Know-How Exchange : Taglines/Names

In most cases billing by the hour or day is a lose/lose proposition for the consultant and the client. Avoid it if at all possible. The consultant is motivated to be as inefficient as possible, and the client is reluctant to spend any more time than absolutely necessary giving the consultant important information. The client is constantly watching the meter tick away his money, and that's not productive for either of you.

You need to get yourself a copy of Rasputin For Hire : An inside look at management consulting between jobs or as a second career. There is a detailed discussion of the three most common ways to charge for consulting services, along with a list of the pros and cons of each one.

There are also several other suggestions in there that will probably be helpful to you as you start your new consulting business. You might as well benefit from the lessons learned by those who have been through this before.

You can preview the table of contents, introduction, and chapter 1 at the website www.rasputinforhire.com . The book can be purchased on the website or through Amazon.com, bn.com, or most bookstores in the US. It's a very cost- and time-efficient way to learn what you need to know about this business.

I think you will find it helpful in a number of ways, including the discussion of pricing options. (But, of course, I am biased!)

As for a tagline, why do you need/want one? What to you expect it to do for you? What is it you want to communicate with the tagline?

If you have a clear and compelling positioning statement, then the tagline needs to communicate the key positioning benefit in simple and unambiguous terms.

If you don't have a compelling positioning statement, then that needs to come first -- before you even think of a tagline.

Who is your primary target audience? What is their greatest unmet need? How are you going to address that need in a way that will set you apart from all the other people who do what you're going to do? Why should someone hire you?

Deal with those basics first. Then we'll be able to help you with a tagline.


P.S. At the risk of sounding like a broken record, you will find a whole section on positioning in Rasputin For Hire. It's discussed in the book at some length, and there are several pages at the end (Appendix C, page 187+) that share the notes from a seminar on Positioning.

Hi,

OK, Tagline is easy actually, just provide a little more data, and we'll see....maybe a hip one....listen while everyone else on the forum gives you a very presice and accurate answer,i seem to always take care of "juveniling" ing it all. But seriously, i like the upside of marketing, i mean I have marketing Managers who take care of all the boring stuff for me now, I just enjoy working......so if you don't think a "cool" tagline and strategy will help you.....please, mention it in your response...
thanks...

and good luck...great career move..