Before we begin, I’ll call out the pink elephant in the room…I’m more or less a ‘consultant’ writing an article about why you should hire a consultant…
Yeah, I’m biased and this article might be a little self-serving, but it also happens to be true, so I’m going to keep going!
A terrific reason to work with a consultant is they bring their experience and knowhow from working with dozens…or even hundreds of clients over the years.
They’ve seen what’s worked and they’ve seen what’s failed.
They seen products or services that succeeded…sometimes in in the face of subpar execution. They’ve seen otherwise ‘perfect’ offers matched to the ‘perfect’ audience inexplicably crash and burn.
They bring that outside perspective to your business. They are there to ask questions and approach bottlenecks, roadblocks, ceilings or plateaus in new (but more often in old, tried-and-true) ways.
The best consultants aren’t precious about their own opinions, or anyone else’s…including the client’s. They are there to question assumptions and get to the heart of what matters…results.
Because (I hate to break it to you), there isn’t a secret sauce or silver bullet that consultants possess that works all the time, in every industry, under any circumstance.
The truth is actually far more scary that that:
- The truth is that everything works.
- But the truth is also that nothing works.
There are many assumptions in business, and perhaps doubly so when it comes to digital marketing.
There are people shouting from the rooftops about how this one thing changed their business.
But whether it’s about building an “Ascension Ladder” of low priced offerings that slowly mount in price over time or how it’s ‘just as easy to convert high ticket offerings’ and make more sales with fewer overall leads, the truth remains the same.
Both ways are right, and both ways are wrong.
More than one thing can be true at the same time, even those that completely contradict each other.
For instance, the concept that something ‘heavier than air’ can fly. The helium balloon flies because helium is lighter than air while the lead balloon drops like a rock.
By my own lived experience I can witness the helium and lead balloons and proclaim that nothing can fly that is heavier than air.
But then look up in the sky at those huge 747 jets carrying hundreds of passengers and weighing hundreds of tons!
(according to simpleflying.com – 220 tons to be precise)
Which means that under the right circumstances (i.e. aerodynamics, jet engines, jet fuel and a bazillion pounds of thrust) even something crushingly heavy can fly at tremendous speeds in the air high above our heads.
What works (or doesn’t) for your business now boils down to your particular circumstances.
Just because something didn’t work in the past, doesn’t mean it won’t work in the future…and vice versa.
When a consultant walks into your business, they are blissfully unaware of the things you’ve already tried and whether they worked or didn’t work.
They will ask you questions about why you do things a certain way, or why you don’t.
If most of what they hear back are generalities like:
- Everyone says long copy doesn’t work any more
- Everyone hates webinars/video sales letters
- Sell low ticket and gradually ramp up to higher priced items
- People get mad if they get too much email
A good consultant will question why you believe these things and whether the opinion is backed by data. Ideally data that you’ve collected via a well executed test.
If the answer is that the client are merely rehashing advice from experts online that hasn’t been tested in their business, then it’s high time to test those assumptions.
What does a test look like? Tune in next time!