Start scaling your data consultancy with a Primary Offer (and reduce the risk of losing 'Whale' clients)

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If you're running a data consultancy, you need to do two things exceptionally well:

• Attract new customer accounts
• Service existing customer accounts

It's easier to sell services to an existing customer, but you also need a steady flow of new clients to maintain a healthy pipeline and ensure you don't become too reliant on a small number of clients.

Most weeks, I speak to data consultancies that have become too dependent on their 'Big Whale' clients, which is a risk. 

I also find that when a data firm has a small number of larger clients, they seem less inclined to create a lead generation strategy. It's easy to get comfortable.

To minimise the risk of finding yourself without a pipeline of opportunities if you lose a big account, I recommend consistently attracting clients by leveraging the inbound / outbound content marketing and social selling techniques I teach and write about over at my blog.

A central theme to a successful content marketing strategy doesn't just rely on creating great content – you still need to offer great services. 

So how do you attract new clients to your services in the first place?

Creating your first 'Trojan Horse' offer

One of the central themes within my client acquisition program for data solution providers is the importance of building a 'Primary Offer' as a first step into your core services. 

Think of this introductory offer as your very own 'Trojan Horse' – you wheel it into a new client organisation, then 'land and expand' once safely inside.

Example: Building a Trojan Horse Offer for Data Migration Services

Back when I was selling data migration services, one of the biggest problems was timing.

I would have great conversations with potential clients who saw the value in my approach but would confess that they'd already signed a deal, often with the target system vendor or some other migration firm.

The following conversation became all too familiar...

"Ah, that's a shame, if we'd only spoken 2 weeks ago..."

Increasingly frustrated, I hit on the idea of trying to convert clients at precisely the right time, much earlier in the planning phase before they'd onboarded service providers.

First, I sorted out my lead generation strategy by creating the Data Migration Pro website, which soon started to generate 10+ email registrations a day due to one piece of content, my comprehensive Data Migration Project Checklist and Planner.

Next, I created my 'Trojan Horse Offer' – The Pre-Migration Impact Assessment.

Finally, I started putting the two together by delivering webinars and events to showcase my expertise and attract clients.

If you want to learn more about the specifics of the PMIA approach, you can learn more from this recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkyLg4Cigog

Here are some of the 'lead generation pathways' for the PMIA service that I leveraged to attract clients back in the late 2000's:

What followed was a steady stream of client interest for a service that could be charged at anywhere from ￡10k-￡50k depending on the scale of the program.

What are the characteristics of a successful Primary Offer?

When building your primary offer, the following guidelines have been proven to be valuable to creating an effective introductory solution for your data consulting or services business.

#1: Make your primary offer easy to digest

Chances are, you'll be mostly selling your primary offer via content marketing. If you can't explain your offer succinctly, for example via a webinar, video, or some other content channel, then your audience will tune out.

You should be able to communicate an overview of your offer in less than 60 seconds using words that your ideal client profile can quickly grasp.

For example, when I was selling my PMIA service, I could have said something like this (timed at just under 1 minute):

"Too many data migration projects are considered a failure because they take far too long, blow the budget, or deliver poor quality data to the new target system.

The most common cause of migration failure is a poor understanding of legacy data - it's quality, structure, uses, location, and the demanding role it will be expected to serve in the target system.

It's time to stop guessing about your data migration and start discovering the pitfalls and obstacles before you begin the detailed planning and costing of your migration project.

Our Pre-Migration Impact Assessment service provides a rapid analysis of your legacy data, using hundreds of data quality measures that give you an instant view of data health, and a measure of its ability to deliver on the business goals expected of your new target system.

The result is a migration prototype, months ahead of go-live, that will guides your planning and decision-making towards a more successful migration outcome.

Watch this video to learn how a PMIA could transform the outcome of your upcoming migration project..."

That took me a few minutes to write for the purpose of this article. With more time, I could have condensed it down, but you'll notice how I'm trying to convey some key themes:

1. What's the problem?
2. What's at stake if you don't make a change?
3. Who does the problem impact?
4. What does the service deliver?
5. What are the outcomes?
6. What should you do next?

All in 60 seconds. That's the beauty of creating a focused primary offer for your core services.

#2: Align your Primary Offer to your 'Solution Ladder'

My example of the PMIA service above illustrates how this introductory service would neatly fit into a future ladder of services:

The PMIA acted as an introductory offer for migration projects and helped get my foot in the door before the migration had started any detailed planning or team selection.

Aligning the primary offer to the migration strategy also meant I would be talking directly to project and program leaders instead of low-level technical staff who were far less likely to sign off my services.

When you deliver great work early in the project, your firm is far more likely to be selected for ongoing services as the program develops.

Create that first 'rung' of the solution ladder, and then support your clients with further services as they mature or move through the project.

#3: Think premium, not freemium

One common mistake I see is data firms devaluing their services by giving them away.

I've worked for data firms that gave away days of consulting to deliver free client impact assessments and audits, all in the hope the client would go on to invest in their services.

But those follow-on services rarely came.

Drop the freemium mindset. Your data firm needs to be perceived as highly-skilled and specialised in its data craft. When you give away free time and resources, you undermine your authority and attract the wrong type of clients.

By setting a premium fee for your initial services, you're setting expectations that:

1. You're not cheap
2. You're the best at what you do
3. You deliver outstanding results

Giving services away means you've not qualified the client so you don't know if they have any budget, authority, or sense of urgency around the problem area in which you specialise.

This is particularly a problem with roadmapping and scoping out pieces of work, which can often consume days of effort. Roadmapping is another reason why I created my PMIA service. Corporate clients would ask to have a chat, and then ask me to map out a proposal, often requiring me to scope out a complex piece of work that inevitably requires effort.

When I pivoted to charging for the roadmapping/scoping activity, I cut out a vast amount of wasted conversations. 

If charging for scoping feels like a step to far, you can agree to subtract your roadmapping fees from the final 'big project' fee (if you win it), but never give away days of effort with some vague promise of lucrative work at some indeterminate point in the future. 

Freemium is the death knell for small firms with limited bench capacity.

What next?

If you need help figuring out how to build a primary offer and content marketing strategy for your data consultancy or services business, we should talk.

I help data consultancy founders create a complete system for generating consistent opportunities through great content, attractive offers and a simple 'pull-selling' sales process.

For more details visit our website or book a discovery call below:

https://mydatabrand.com/breakthrough