The Case for Staying Small - The Whys and How’s of Building an Inbound Marketing Consultancy

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1 WHO WE ARE

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Our value statement

We help B2B companies grow their top line by helping people implement common sense sales, marketing, and business development principles.

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2 WHY WE DID IT

THIS WAY

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• profitability

• focus

• lifestyle

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3 WHY YOU CAN STAY

SMALL AND SUCCEED

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You do not need to be a 30 person

firm to work with a large client.

You just need to be valuable.

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COMPANY SIZE IS CHANGING

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Business owners want results

• revenue growth

• profitability

• building management processes

• strategy

• people development

• execution

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Other reasons to stay small

• outsourcing/contingent workers

• technology enables it

• risk reduced

• many headaches eliminated

• profitability Increased

• become a trusted advisor – longer relationships,

consult on broader range of issues

• Lifestyle

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IF YOU SELL RESULTS….. SIZE DOES NOT MATTER

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4 HOW?

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Specialize in specific ‘business needs’ not Inbound Marketing tactics

Create real expertise – add Inbound Marketing to it

Diagnose in your marketing, deliver the answers in the engagement

USE inbound marketing to reach goals

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5 PICKING THE RIGHT

CLIENTS

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Walt

Walt does not usually hire

an agency - he hires

people he trusts and knows

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Selling

• ONLY deal with the economic buyer

• build relationship first, not a proposal or menu

• come to agreement on the issues, the benefits they should expect, and your role in delivering value

• then present a summation of your agreement

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Agreement

• Objectives – ALWAYS business goals – never

deliverables

• Metrics - What is success?

• Value – the effect on the client and their company

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Getting Paid

What is the value to be gained by the client and how

much should you get?

Are you just another vendor or are you willing to be a

consultant and get paid for value?

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How do you add value?

Help them reach their business goals

Create meaningful engagements – not projects.

You are a business person, a peer to your clients, not an account manager.

A consultant helps set the goals and keep the client on track to meet them.

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6 STRUCTURE FOR

SUCCESS

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Structure

• build you own marketing

engine

• focus on core client personas

• partnerships

• outsourcing

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Build strategic partnerships

Do what you do best and outsource the rest

• design

• graphics

• P/R

• PPC

• writing

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What to outsource?

• Is it core to the goals of your company?

• Is it critical to the success of engagements?

• Is it a commodity or easily replaced?

• Is it efficient for you to do the work?

• Do you make high margins on this work?

• Do you enjoy it?

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Marketing

• inbound

• service Marketplace

• referrals

• networking

• up sell, cross sell

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Cut to grow

Cut the bottom and

replace with higher value

clients

Do you like working with them?

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Set limits

do not be afraid to make your

clients follow them

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@toplineresults.com

www.top-line-results.com

todd@top-line-results.com