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The Soloist LifeTurn your expertise into wealth and impact Author: Rochelle Moulton
Meet revolution leaders, authors, and soloists who are kicking butt and taking names. Think stories and hard-won wisdom uncovered in real, gutsy conversations where well uncover the very best ideas, strategies and mindset shifts to build your ideal life the soloist way. Language: en Genres: Business, Entrepreneurship, Marketing Contact email: Get it Feed URL: Get it iTunes ID: Get it Trailer: |
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Should Whale Clients Be Part Of Your Service Mix Right Now?
Episode 58
Thursday, 17 April, 2025
Conventional advice from pundits says never serve "whales" in your consulting business. But what if they're wrong? (Hint: they are.) A whale model CAN work in the right circumstances, provided it’s a fit with how you like to work and you design and price them correctly. Here’s my advice on whether (and how) to add whale clients to your service mix:What exactly makes a client a whale?A few examples of highly successful whale business models—how they’re structured and how much revenue they deliver.Why conventional "wisdom" about whales doesn’t apply when you structure and price them correctly.The three challenges you’ll need to address to make sure whales will work for your particular business.Where to start if you decide adding whale clients makes sense.RESOURCES FOR SOLOISTSJoin the Soloist email list: helping thousands of Soloist Consultants smash through their revenue plateau.The Authority Code: How to Position, Monetize and Sell Your Expertise: equal parts bible, blueprint and bushido. How to think like, become—and remain—an authority.BOOK A CALL WITH ROCHELLETRANSCRIPTRochelle Moulton00:00 - 00:47You just want to make sure that your whale clients fit neatly into at least one of your sweet spots, like the type of work, the industry, your client profile, et cetera. Otherwise, each one will feel like a supremely heavy lift, and that's the last thing that you want. Hello, hello. Welcome to the SOA's Life Podcast, where we're all about turning your expertise into wealth, impact, and power. I'm Rachelle Moulton, and today I want to talk to you about whether it makes sense to include whale clients as part of your service mix right now. I sent out an email to my list about this last week, and I got quite a few responses as well as a few questions.Rochelle Moulton00:47 - 01:27So we're going to do a deeper dive on this today. Let's start with what I mean by whale client. They don't have to be a giant company or a huge organization. The whale refers to how much of your revenue they represent. So I'd call any client that is 15 to 20% or more of your annual revenue a whale. Now, there is this assumption in certain circles that a whale client model is bad. That the best goal is to build revenue streams where you can sell smaller things to more people. That that is less risky over time.Rochelle Moulton01:28 - 02:12While there's nothing wrong with creating a diversified business, it isn't for everyone. Many consultants and advisors who are delivering major value to their institutional clients have built significant revenue and wealth using a whale model. So I'll give you a few examples. Number one, a specialty marketing consultant to big corporates who has a consulting book speaking model, earns $500,000 plus per year. They usually do a handful of $100,000 to $150,000 consulting projects and speak maybe half a dozen times a year, plus they earn royalties from their books. Now their downside is the travel required for speaking.Rochelle Moulton02:12 - 02:57So this would be hard to master in say 20 or probably even 30 hours a week. Two, a retainer expertise model where the consultant sells $100,000 plus annual retainers to three to five companies. They typically are retained for a few years, you know, with annual renewals with the need and...
