Million Dollar Consulting - Top 15 Tips  

10th October 2008

1. Don’t ever charge for time, charge for value and outcomes

2. Build on your strengths; outsource your non-core competencies

3. To establish growth from your high-end clients, you need to strategically ‘divest’ your business of those at the low end

4. Convert your services into revenue streams via product packages, programs and retainers

5. Create a client service policy for new, existing and passive clients and make it a core part of your client growth strategy

6. Be very clear about what sort of clients you want before you take action to acquire new ones

7. Create a professional and consistent brand

8. Keep learning, keep developing, and make sure you continue to add value, ideas and insights for your clients

9. Don’t try to cover all bases with your marketing activities at any given time – pick the key activities you’re comfortable with, test and measure whether it works, and tweak as required

10. Build your IP as it will add to the value of your business asset

11. Introduce your clients to each other – they will appreciate it

12. Sustainable competitive advantage and unique selling propositions don’t really exist in service firms. Focus on building deeper relationships with your clients.

13. Even if you aren’t good with the numbers (especially then), develop a process to manage your cashflow – nasty surprises can kill a business (and you!)

14. Your lifestyle is in the bottom line, not the top line. Focus on the drivers of your bottom line.

15. Good company culture drives performance. When people are out of alignment with the culture of your business, they don’t belong on your team.