You're a consultant who's just starting out. How do you build a client base?

Take your time and, in simple words, write everything down on a piece of paper for yourself: your successes, your failures, your gaps, your skills, and your experiences, as well as anything that you are willing to do as a consultant. It may take several days to do, but then you will clearly understand your niche.

In addition to identifying your niche, stay true to it. In other words, avoid the temptation to pursue opportunities that are on or outside of the margins of your and your team's expertise. This does not mean that your niche can never expand, but any expansion should be thoughtful and with the confidence that you have the resources and skills to prove it.

Definitely solutions can help and that stems from the expertise with the basic qualifications! A consultant has to be all-in-one with experience and knowledge that grows on a daily basis. No doubt on the confidence and soft skills that remain a particular requirement for sure, the client would require your previous success stories on the particular niche. The niche remains important with the business requirements and identification to a wide to narrow ratio is significant step for sure. It comes with cognitive skills and capacity to build up the vision.

For consultants seeking clients, defining a niche is vital. Begin by identifying your expertise and market demand, then assess competition to find gaps. Define your ideal client profile, craft a compelling value proposition, and establish a consistent brand identity. This approach builds credibility and attracts clients effectively.

Additionally, if you're just starting out as a new consultant, it's important to be flexible and adaptable. Your niche may evolve as you gain more experience and insight into the needs of your clients. Stay informed about industry trends and developments to ensure your skills and offerings remain relevant. Lastly, continuously seek feedback from clients to refine your services and adapt to their changing needs.

I agree that showcasing your portfolio is essential in building credibility and trust with potential clients. In addition to the platforms mentioned, consider leveraging social media platforms such as Instagram or Twitter to showcase your work and engage with your target audience. These platforms allow you to share visual content, client testimonials, and behind-the-scenes insights, which can help humanize your brand and attract more clients. However, it's important to approach social media with caution. If not managed correctly, it can backfire and harm your professional reputation. This is to ensure that your socials reflects your brand in a positive light.

An easy way to showcase is to create a solid LinkedIn portfolio. There are so many professional people from all over the world who can see you and each of them can be a potential opportunity for you to make a new start.

It's good to test your showcases in real life practically. You can collect some feedbacks about your showcase projects from your work environment or you can use your owen created templates and small projects in real life project so you can improve your profile with stronger, tested and proved showcases.

In the world of consulting, prospects and clients want to do business with those that they know, trust, and like, or those who are referred to them by someone they know, trust, and like. Ensure that your network knows that you are in consulting and ask for an introduction to their contacts that they think may be interested in your services. Also, never stop networking, it will directly affect your success, and is worth the investment of your time and energy.

If you don't have a solid network, then you don't exist. Having a network will give you an easy access to a limitless number of peers and professionals, however you don't need to have connection with everyone of them. Make sure you have the right people around you, no matter where they might be. Let them give you advice when you need them.

Para empezar me parece muy importante el boca a boca que funciona muy bien a través de la red de contactos, pero si no los tienes habrá que acudir a otras opciones. Y ahí recomiendo las redes y si es necesario puede ser también una buena opción invertir tiempo y dinero en ir a eventos...

Tu red de contactos es fundamental para encontrar tus primeros clientes porque te conocen y valoran tus habilidades. - ex empresas en las cuales has trabajado: puedes identificar necesidad que puedes cubrir con tu oferta de servicio. - ex compañeros de trabajo: contacta con ellos y explícales lo que estás haciendo, puede que en su empresa misma o entorno profesional identifiquen clientes potenciales. - pide recomendaciones. - amigos y familiares: aprovecha cualquier ocasión para explicarles de forma sencilla lo que haces y pídeles de estar atento en su entorno. - participa a eventos físicos o virtuales para conectar con otros profesionales de tu ámbito profesional. - comunica y comparte contenidos de valor en redes profesionales.

On potential clients and existing customers make at least 5 to 6 calls a day and in the afternoon when they don't want to see a professional representative, go to your office a rewrite your day and do the follow ups

Only being experienced is not enough. You must be doing something about it. If you are good at something, don't hide it. Let others use your knowledge. You may start by creating content here on LinkedIn; do it step by step.

Your word is your bond. When you commit to provide something to a client by a certain date you need to deliver on time. Clients do not want to be thanked for their patience when a deliverable is not provided on time, they want the deliverable.

The more you work on yourself and your skills, the better you will get. Do it regularly. Follow the 30-minute rule and do it step by step. The best thing you can do is work on yourself, not your career, projects, or anything else out there. Make time for yourself, and don't stop working on yourself.

Best way to learn is practising in your work environment. Apply what you learn directly in the daily tasks and process. Invest in your relation with your team mates to exchange your knowledge and improve your understanding for what you learned. Also it is very important to know your character in learning shape. Should you go deeply in one knowledge area and support it horizontaly in many other areas or to go gradually and simultaneously in multi areas in graduate plane. Your learning shape should be planed for long term.