Within the last week we received calls from two seasoned home building professionals who are experts at what they do. The first was a former VP of Customer Care for a home builder known for having outstanding customer satisfaction. The other was a former President & CEO from an award winning green builder. These guys share two things in common: they are both leaders in their field and unfortunately, unemployed.
As a means to an end, both gentleman plan on consulting until permanent opportunities appear again, which could be awhile. Rather than just hang a shingle out as a "consultant for hire", they should each package a turnkey program to offer to builders. The entire program might last only 3-5 days and be highly affordable. Quick, fast & effective. Sort of like a Navy SEAL for BuilderOps.
Let's face it... builders are not anxious to spend money these days and most consultants need several weeks or months to implement their programs. However, if these guys could demonstrate their ability to deliver specific services (and value) in just 3-5 days, more builders might be willing to take the plunge.
For those of you in similar situations, where to start? Assess how much time you spent performing the duties of your previous job, then build incremental programs around each. Examples: A former VP Sales might offer a three day program which helps builders determine market strategy, competition analysis, product selection, etc. and a five day program working with the salespeople in the models. A former Purchasing Manager might have a two day program that reviews a builder's budgets and a four day program to help set-up a PO system. In other words, don't position it as a consulting catch-all, but rather specific services which can purchased individually. Then, figure out how much to charge for each.
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