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It's a classic challenge for the on-the-road consultant: How do you wow the client who's paying your tab while holding down the fort for other clients? And you'd better buck up, because this dilemma has a third horn: To keep your practice in top form, you really need to prospect for new business continuously, even while you're traveling on business.
If you're going to meet this triple challenge, you've got to work at it morning, noon and night. Here's how:
Morning
For management consultant Elaine Biech, the business day might start with some serendipitous prospecting, facilitated by elbow rubbing on a flight to a client meeting. "I always fly first class using frequent flyer miles," says Biech, whose firm, Ebb Associates Inc., is based in Portage, Wisconsin. "A lot of business cards are exchanged there, and I've gotten a few clients this way."
Biech, whose customers have included the Federal Reserve Bank, USA Today and Lands' End, also uses the morning to phone clients other than the one she's visiting. "I take advantage of time differences," she says. So when she's on the West Coast, for example, she uses the early morning to call clients in the Eastern time zone, where the business day has already begun.
Biech also uses off-hours to review the status of her own business. "I've reduced my business financials to a couple of matrices, and I look at those on a weekly basis," she says. "Knowing what your business is doing is critical, even while you're on the road."
Noon
Managing the middle of the day is perhaps the biggest challenge when you're visiting a client away from your home base. The sponsoring client may expect that they own every minute of your time when they've paid a fat fee for a day of your services.
But Biech has kept clients happy by giving them more than they bargained for -- by putting in a 12-hour day, for example -- while also keeping in touch with the rest of the world. "I tell the client, 'I need to make a phone call at 11,' and I even tell them why I make the phone call. What you're really talking about here is relationships."
Biech notes that she's punctilious about the ethics of using her clients' resources for other business. When Biech returned my phone call requesting an interview for this article, she told me, "I called you from a client's phone, but I paid for the call." Playing fast and loose with expenses billed to clients "is one of the things that gives consultants a bad name," she says. "I cross off whatever doesn't apply to the sponsoring client," for example.
Night
Your best opportunity for out-of-town networking is probably after hours, when the client you're serving has gone home to digest the wisdom you've dispensed. "Most of my business is either repeat or referral," Biech says. When on the road, "I will call people and go to dinner," either just to take a break or to drum up more contacts or projects.
Biech also beefs up her reputation by making appearances before her colleagues across the country. "I volunteer to speak at professional meetings," she says. Industry organizations often have local or regional chapters in many cities, and your membership in the national organization could help you win an invitation to give a talk.
The exposure from that speech just might win you your next big contract. And that's the kind of return you can expect if you invest in yourself day in and day out.
