Don’t Just Sell Digital Products. Offer High Ticket Consulting Services. Here’s Why.
Because your product upsell can be supercharged by your consulting services
Baffled? I get it.
This is what you are thinking.
Why do I need to sell my hours via consulting services if I can monetize digital products? The whole point is to unpeg cash inflow from my time involvement!
This is a common objection I hear all the time. Many 1-Man consultants love working on digital product affiliate sales.
What is their common line of thinking? They hate to deal with annoying customers.
But let’s not forget this. Consulting services allow us to get closer to our clients.
And that gives us permission to tap into their brains and unravel their deepest needs and thoughts.
The Reality of Conversions and Upsized Renewal Contracts
Before customers are customers, they were prospects.
We measure deal success when prospects sign up for our products and services. That works for the first year.
Success in the second year is represented by 2 things.
- Contract renewal
- Upsized contract renewal
This is not complex thinking. Every 1-Man consultant works to nurture their client base.
Our goal is to grow customer lifetime value. That means working hard to meet their business and professional needs as they evolve.
I have a question for you.
How do you evolve with them if you are never close enough to find out what they need at any point?
Stellar service should be non-negotiable and merchants shouldn’t hide behind self-service tools and technology when it comes to knowing their products and taking care of their customers.
You know what? Laura is right on the money.
Consulting Services is That Key to Unleash Your Client Account Potential
Digital products, such as software solutions, cannot do what consulting services does.
Gathering customer intelligence.
Yes, of course. There are analytics features built into various technology platforms. We can see what customers do and do not do.
But, action tracking has limitations.
Actions are behavioral. And behaviors are derived from thought processes.
- I am ordering fried rice from a delivery app (action) because I have no time for lunch (thoughts)
- I am buying one bouquet of roses online (action) to make my wife happy (thoughts)
- I am buying Ray Dalio’s book (action) because I am a fan of his work (thoughts)
Actions should not be confused with intent or thoughts. There is no big comparative advantage to be gained from analyzing transactional data.
However, you can front-run your 1-Man consultant peers if you can effectively anticipate how your client will respond, given different types of environmental triggers.
That requires you to read their minds, thoughts, body language, and the words they use.
That requires you to service them to study their behavioral patterns.
That requires you to observe them within arm’s length.
Agree?
Structuring The Classic Bundle of Consulting Services
Let me remove the guesswork from your mind.
Consulting services, by and large, cover the following billable activities.
- Engagement/Project delivery
- Product training workshops
- On-site observations
- Pilot programs
- Brainstorming
It requires 1-Man consultants to take the stage, moderate discussions, confront unspoken topics, and slay sacred cows. We take the lead.
Client feedback is expected. The 3rd Law of Newtonian Motion physics applies to social science too.
…(Newton’s) third law states that for every action (force) in nature there is an equal and opposite reaction. If object A exerts a force on object B, object B also exerts an equal and opposite force on object A. In other words, forces result from interactions.
Simply put, these classic consulting activities allow us to quickly gauge proposals that will achieve broad consensus and ideas that will not take off. Our client acumen shoots up the roof as a result.
Plus. Because you are there with your consulting clients, you can ask them why.
Or why not.
What is the Optimal Duration of Consulting Services?
There is no correct answer. But I can ask you a guiding question.
How long is your contract renewal cycle?
Do review your consulting contracts. Take a deep look at your digital product subscription or sales. Did the client subscribe for 1 year? 6 months? 3 months?
The tenure of your consulting services should run in parallel. It gives you a legitimate reason to be near them and understand them better.
You may have objections to the tenure because that sucks up a lot of time, and services are hard to price. I hear you. But let me clarify.
The tenure of your consulting services may run for months. That does not mean you need to sell months and months of time-based services.
I typically pepper in 3 consulting days in a month. That will add up to 9 days for a 3-month tenure.
My goal is not to monetize time.
I want to get into my client’s office freely when I want to. That is my objective.
Parting Keynotes
If you have eyes on unbelievable successful conversion and contract renewal rates — You need to offer consulting services.
It gives you the advantage as an incumbent to study your consulting clients and understand their thought patterns and behaviors better. With time, you know what you can sell and should not sell.
Consulting services unlock account growth potential.
And that is what you need.
This is especially so when you are aggressively growing your 1-Man consulting practice. Think long-term.
Think client account longevity.
Think business growth.
As a content contributor, I write my observations from daily life and my business exposure. Because our life experience is the bedrock of our unique perspectives.
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