Like many small business owners, I love my work AND I don’t always spend the time I should on the business development efforts.  A #bizdev seminar this week, by David A Fields, had a few key nuggets on how to build a lucrative consulting practice (side note:  this is Year 10 for Runkle Consulting, so we must be doing something right already).

• Fish where the fish are. Fish where people have problems and they want to solve them.
• Approach your client with two silent questions:  Do you have a problem?  Do you have a budget to get that problem solves?
• Determine your target audience, the type of consultant you are, and your strengths (check, check, and check)
• Your business today is a reflection of what you did 6-9 months ago. If you want to have a stellar 2016, you better get hopping now.
• And finally, you can always learn more skills, but you can’t create client problems.