What levers will attract more clients to your data consultancy?

If you were intrigued enough to read the headline to this article, then chances are you've asked yourself the following question many times:

"Why isn't our data consultancy getting more leads?"

An increasingly common addition to the above questions is:

"Why isn't our data consultancy getting more leads from our online marketing?"

Since Covid struck, a lot of firms have seen traditional lead generation channels (such as brown-bag briefings, seminars, event speaking, meetups and so on) all dry up. This has left online lead generation, and good old 'word-of-mouth' referrals, as perhaps the only games in town.

(You may have dabbled in LinkedIn ads or other paid advertisting but that falls under online lead generation and chances are, that didn't deliver for you either).

So how do you get leads online and what are the 'levers' you need to pull to accelerate lead generation and sales success?

The clues can be found in a discovery call I had some weeks ago with a data analytics consultancy struggling for sales.

The founder confessed...

"... we're not great at getting sales online. We get some interest, but it never converts. Our content seems to attract other consultants and potential partners, but ideal prospects are really scarce".

Following the discovery call, the founder asked me to review their sales and marketing strategy to figure out why they were struggling to sell online. He was perplexed because they had always sold ok through word-of-mouth and referrals.

This strange anomaly pops up on practically every discovery call I have these days - you get sales of your data services through past clients, colleagues and occasionally partners, but zip all through LinkedIn, blogs, webinars and online channels.

The Dimensions of a Successful Referral

First, let's understand why referrals work so well.

The reason why this firm was good at getting sales through referrals was because of four dimensions:

• Capability (they were good at what they did, that's mandatory obviously)
• Credibility (enough influencers had trust in their work)
• Connections (they had been around a while so had plenty of trusted relationships)
• Conversations (they had enough relationships with enough influencers who had enough awareness about their consulting capability such that enough discussions were taking place each quarter where their firm was being referred as a trusted option).

And that's all a referral is - the combination of those four elements, which was enough to keep this particular firm afloat. You can have all the data consulting skills in the world, but if you lack the credibility and connections, you won't get referral conversations. 

It's simple maths, and yet it drives data consultancy founders crazy because they know their business model works for the old world but it falls flat when it comes to selling online, such as on LinkedIn or through a website.

And to make matters worse, the founder above had already noticed that his competitors were becoming far more effective online. 

He knew his firm was getting left behind.

These rival consultants, who appeared to have far less capability and credibility, were seemingly everywhere. They're speaking at all the (virtual) events, getting the book deals, live streaming every day. Every time he switched on his LinkedIn feed, there they were.

And if you've seen this, perhaps you think to yourself:

"The bastards! This isn't fair, I've been around for 20 years and our firm knows far more than these 'social media darlings! Bah humbug...".

Then it hits you. The game has changed. 

You're not in Kansas anymore.

The reason why the analytics consultancy above was struggling online, and their competitors were (seemingly) flourishing, came down to two key differences:

Firstly, these rival firms were creating far more content.

And content, whether you like it or not, has become a proxy for capability and credibility.

I know this to be true based on past experience.

Last year, I was invited to keynote at a Chief Data Officer conference. 

But, here's the crazy thing - I've never been a CDO and I don't aspire to be a CDO. 

And yet, despite thousands of other CDOs who would be better suited to present, I was asked to keynote.

I was even offered money to fly out and do the speech. Crazy, right?

But not really, it's all because of content.

I had created enough content to demonstrate enough credibility and capability in my past profession (mostly as a data quality consultant).

Plenty of big firms, such as SAS? and Experian, paid me to create content for them, that whilst helping them get sales, significantly boosted my profile.

And of course I had my own data-focused websites, that since 2007 had helped to bring in thousands of visitors every year.

But as a bona-fide CDO? Zero experience. 

And yet it didn't matter.

My 'data brand' was a big enough reason to invite me and I'm guessing having a decent-sized audience of my own factored into their decision process too!

Do you see now why content marketing has become so powerful?

And yes, I get it. It's frustrating. You want to rage against the content machine.

You shout that the industry has gone mad. You may swear at your LinkedIn feed that it's just not fair that capability and credibility are linked to content in this way.

But as I keep harping on, we're not in Kansas anymore.

The game has changed. Forever.

Which brings me onto the second reason why the analytics firm above was struggling:

They lacked clarity.

The consultancy in question was small, less than ten billable consultants and yet I counted 12 value propositions on their website and marketing mix.

That's more service offerings than staff!

This 'Value Proposition Bloat' creates confusion online because you no longer have a unified message. It's not clear how you solve a specific problem, who your 'tribe' is or the specific transformation you create for them.

Without clarity, you cannot resonate with an Ideal Client Profile.

And if your content doesn't resonate with a clearly defined type of customer there is only ever going to be one outcome.

You don't sell. Period.

But this raises a question - assuming the consultancy above had always promoted a big bunch of value propositions, how come they still got so many referrals?

It's simple.

The analytics consultancy was able to get referrals because there was clarity inherent to every referral conversation.

Let's play that out with an example...

One of their past connections, perhaps a former client, would encounter a problem - the need for specialist real-time data analytics or perhaps the desire to spin up a data mart.

The referrer would get into a conversation about how to provide a solution and who would be a good fit to help. At that specific point, this past client, an influencer, would comment:

"I know a team, I've used them before, they solved this specific data analytics problem using a really neat approach - I was impressed, we should call them and get their opinion and see if they'd be a good fit".

See how there is inherent clarity in that conversation because the influencer can connect the specific problem to the exact capability the consultancy provides. 

But when it comes to online sales, that clarity would evaporate because their content and value propositions were just this mess of data buzzwords and seemingly random topics on 'data analytics' in general.

For example, their blog would talk about data infonomics one day, data governance the next, then data quality in analytics, then...you get the picture. It lacked clarity around a specific type of client and a specific type of problem.

Talking about 'data analytics' 15 years ago would have been fine, it was just emerging, now it's this huge sprawling beast of an industry with a myriad of problems to solve.

If you want to succeed with content marketing your core value proposition, I'm reminded of the Stephen King quote (that actually originates from William Faulkner):

"[K]ill your darlings, kill your darlings, even when it breaks your egocentric little scribbler's heart, kill your darlings."

King was referring to the importance of removing any characters in his novels, that no matter how well written, only serve to remove clarity from the narrative.

What are the characters in your solutions narrative? Does your service offering have clarity?

Is your core message simple to understand?

Does your content speak to the pain and problems of a specific Ideal Client Profile?

Are you creating content that addresses the pains of a single ideal client profile consistently?

Or is your ego taking over, blurring your focus, keeping you on the path of Value Proposition Bloat that leads you to a lack of clarity and resonance with your Ideal Client Profile.

(That's assuming you have your ICP figured out of course).

So what do you fix first? Start with clarity.

And that should come as welcome news to those who think they have a sales conversion problem - you don't.

The reason you're not selling online is not because you or your team are crap at 'closing the deal', it's because your primary offer and messaging isn't clear.

Converting the sale is easy when you're pushing on an open door, with receptive buyers who have the exact problem your proposition solves.

Get clear on who is the best type of client to serve and what problem you are best placed to solve based on your current capability and past credibility.

Translate that capability into a primary offer if you can, something that isn't blurry, but has hard edges and clear outcomes that the client can wrap their head around.

If you've solved this problem many times, you should know the rough costs and duration so factor that into your pricing and start to set fees based on the value of the outcome.

Armed with your primary offer and clearly defined customer profile, now you can go to work on your content marketing and prospecting strategy.

From there, get better at conversations. 

Learn to shut up and listen. Never feel you have to impress. Your content should have earned you the right to engage the influencers staring at you across the webcam.

You're not there to prove your worthiness; the prospect has to prove they have a big enough problem worthy of your scarce capability.

Ask better questions; you'll get better results. 

Never pitch during discovery calls. Find the problem and the pain, then link the proposition. Never the opposite.

If you consistently improve your clarity, content, connections and conversation performance, your capability and credibility will shine through.

You'll start to attract and convert more sales.

Pull the right levers and you'll accelerate your success.

What next?

If you're ready to take online lead generation seriously, but need help clarifying your message, executing a content strategy and selling with confidence, then it's time to join my Lead Generation Accelerator for Data Consultancies.

It's the only program designed exclusively for data management solution providers, drawing on my extensive experience of transforming 'content into clients' since 2005.

You and your team will master the exact skills required to execute a predictable content-driven sales strategy for the present climate and beyond. You'll soon be able to break your dependence on traditional sales tactics that have been stifled as a result of recent events.

We'll cover everything, from positioning your offers, to creating content, to managing the sales process - no other program covers every base, exclusively for your type of business.

You can apply and find out more about the program here:

https://mydatabrand.com/services

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“The myDataBrand program helped me get a return on investment soon after launching my consultancy by following the exact process taught in the program. Dylan worked closely with me to build my consulting and training packages, resulting in the launch of a data governance and data stewardship training solution that I now successfully sell globally.

In addition, my consulting pipeline is full and I'm already looking to scale the practice to meet demand.

The myDataBrand experience has delivered on all my expectations.”

Lara Gureje, Founder of Datoculi, Data Governance & Stewardship Consultancy / Training Provider