grow in this way are often trapped in a boom and bust business cycle too, which is terrible for cash flow, terrible for growth, and terrible for your stress levels. And that's why you need to stop relying on referrals, take back control and start actually marketing your consultancy. So in this podcast, I'm going going to talk you through how to do this so that you can grow your consultancy in a predictable, scalable and stress free way. Are you ready? Okay, awesome. Let's go. So the first thing I'd work on is increasing your brand visibility and awareness. This is a really easy place to start. And to do this, you simply need to put content out there on a regular basis. Think about LinkedIn and other socials, sending out a monthly newsletter and weekly emails, stuff like that. This type of content ticks along in the background to make sure you're consistently seen and heard. And although doing this alone won't get you new clients, you need to think that each piece of content you create is a touch point that will contribute towards a potential sale. This is really how you should be thinking about each piece of marketing that you do. And of course you're increasing your brand visibility and awareness by doing so. So how should you get started? Well, I'd start by creating a monthly content schedule. Sit down at the start of the month and think about what you're going to post about and when. Create the content and get organized. I know that this is much easier said than done. Most business owners I know, including myself, really struggle to keep up with this sort of content output on a regular basis. I was sat there for 2 hours the other day creating one LinkedIn newsletter and I'm a content writer by trade. Honestly, marketing does take up so much time and that's why I created the HR marketing box to help you get content out there, increase your brand awareness and get new clients. So for those who don't know, the HR marketing box is an online library full of ready to use content and ideas. It's a huge time saver. It's thousand times cheaper than hiring content writer and it saves you loads of hassle and stress. So if you're struggling for time, be sure to check out the HR marketing box and see if this is a quicker and cheaper way for you to get personalized content out there. The next thing you need to do is turn this stuff into a system and to delegate this system to someone else. This is really important because you need to be thinking about bigger and better things, which I'll come on to in just a second. Okay, so if you're a startup, you might not be able to do this, but if you've got a few clients, you should definitely think about paying someone to do this for you. Whether there's a family member out there, a friend or virtual assistant that could help you out. Alternatively, we do offer a marketing virtual assistant service too, and we have three packages which follow my best practice marketing advice. Okay, so let's recap. First thing you need to do is increase your brand visibility and awareness. You can do this by creating a monthly content schedule to help you do this. You can become a member of the HR marketing box and if you want, you can get one of our marketing vas to do it for you. Right? So I want you to box everything that I've just said up and move it to one side. Because now you need to think about your goals. So creating crystal clear short, mid and long term goals are essential to marketing and growing your consultancy. Okay, so there are two things I always say that are applicable here. The first is that marketing can only generate results when you know what results you want it to generate. You've probably heard me say that before. And the second is that you cannot look at how you've grown your consultancy to date via referrals as a reflection of how you can grow your consultancy in the future. That's really, really key. So let me explain what I mean by this. Most consultants I know are flaky af when it comes to how they're going to grow their consultancy. And we usually get as far as I want to work with local SME's who have 1050 employees. That's a cool starting point. But for your marketing to work, we need to be way more focused than that. If I was sat on a call with you right now, I'd ask you four questions. The first is what does your life vision look like? The second is how much money do you need to earn? The third is who are you targeting? And fourth is how are you packaging up your services? The answers to these questions are essential to to creating any sort of growth or marketing plan. I do understand that being this focused is challenging. It can often feel like you're restricting yourself by asking yourself these questions. And then you're like well, this isn't how I've grown to date, but you must remember that you cannot look at how you've grown your consultancy to date via referrals as a reflection of how you grow your consultancy in the future. Direct marketing is a completely different ballgame altogether and you need to have a completely different mindset and approach to it. There are lots of ways that I can help you with these questions and any resources like this can be found in the HR growth academy. So be sure to check that out and sign up to receive updates. So yeah, let's just bring it back to creating short, mid and long term goals. An example of a short term goal could be to sell a new service to your existing clients. For instance, an example of a midterm goal would be to run a campaign and sell HR software to as many local businesses as you can. And an example of a long term goal would be to target a specific industry and sell them your peace of mind subscription based service. So I'd like you to set a challenge for yourself right now. I'd like you to think about and be able to answer these four questions the next time we speak. So one, what does your life vision look like? Two, how much money do you need to earn three, who are you targeting? And four, how are you packaging up your services? So have a think. And then the next time we chat, we can go through them. And once you know the answers to these questions, we can then move on to the next step. And that's to break your marketing down into little campaigns. So imagine that you've got the brand awareness stuff just ticking along nicely in the background. You've created some crystal clear short, mid and long term goals. And now we're going to look at the calendar and we're going to say, right, let's dedicate the next two months to setting management training to your existing clients. To do this, we're going to have to create a new page on the website, maybe send some comms out about it, maybe do a webinar and follow up with our clients to see if they're interested. And we can give ourselves those two months and the time to focus on this particular goal. Cool. And then the next three months we're going to target local businesses and sell them HR software again. We're going to need to spend time building a list of local businesses that we want to target. We might want to do a multitouch point campaign, do a webinar and create some sort of funnel for this goal. And then while all of this is happening, we've been gearing up to launch into a new industry and sell our peace of mind subscription based service. So let's just take a step back and summarize how I see things when it comes to my own marketing stuff, I kind of divide it into two bits. On the left we have the brand awareness stuff that just tips along nicely in the background. On the right we have the proactive stuff that I'm doing that's very goal orientated. And in the middle we have the strategy piece. This is the thinking bit that we really need to get right before we can do the proactive stuff. But this thinking piece shouldn't stop us from doing the brand awareness stuff. Okay, so that's the kind of visualization that's going on in my head. And hopefully I've communicated that well enough for you to understand and take something from. I do have a free marketing action plan poster that guides you through your marketing journey at a top level. If you put the first letters of those three words together, it's your map. And I was playing around with like, this is your marketing map, this is your, your map to kind of guide you through your marketing, etcetera. But I kind of got stuck. So, yeah, I'm just calling it marketing action plan poster.
[00:08:43] So please feel free to go to the HR growth academy to get your free copy posted to you today.
[00:08:48] And that's it really. If you said to me, look James, I want to stop relying on referrals and actually start marketing my consultancy, what should I do? I would really break it down into those kind of three areas. So the first, just focus on brand awareness. Don't overthink it. Get content out there. Second is actually think about what you want to achieve. So what's going on in your life? How much money do you need to make? Who are you targeting and actually what are you trying to sell? These are really essential questions. And then finally you can break your marketing down into nice easy chunks and campaigns and everything's just much easier to manage.
[00:09:24] So I've got some really exciting news to tell you. We've just officially launched the HR marketing box in the US this week. This is such a huge moment for us and I am so excited to announce that we are finally live stateside. I know lots of you in the US have been waiting a very long time for this, so thank you so so much for your patience. We now have the most awesome team in the US and it's time for liftoff. So if you don't know, the HR marketing Box is an online library full of content and ideas to help you increase your brand awareness and get new clients. The content is created by us HR professionals for us HR professionals to make sure that it's 100% right, edited by me to make sure it resonates with business business owners. Designed by talented designers to make sure it looks fab and delivered to you via canva, making it super easy to personalize. There's loads of great content for you to choose from, including monthly newsletters, a weekly LinkedIn newsletter, loads of social media posts and ideas, educational guides and articles, emails, Google Business profile posts and lots more. I nearly was out of breath there and there's content about every HR subject to help you get new clients. So our content will position you as a strategic partner for business owners, position you as an HR expert and thought leader. It will help you get your foot in the door by talking about initial services like HR software and audits, and it will also help keep your clients up to date with the latest laws and news. So to celebrate our launch, we are offering an awesome introductory offer if you sign up before 12:00 p.m. eST on Friday, October 11. So be sure to go to the website the hrmarketingguy.com to check it out. And of course if you're based in the UK, then we also have our UK offering too.
[00:11:06] James thought of the week I received the most lovely message the other day from a HR consultant called Christine based in Dundee, Scotland. Let me read it out for you. Hey James, just listened to your first podcast episode and had to message you. Hope you don't mind, but of course I don't mind Christine. I love it when people get in touch. Anyway, she said, you have given me hope today after losing my first ever retained client after working with them for years, they sent me a short formal email telling me that they were cancelling due to business reasons. Their end I'm not usually emotional at podcasts, but I actually teared up at your on the money observation about HR and the fact that we have forgotten the value that we provide to business owners, followed by your inspirational kick up the bum. Thank you for lifting me up on a difficult day. I have learned a lot just from one podcast and can't wait to listen to more. Have a great week. How lovely is that? I must admit I was also a bit emotional when I read the message for the first time. If I'm being completely honest, it's just really nice to know that what you're doing is helping people and striking a chord with people. So thank you for making my day with that message, Christine. And thank you for kindly giving me permission to share it, because it's important for other consultants to hear it, including you. I'm sure you listening to the podcast right now have had a cancellation that's taken a chunk out of you and made you feel like poo. Running a HR consultancy is hard. HR isn't understood or valued as much as it should be. And cancellations can be heart wrenching, especially if it's a big chunk of your revenue, and especially if they've been handled in a cold way after you've worked really hard delivering an awesome service while probably massively over delivering and undercharging for such a long time. Look, I feel completely the same way when someone cancels, so you have my complete understanding and empathy. And that's why in this section of the podcast I'd like us to reposition the way that we think about cancellations, because they are not always what they seem. In every business I've worked in, we've always tracked cancellation reasons and reviewed them carefully. And what I've learned is that you can't always trust their reasons or take them at face value. And the most important thing to remember is that their need for your support doesn't stop just by them telling you that they're wanting to cancel. Let me explain. So you're a HR consultant and you help business owners with lots of different HR related jobs. Let's say that you're working with a client on a retainer and for whatever reason they cancel. Have they got rid of all of their employees and are they closing the business down? No. So they still have these HR related jobs that they need support with. Their jobs haven't disappeared. So why are they wanting to cancel? How are they planning on getting these jobs done? Are they going to work with someone else? Have they actually hired a HR manager or something? Or do they no longer think that you can provide them with the level of support that they need?
[00:13:56] When a client requests to cancel, it's your job to understand why they've made the decision to cancel. And as an expert HR consultant, you need to coach them through this decision. This is why regular catch ups with your clients are essential as you'll be able to nip these things in the bud before they go ahead and make their own uneducated decisions. I also think that cancellation request is often a cry for help. A member of the HR marketing box cancelled the other day. I know, very sad. She sent me a quick email telling me that she'd like to cancel and gave no reason as to why. So I replied back and said, yes, of course I can cancel your subscription. Could you please let me know why you're looking to cancel? And she said that she just didn't have the time to use the content. I was like, okay, this is actually cool. This is an opportunity for me to sell a marketing VA service. So then I replied back and said, look, you still need to get content out there. I'm aware of your goals. We've had many chats and the HR marketing box is still the cheapest way for you to do this. I understand that you're struggling with time. Many of us are. Have you thought about our marketing VA packages? Well, we ended up jumping on a call when she not only stayed on board with the HR marketing box, but she also signed up one of our marketing VA services and now we're all happy. You see, my client wanted to cancel because she actually needed more support than what she thought I was able to offer. And I think that this is really key to remember. So the next time a client cancels, don't get sad. Instead, ask yourself, what does the cancellation request really mean? And is there an opportunity to provide your client with a different level of support. The ultimate flex in all of this is to have a conversation with them on a regular basis before they even get to the point of wanting or thinking about cancelling in the first place. So there we are. Cancellations do happen. Clients come and go at is life. But the next time a client requests to cancel, don't be scared to dig a little bit deeper to find out why, you've been listening to the HR Marketing Guys podcast helping you to get new clients and create a life you love.
[00:15:54] Don't.
