A consultant works with the management of a business to improve the profitability of the business. Working with the top management, you can rest assured the consultant is a very highly paid individual. Some consultants charge $100 per hour. Others charge $1,500 per day for their services, and still others work on an annual retainer fee of $12,000 to over $30,000 per year from any number of large corporations.

A consultant is an expert at recognizing problems and shaping solutions to those problems. The need for business problem solvers - among large and small businesses worldwide - has never been greater. The ever changing moods of the buyer plus the myriad of crisis situations businessmen face almost daily, have created this "seller's market" for the alert consultant.

Reaching for a consultant when problems arise is as natural as looking for the sun to come up every morning. When you're not feeling well, you call for the services of a doctor. If your car isn't running right, you take it to a mechanic. And so it is with a businessman when he encounters a problem - whether it be in the field of accounting, legal, sales or customer relations.

It is not necessary for you to have owned or operated a successful business to become a successful business consultant. Nor is it imperative that you have been in management or have held a titled position. You will, however, need the ability to sell yourself, and an up-to-date understanding of the area in which you intend to assist others.

The first step is to make an honest evaluation of your own training and experience. You might be an ambitious tax consultant who was never recognized for your abilities. You might be especially good in such general areas as systems design, marketing, advertising, distribution, sales, or even efficiency, time management, scheduling, expediting or productivity. There are hundreds of consultants across the country specializing in Direct Mail and Mail Order operations. Most of these people enjoyed some measure of success in those fields, and then discovered the easier way - advising others on how to operate successfully. There are consultants for people who want success with a garage sale, party plan merchandising, or even multi-level operations. The important thing is to choose an area in which you've had some experience; an area that you have spent some time learning about and of course, an area of work that you enjoy.

The point is, most people dont realize how much expertise they really have, or the probable marketability of their training, knowledge and experience. The important thing is to look over your educational strengths, combine that with any special training or on-the-job experience, and then offer your expertise to help others with their problems along the lines you know best.

There's still another very important method of finding new clients, and that is via Direct Mail solicitation. This is done either by postcard or sales letter mailings. For a mailing list of local businesses, check the yellow pages of your telephone directory, under the heading "Mailing Lists." Tell the advertiser the kind of mailing list you need - if they dont have it, ask them for the names of suppliers who might be able to supply your needs. Alternately, you could compile your own mailing list of prospects most likely to be interested in your services. Mark the names you want in the area business directory, and pay someone to input these names onto a computer for you. The computer should be able to supply you with peal-and-stick address labels at a nominal cost. Putting your list on computer from the start will save you thousands of dollars in money and count less hours of work.

Your postcard solicitation should basically be an elaboration of your printed advertising. In other words, an ad or a Direct Mail Consultant might be transferred to a postcard along these lines:

ARE YOU HAVING TROUBLE GETTING RESULTS WITH YOUR DIRECT MAIL BUSINESS ?

I can help you! Show you how to double, maybe even triple the response from your mailings! Expand your market! Increase your profitability!

Another point to remember when writing sales letters: Always appeal to the needs and wants of the person whos going to be reading the letter. He will start reading to see if your services can benefit him. He is greatly interested in more profits, reduced production costs and higher efficiency. He is looking for answers to his most pressing problems. Keep these elements in mind when you write a sales solicitation letter, whether for yourself or for a client.

Basically, your letter should do what the postcard does for you - move the recipient to call you and allow you to set up an appointment to discuss his needs as your client. Whether you're writing an advertisement or a sales letter, it's important that you have the objective clearly in mind - what you want the reader to do. With this in mind, you needn't use the "hard sell" approach quite as forcefully as someone asking for money on the first contact.

All that's left is meeting with the prospect, listening to his problems, and hearing what he wants, then write out a proposal to solve his problems and satisfy his wants. This means selling yourself to the prospect - assuring him you know what you're talking about, and that you can make him more successful.

There you have it - a plan that can lead you to success as a Business Consultant. Remember, though, no amount of research, reading, listening or investment can make you successful until you do something with them. Action on your part is the absolute ingredient that must be added, and that's up to you. Your future is in your own hands.