Value-Based Fees: How to Charge—and Get—What You're Worth: A Guide for Consultants, Second Edition

10.3. TRANSITION TO WORD OF MOUTH

The word-of-mouth phase occurs when people begin speaking of you of their own volition. It may be due to the nature of work performed or your marketing activities or through that odd dynamic of peer pressure to which many people succumb (I can't tell you how many people have said, "Oh, yes, Summit Consulting Group—I know your work" when they couldn't possibly).

In this phase, consultants begin to apply stronger qualification criteria to potential business. Value-based fees are the norm for consulting work, and there is a conscious drive to create high-margin business rather than more business. The fee levels therefore tend to be above average for the services provided, and the quotations are firm. The consultant in the word-of-mouth phase would rather walk away from business than accept poor-margin business. The need for exposure and potential contacts has been largely overcome by the effectiveness of the marketing effort.

At this stage of one's career, there is probably the first real opportunity to establish major retirement and investment plans, pay off long-term indebtedness, and take spontaneous vacations or make significant impulse purchases.

My experience is that the word-of-mouth phase is where many consultants plateau. They begin to get "fat and happy," and complacency sets in. Even though most consultants are relatively young when they first hit this phase, their learning stops, and they assume they're going to continue to grow simply ...