• Be as specific as you can be: It may be to attract enough new business to grow your practice in the next year so that you can keep 25 people busy.

• It may be to jumpstart a new practice with 3 more of your ideal clients in the next six months.

• Or it may be to test a new field. You want feedback to help you make your decision whether to go full steam ahead or to reconsider your direction.

• This becomes the purpose of your plan.

Here you develop your USP -- your Unique Selling Proposition or Unique Service Position. Look at your consulting firm from the mind of your prospect. How do you want that individual to view you?

Marketing guru Dan Kennedy asks the question:
"Why should I (your prospect) choose your business versus any/every other option available to me in your category?"

Serendipitously, this month's tip at http://www.hansonmarketing.com/monthtip6.html is about creating your Unique Selling Proposition. It's called "Magic Words: Differentiate Yourself And Turn Prospects Into Clients With the Right Words . . . Your USP."

Many of you complain that your direct mail doesn't work. Without a USP your business can fade into a crowd of look-alikes -- one reason your direct mail can fail. Another might be not weighing in with a superabundance of proof (Step Three above).

So far, your help to break through your "I'm not good at selling" barrier includes:

• Let others speak out for you through their testimonials
  
• Craft compelling success stories to sell your firm, and
  
• Be prepared with the right USP.

Draw on the first four steps to set your priorities. Then, create a list of possible marketing methods that seem to have potential for you. The more you know about your prospects and clients and your competition, the easier it will be to develop this list.

• How did you attract your favorite clients?
  Your answer may help you select marketing tools to capitalize on.

• Notice, we said "marketing tools."
  That's because we recommend relying on more than one.

• How about starting with referrals?
  You can wait for them to happen or you can integrate a referral strategy into your consulting business.

• You'll find a powerful strategy in "Master The Art Of Attracting Referrals To Build Your Ideal Practice"

• If you haven't read our interview with consultant Roger Prichard in the last two weeks, we beg you to go back to it and incorporate Roger's advice into your consulting practice. It's that good!

• Then, to get started, add one other marketing tool. It could be the articles strategy we wrote about recently, a newsletter joined to telephone follow-up, networking in key associations, sending out letters or post cards, a mailing combined with telephone follow-up, an Internet strategy, a Yellow Pages ad, etc.

• As you make your decision, take into account the amount of time you will commit to marketing. For many, time will be the largest item in your budget.

• Think of your marketing effort as a test. Try it out in a low-key way and track your responses. That way you minimize your financial investment as you gain valuable information.
  What information?

  You'll learn whether your marketing tool is ready to roll out big time or whether you need to make changes before you proceed. Possibly, you'll discover that your resources would be better invested in an entirely different marketing approach.

• Which brings up the subject of budget.
  How much should you budget for marketing?

• Sometimes we include a separate step for budgeting. The way we set up this marketing plan, though, you can test with a minimal financial outlay. Note, too, that many of the techniques you can call on such as referrals, articles, networking, or an Internet strategy without a Web site, are low cost.

This is the step where you fill in the who, what, when, where, how, and why of your marketing plan.

• Break your marketing tools into specific steps.

• List each step in a day-by-day or week-by-week calendar that tells you which marketing activities you are carrying out when along with who is going to do it and how.

• In your action guide, plan on approaching your prospects again and again.

• Let them hear from you at least every 90 days. People forget, their situations change, or they simply may need time to develop confidence in you and your services or products.

• And once you fill in Steps One through Four, you'll know what words to put into your marketing communications to optimize your results.

• Most important, don't hide your calendar at the back of your desk drawer or in an out-of-sight-out-of-mind digital place. Confront your action guide daily.