Consultants have become a necessity in South Africa’s changing business landscape. As you work in a particular field you can offer your expertise to help others in the field that you know best, however, you need the ability to sell your skills.
Retainers
Many consultants work on a retainer system, which is great if you can win signed contracts. It is just like having a monthly salary. With a retainer, you agree to be on call for a specified number of hours, days, weeks or even the whole month, for an agreed-upon monthly fee.
Because clients usually think of consulting services as a temporary expenditure, rather than an ongoing commitment, consultants need to work hard to offer top notch service and make themselves indispensible. Even with contracts, you need to continuously look for new business.
Steps to setting up a consultancy
- The basics of starting up
- What types of consultancy business are there
- The Industry and your market
- Why an organisation wants to hire you
- Pricing
- Marketing and sales
- What are the best ways for me to go about marketing my consulting firm?
- How to make the selling process easier
- Staff and Setting up office