One thing that I have been good at over my career is selling myself. This is a skill that you can always be working on. Even when I was working for my last company, up until my last day there, I was selling myself to the company's customers. You never know when someone will need your capabilities. Here are 4 key things that are required to successfully sell your services
1) Believe in yourself (your capabilities, your worth to the client)
2) Always be selling, especially when they are not buying
3) Never burn any bridges
4) Over deliver
To have any success I think you have to believe in yourself. I know what my skill set is and where my strengths and weakness are. I also know how fast I can pick up new skill when required. This is tied together with knowing what I'm worth to my customers. It helps that I know what my company used to bill my out at, so I know what people were willing to pay for me. Even still, my first contract was under priced. When it was time to renew, I said I would, but only at a new rate.
When you are consulting, every interaction is a sales call. The weekly status meeting is a reminder to the client of my capabilities and what I'm bringing to the table. My goal of every interaction with clients, partners, and any one else I run into is to be professional and be viewed as an expert in my field. Each time I build up my personal brand that these people will remember when they have a problem that I can solve. Networking and selling go hand in hand. The benefit of selling yourself (instead of trying to sell a product) is that it should never feel like a sales pitch. You should just be yourself, connecting with people, expanding your network and building your personal brand.
The world really is a small place. Even on the internet with billions of people online, people know people. I always leave a job and/or customer in the best possible conditions. The majority of my work has come from past employers or customers. If I had burned bridges it would affect my reputation. That is a problem when what I'm selling is myself.
The easiest way to sell yourself is to over deliver on the last job. This is the sure fire way to get repeat business. Word of mouth advertising is the best form of advertisement. I just received an email where a former client was telling a potential client that "I recall we spoke last week about you looking for some outside the box SOA talent. ... I cannot speak highly enough about Chris' talents." So now not only am I selling but now my customer is even selling for me.
By leveraging these 4 items, I have been successful at getting consulting work. Would you add anything else to this list? Let me know in the comments.
