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Five Do’s For Consulting Newbies

With over 533,000 people laid off since November 2008 as reported by Forbes.com, it’s no surprise that many people choose to start their own business and become consultants. If you’re just jumping into the field as an independent consultant or starting a new consulting business, here are five do’s to follow.

1. Do focus on your objectives
Before starting on any projects, discuss and agree on your objective. If your objective is tied to revenue or cost saving, ask your client if they are willing to give you additional compensation if you exceed your target. If you use deadlines as your objective, include client reviews and approvals in your timeline. If you have multiple objectives, ask your client to prioritize them so there are no questions later on when you’re juggling multiple tasks.

2. Do communicate your progress
You’ll get less questions about how the project is going if you’re proactive with your status updates. Just don’t send daily status updates with every little thing, or they’ll send your emails (including important ones) to the junk email box. Ask your client about how often they’d like to see a progress report and how they’d like to see the report — an executive summary, one or two presentation slides or a brief email with bullet points.

3. Do be selective with your recommendations
Making the initiatives is what you should be all about, but you don’t need to recommend every single thing that you can think of. Focus on the major initiatives instead. This way, you can put in some extra care in making your recommendations. Plus, by focusing on major initiatives, you’ll be more likely to give your client the wow effect.

4. Do know their competitors
Sometimes you get so caught up in your projects that you overlook what your client’s competitors are up to. Go through the competitor’s website and take notes on things that they’re doing (that’s what the PR/News page is for!) and compare their offerings to your client’s.

Search for news, blog posts and tweets of the competitors. Go beyond Google when you search — browse LinkedIn to see what their employees are up to and who they are connected with. Use Twitter to check tweets of their employees and use Twitter Search to see real-time conversations and updates about them. Sign up for Google alerts with your competitor’s name as the keyword.

Network with people in the industry, even befriend the competitors, and you’ll get a few insights here and there. You don’t need to lie about working for your client; mentioning your client’s name is actually a good ice breaker!

5. Do keep up with industry trends
You’re supposed to be the expert in this field, so how embarrassing is it if your client is the one who keeps telling you about new technologies and trends? No matter how busy you are juggling projects, set up at least a half hour a day to read industry news. Set up RSS feeds to get your news in one place (try Google Reader or Bloglines) and bookmark articles that you may go back to time after time (try delicious). Take notes on industry jargons that you’re not familiar with.

Network with others in the industry, whether it’s through local meet-ups, conferences or social media. Join industry groups or associations and follow twitterers who are subject experts in the industry.

6. Do listen
Okay, there are really six do’s, not five, because this is the most important one: really listen. It’s amazing how much more you’ll contribute if you just stop talking and start listening. Many people make the mistake of trying to convince their clients by talking about how good they are instead of listening to what the client needs. Your clients will even like you better for simply listening to them.

So keep projects coming your way by projecting a can-do attitude and being diligent about the six things above. Soon, you’ll look like a seasoned consultant rather than a newbie.

PS: If you’re looking for consulting gigs or freelancing jobs, here are a few ways to find them. Freelancing/consulting job websites, of course: Sologig.com, HotGigs.com , Elance.com, oDesk.com and Guru.com. Connect with local recruiting companies that specialize in working with independent contractors. Check out industry websites and newsletters for help wanted. And as you meet more people in the industry through your networking effort, don’t be shy to tell them that you’re up for new gigs when your project is about to end.

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