This is a continuation of our series on Discovering Your Intake Process. In this episode, we talk more about the consultation piece of the intake process. Even if you don’t typically do a consultation, stay tuned because these things don’t happen in a vacuum. Find out whether you need to do a consultation or not and what to charge for consults assuming you’re doing them. Finally, we discuss the collection of information.
At the end of the day, you have to be very deliberate about the purpose of your consultation. So then you can decide if you’re going to charge, how you’re going to charge, who’s going to do it, and all of the other factors that go into a consultation.
The intake process is a sales process. If you’re thinking of consultation from a sales perspective, always talk about the process that the potential client will go through because they want to know what the process is going to look like. Generally, you don’t give advice while you’re still trying to tell somebody that you’re the right fit. Therefore, there are some things you need to consider when it comes to doing consultations.
Show Highlights:
- What is a consultation?
- Different purposes of a consultation
- Who is doing the consultation
- Charging for consults: the pros and cons
- The collection of information
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Supporting Resources:
Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert Cialdini
ACTION STEPS:
1. Write down YOUR goals for YOUR firm’s consultations
- Are you selling?
- Are you providing information?
- Are you mapping out the process for the client?
- Are you charging?
2. If you’re not already, try charging the next potential client for the consultation (this is one of the easiest changes that you can make because chances are, they don’t know that this is something new or a change).
3. Analyze and redesign your forms for a better client experience
- Highlight the questions you need to determine IF you can help the client and HOW MUCH to charge them. Make those into a separate form to use before the consult and save the rest of the questions for AFTER they’ve hired you.