Re: Marketing Yourself as a Consultant

[Bruce Byfield <bbyfield -at- progeny -dot- com>]

Tony Rocco wrote:
> 
> Does anyone have any tips about how they market and present themselves as a
> technical writing consultant? How do you present your portfolio, do you use
> collateral materials, do you have any special techniques for
> self-promotion? Thanks.

The single most important thing you have to market is your professional
reputation.

Locally, technical writers have a vast reputation for unreliability and
prima donna attitudes. From this list, various e-mail contacts, and my
business travel, I believe that this reputation is common anywhere.
Whether this reputation is deserved in general or in individual cases
are matters I won't get into. However, soon after I started working
regularly in the field, I understood that the reputation was the main
obstacle to establishing myself as more than a work-for-hire hack.

I soon decided that I would base my relation with clients on several
basic principles:

1.) I would give accurate estimates of the time needed to complete
projects. If delays arose, I would make sure the client knew as soon as
possible.

2.) I would explain clearly to the client at the outset what I needed to
complete a project, including what interaction I needed with staff.

3.) I would do the best job possible within the constraints of the
project, including the time I had.

4.) I would learn as much as I could about every aspect of the
profession, and about the technology I was documenting - not just enough
to slip by.

5.) Despite my own preferences, I would deliver my work in the format
that the client required.

6.) I would get my contract in writing, so that both the client and I
knew where the other stood.

7.) While I would not hesitate to tell a client when it wasn't
delivering what was promised, I would keep my temper and civility in
dealing with a client's representative.

Looking back, I can't claim that I always kept to these rules. However,
in retrospect, any trouble I have had with a client has always resulted
from ignoring one or more of these rules.

More to the point, after a few jobs, I had an unbroken list of
references who would testify that I was reliable, did quality work, and
focused on results (boy, did I have them fooled!). After a rough six
months making the transition, I found my hourly rate steadily
increasing, and my services branching out into other areas outside of
technical writing.

Which goes to show you: live clean, be pure in thought and deed, and
you, too, can be a consultant, wondering where your next meal is coming
from.

-- 
Bruce Byfield 604.421.7177 bbyfield -at- progeny -dot- com

"Yes, it's hard love, but it's love just the same,
Not the stuff of fantasy, but more than just a game,
And the only kind of miracle that's worthy of the name,
For the love that heals our lives is mostly hard love."
- Bob Franke, "Hard Love" (as sung by June Tabor)

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