How to Land Your First Consulting Client as a Data Scientist or Data Engineer

How to Land Your First Consulting Client as a Data Scientist or Data Engineer

July 6, 2019 Data Driven Culture Data Science Consult 0

Getting your first client as a data science consultant is just like trying to get your first job with no experience. It feels borderline impossible and barely anyone will consider your services. Everyone wants experienced consultants with references, project examples, and case studies. But how are you supposed to get references and project examples without first working on another project?

Now, this makes sense. Compared to you, experienced consultants will seem to be a much better option. They have more experience working as an auxiliary entity vs. working as an employee. These really are two different things, its important to realize consulting requires more than just technical skills.

You need to know how to manage a client relationship. This includes creating a solid onboarding process, creating relationships quickly and scoping the problem as well as assessing roadblocks. This might all seem like things you do at your job, but you are probably overlooking the support you get from the various other employees and cross-functional partners.

When you are a consultant, there are limitations to your support team. You won’t have a project manager to keep things on track or system admin to make sure all of your technology is working correctly. So if things break, or you’re locked out of your client’s system, you need to go through the process of figuring out who to contact and how you will fix the problem. This makes even a small problem that much more difficult to deal with and if you are new to consulting, you might not know how to handle these problems efficiently.

So, the question becomes, “How do you get your first consulting client?” In this piece, we are going to focus on the first step. That is, how do you get noticed by a possible client.

We are going to lay out some tips to help you land your first client. Now we should point out that following just one of these tips may not be enough. It really does require doing all of the tips listed below. Similar to job searching, when working to get your first client to notice you, you’ll need to be everywhere.


Create A Website With A Blog

In the modern era, creating a website is more important than having a business card. It used to be that the only way you could get clients was by knowing the right people. Now, it is by knowing what potential clients will be GooglingYou want to get your site noticed by executives and individual contributors by creating content that answers their questions.

The content doesn’t need to be overly detailed or contain thousands of words.Concentrate on giving advice on common problems, like how to calculate metrics, create a database, or implement a model.

Blogs may seem cliche, but actually creating posts that answer people’s questions are valuable and make your website stand out. Some people feel like they have to hold all they know close to the vest, but sharing what you know is ok! Companies still need someone to execute and implement what the blog posts contain. The knowledge alone is never enough.

For instance, if I were ever to need a SQL consultant, I would consider hiring Pinal Dave, the person behind SQL Authority. Anytime I have a SQL question and visit the SQL Authority site, I know I am going to get the right answer. Pinal clearly knows what he is doing and has provided a lot of valuable content for free and I am sure he still gets plenty of clients. Don’t stress about giving away knowledge. Knowledge is cheap. Everything is a Google click away. People hire you for your understanding of how to use that knowledge.


Create A Free Services Or Resource

Offering free resources or a simple free service related to what you are consulting on are great ways to attract possible clients. For instance, what if poorsql.com, a site that auto-formats your SQL neatly, was on a consulting site. Now, every-time some user wanted to format their SQL quickly, they would visit that site.

This would a pretty simple application to develop and it could provide a lot of value.

A simple resource could be something like templates for proposals and presentations. Making a very solid proposal and or presentation can be a lot of work, especially adding all the finishing touches. If you provide a well-made template and your post comes up first when people Google “How to write a proposal”, you again have an opportunity to create customer trust. Thus, making it more likely a person will reach out to you for their future project.


Attend Meet-Ups, Do a Talk

Writing posts online is great for introverts because you can get your opinion across without needing to venture too far outside of our comfort zone. For those who are extroverts, however, going to meet-ups and giving talks is very valuable.

When I give talks and interact in meet-ups, I maybe talk to two or three people. However, I know plenty of people who can talk to everyone, get all their emails and learn the names of their dogs or some other fun fact that you can reference when you send them a follow-up. Speaking and attending meet-ups are a great way to meet new people. Yes, a lot of people at these meet-ups might also be looking for connections, but you never know who you will meet. Finding clients is about the long game. So don’t go to these meet-ups looking at everyone as a client. Instead, approach them with genuine care and interest

Even if you aren’t that good. It is still worth going and doing the occasional talk. It improves your public speaking skills and gets your name out there.


Social Media Marketing Works

We lightly referenced social media earlier, but we wanted to point it out one more time. Social media marketing is an effective method of getting people to notice your service.

The best part about social media marketing is it is often an asymmetrical investment when you start to get better at it. That is to say, as consultants, we aren’t trying to sell a $20 dollar hoodie. Instead, we are often trying to get work worth thousands of dollars. This means if we invest a few hundred dollars into advertising and get a single client, it can be worth it. Now, you do need to start to get a feel for who you’re targeting and the content you need to create. So I would recommend waiting on this until you have a stockpile of content at your disposal.


Be a Content Creator

This is all leads to my last point. Content. For your first client, you have nothing to really show. You don’t have any previous clients you can point to, so it is hard to develop trust. Creating content is a great way to develop trust and show you know what you are talking about.

One great example of marketing that I apply to consulting is Disney. I know you are probably wondering, “What does Disney have to do with getting consulting clients, and or marketing?” Well, here is the thing, Disney is essentially one giant marketing apparatus. Their movies push their TV shows, their TV shows and movies push their toys, they have music and so much other content that everything they do essentially ties back and resells some other aspect.

In the same way, as a consultant, you will be doing work for clients, which leads to case studies, which ties back to your blog which ties back to your services, etc. It all ties back. Content is a great way to create trust and new clients.

marketing consulting plan

Conclusion: Stay on Top of People’s Minds!

At the end of the day, you need to stay on top of people’s minds. Consulting as a data scientist or software engineer means you only are required on certain projects. These frequently are very niche and difficult. These projects only happen every so often at companies which limits the amount you will be needed. This is why getting clients takes time and you honestly never know where your first client will come from. It is important to just be ready when the client shows up. Make sure you have a step-by-step plan ready for when you land that first client!

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