How I Built a "Consulting Pipeline" That Delivers 6 Figure Deals Every Month

Tired of staring at an empty pipeline?

Not sure where your next client is coming from?

Looking for a better way to win consulting deals?

I’ve been in your position myself, a couple times.

First, when I left a huge consulting firm (Ernst & Young) to join a fledgling boutique that could barely pay my salary (took them to 7 figures at lightning speed).

Second, when I launched my own consulting practice thinking all I had to do was “work my network” and the deals would fall in my lap.

(long story short, the network dried up fast and I struggled to pay the bills -- my wife was thrilled about that).

Good news is a few years later we are now a 7+ figure global consultancy with a team of 13.

The point? Trust me when I tell you there’s a better way.

I did this by focusing on the three essentials needed to maintain a steady pipeline of five, six and even seven figure deals. 

This is what I focused on:

1.Power Positioning; differentiating yourself in the marketplace to command a price premium. 

If you look like every other firm out there, clients won’t be able to tell the difference and they’re not going to pay a premium for your services. The reason for that is simple supply and demand. I'm going to take you back to economics 101. 

Every market has an equilibrium price. Through Power Positioning, you can shift the supply curve by creating distinction and eliminating the alternatives available to the client. You need to show them that all the other options in the marketplace are not equal alternatives. You're the best option in the marketplace. 

When supply is constrained and demand is constant, price is going to go up. But more than that, you get control, power and authority. You're never relying on a client or a prospect to pull through because there's a lot of clients out there who need your help and not a lot of people like you who can help them. Clients need you more than you need them!

2. Results Mechanism; showing your clients the path you're going to take them down to get them the results and the outcomes they're looking for. 

The big mistake that consultants make is they sell their inputs and their time. 

That's a terrible idea because time doesn't scale. And if you're charging time, you're capped at how much you can earn for every hour or every day.

The fix is you charge for results. But you can only do that if you show them a path to getting them results and outcomes.

Imagine your prospects are looking to get across a river that's full of sharks. They’re thinking, "Well, I can't walk across. I can't jump across. I can't fly across. How am I going to get over this?"

They don't know what to do. They don't know how to understand the problem. They can't even diagnose it for themselves, let alone solve it. 

You're going to come along and you're going to show them how you’re going to build a bridge, step-by-step to get them to the other side. You show them a path to getting the results that they want, that they couldn't see before. Now they trust you. They have confidence in you and you are completely differentiated from all of your competition. Because the competition just said, "we'll charge you for our time. We'll come in for these many days. We'll bill you these many hours, we'll send you these reports." 

3. Leadership Marketing; cementing your notoriety and your reputation in the marketplace as a leader. 

There's only two things that have to happen for a client to do business with you. 

1. They have to know who you are, kind of obvious, right? If they don't know who you are, they can't do business with you. In other words, you have to have visibility with your market.
2. They have to have belief that you are the very best option in the marketplace for them right now.

Leadership marketing solves for both. Visibility and belief.

Let's say you want three clients a month (charging $20,000, $50,000, $100,000 for an engagement, three clients a month adds up to quite a big number).

To get three clients a month, you probably need to speak to about ten-ish prospects per month and make them offers to convert three of them into clients. (About a 30% conversion rate, pretty reasonable.)

How do you make 10 offers per month then? Well, you probably need about 25 to 30 leads. Qualified leads who have the problem that you solve, raise their hand to tell you they have the problem and they're looking for help. You can convert about 10 of them into an offer and then get three clients. 

How do we get 25 to 30 leads per month? Well, we probably need to have about four to 500 new contacts come into your network every single month. 

Because as a rule of thumb, only about 1% to 3% of your market is in a buying position right now.

[By the way, this is why all of your networking and your referrals and your word of mouth is failing. Because it's only 1% to 3% of your market is in a buying position right now. You're simply not getting in front of enough people to make the 1% to 3% add up to a meaningful number.]

Your numbers may look completely different. But the point is, if you don't have a system to consistently bring people in here at the top of your funnel, turn them into leads. Turn those leads into offers and those offers into clients. Well, it's no wonder why you're not hitting your revenue goals. And this is what leadership marketing is going to solve for.

Once I figured this out, I was able to use it to grow my own business, Boutique Growth, from scratch to 7 figures in a little less than 2 years. We didn't do anything fancy... we don't use growth hacks or tactics... it's just ruthless adherence to these 3 principals.

Now, if you are:

network-dependent for leads

having to chase every sale

don't know where your next client is coming from...

then it's highly likely one or more of these 3 fundamentals is missing or broken.

And we can find out where the gaps are, by getting on a quick Pipeline Call, book your call here: 90daypipeline.com/talk