#12: Clarity of purpose

When establishing the overall framework for a successful sole practitioner consultancy, we cited three key success factors for people to consider when setting up as a consultant – Self-Awareness, Clarity of Purpose, and Price Integrity. My last article looked at Self-Awareness, so today we will consider the second of these in greater detail.

It is really important that you are clear in your own mind what it is that you are offering, as without that clarity it will be hard for you to articulate to your prospects what your offering is. Below I have set out 10 questions which you may want to ask yourself. If you can answer these 10 questions in a robust manner, then you are pretty much “good-to-go”:

1. What business do I want to be in?
2. What do I want my business to look like 5 years from now?
3. What key values and principles are going to guide me?
4. Who is my audience?
5. How will I market my offering?
6. How will I run my business?
7. What help do I need to run my business?
8. What are my financial targets?
9. How will I measure my performance?
10. What does my Action Plan look like?

Try capturing your answers to these questions in a one-page plan to keep your approach crisp and concise.

A final thought for you; Michael W. McLaughlin wrote a fantastic article entitled “Creating a Service Offer Your Prospects Can’t Refuse”. In the article he said the following:

“Before most clients buy anything, they expect evidence that shows you can answer three questions:

1. Do you understand the as-is state that creates the need for outside help?
2. Do you have a vision of the future in which the current problem becomes a distant memory?
3. What is that path to a brighter future?

If your service offer misses any of these questions, it’s a dud”

Worth reflecting on…

In my next article we will look at your business skills inventory and the last of the three key success factors, Price Integrity.