Winning Your First IT Consulting Project

The hardest part of IT consulting arguably is landing that first customer and project. This is obviously one of the important steps in a successful career. Unfortunately, it often is where dreams of consulting die. The world has gotten smaller and it is easier to connect with potential customers. However, this makes competition more likely as well. Over the years I have found a number of attributes of strong contenders. Here are some things you can do without have a long resume or vast portfolio.

Find a Prospect

There are many ways to find opportunities these days. Advertising your services and direct mail are ok. However, sites like Upwork.com and Guru.com will provide better results and qualified leads. The proposals may be numerous, but if you follow the steps here you can stand out. It is important to realize that these sites do tend to provide quantity over quality. The prospects are not always a good fit for you. Unfortunately, when looking for your first project you can not be picky. The goal is to get a project, prove success, and be able to use that as a reference for the next one.

State The Project Clearly

A prospect that feels comfortable talking to you is more likely to become a customer. This starts by restating the project in your own words. Examine all the details that have been provided and make sure your proposal includes prioritization that matches the request. It never hurts to research the prospect, if possible. Visit their website and review any documentation they provide. The more you know about the opportunity, the easier it will be to speak their language and build a rapport.

Ask Questions

It is not always easy to clearly state the project. There are too many requests that are lacking details. Sometimes this is intentional to draw out questions and conversations. At other times these holes are just a lack of understanding what information is required. Regardless the case, ask questions or start a dialog to ensure you have as clear an understanding of the prospect’s desires as possible. This dialog will help build rapport as well as provide you the details needed to create a more concrete proposal. There are projects that lack the definition required to provide a useful plan. However, when you help a prospect think through those description details, it significantly improves your chance for a successful bid.

Provide Value Early and Often

The most important part of any business relationship is that it must be profitable or at least provide value. Do not be afraid to offer some value before the prospect is a customer. One effective way to do this is to fill in gaps in a proposal. Provide some suggested features or an approach to the solution that will show off your understanding. Common sense holes like failure to mention security, administrative features, and reporting are a safe start. Even when you do not have a ton of consulting experience you should at least know that these elements exist in almost any application. There are also specifics of desktop, web, or mobil applications that are worth mentioning in your response. Even if they do not choose your proposal these suggestions may provide value that brings them back in the future.

Packaging is Important

One weakness I have seen in proposals on sites like we have mentioned is that they are formulaic. The typical response is something along the lines of, “We are a great company, we can do your project, here is our estimate.” Go the extra mile and find or build a visually impressive response template with a logo and some of that boilerplate marketing material. However, keep the marketing stuff to a minimum. Instead, provide more details about your proposal. Break out the estimates where it makes sense, provide milestones, and include a project plan or timeline. Set some expectations for delivery and cost. Use a template or spend the time on the response to make it more similar to a report you would have turned in for a college class than a quick email response.

Review and Proofread

The fastest way to be rejected is to submit a proposal full of glaring errors. Even when the prospect apparently spent very little time on the request you will be more likely to win with a plan that shows time and thought went into it. Spell checkers are useful and should be turned on. However, do not rely on them or even grammar checkers. Re-read your proposal to make it flows well. It should be easy to read along with being correct grammatically.

Respond in a Timely Manner

Once you have submitted any form of response to a prospect timeliness is important. Thus, keep an eye on the email address or contact in box where any replies from the prospect will land. Try to keep every response to same business day and usually within a few hours. This can be difficult when you consider potential time zone differences. However, a prospect that feels like you are on top of all communication will be more comfortable moving forward. This also can provide a way to get in front of the competition. When you respond “immediately” and the competition seems to take days to answer, you may win the project before they even respond.

Timeliness should not be an excuse for sloppiness though. Make sure you thoroughly review any response and provide a professional tone. Simple details like this can make you seem bigger and more experienced than you are. When you have little work to show this is a major step in building the confidence that turns a prospect into a customer.

Just Do It

Many of the consultants that never win their first project never sent out a proposal. The analysis and worry that goes into a project stop many of us dead in our tracks. As with most things in life, there is no such thing as perfect. There is no value in waiting until you are perfectly positioned to win that first job. In fact, failing with some proposals is an excellent way to learn and take steps towards that first win. Just make sure you try to get better each time. Before you know it you will have an in-depth history of customers and successful projects to leverage your next job.