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Intro: I’m Paul Higgins, an ex-corporate executive turned business owner who, for five years, struggled to grow a cloud Consulting business whilst battling a chronic disease. With the help of mentors and experts, I got the business model right, built a sales and marketing engine, and developed a high-performing team that ended in a successful exit. I received a kidney transplant from a mate, and now on my second life, I dedicate my time to helping other Cloud Consultants go quickly with less effort to enjoy life. Detecting an accent, I'm an Aussie working globally from Melbourne, Australia. I interview successful Cloud Consultants sharing their scaling story to give you inspiration and practical tips. I have dedicated experts for Cloud Consultants on the show to save you time and money by working with the right people. If you want to scale quickly with less effort to enjoy life, you're in the right place. Let's get started.

(0:55): Imagine this, you're a cloud consultant trying to grow your business. You look around and you see your peers seemingly thriving while you're struggling to find your footing. Why is this happening? You might be making a critical mistake, but don't worry, I've dedicated the last 15 months to discovering the root cause and today we're going to solve it together.

(1:12): Hello, I'm Paul Higgins and welcome to episode 479 of the Cloud Consultants Show. In this podcast, we'll explore ways for cloud consultants to thrive by avoiding common pitfalls and embracing best practices. Whether it's your first time tuning in or you're a regular, you'll find insights gleam from my experience scaling and selling a cloud consulting business and from mentoring hundreds of others. Subscribe now so you don't miss an episode.

(1:38): Now let's dive into the problem at hand. I've talked to 413 SaaS partners or cloud consultants, mentored 10 one-on-one, and listened to over 514 podcasts on the topic of how do you scale or grow a cloud consulting business. Many struggling cloud consultants believe that they aren't generating enough growth because of leads or perhaps they're partnering with the wrong SaaS company or they're hiring the wrong person or they're pricing their products too low. While these factors can contribute to the challenges, theyare not the root cause. The real issue is much more fundamental. So what is the number one mistake? Position yourself as a SaaS partner. Yes, you heard that right. Your clients don't care what SaaS platform you use to solve their business problems. They just want their problems solved. 

(2:35): Successful SaaS partners understand their client's business, know how to solve their problems efficiently, and position themselves as consultants rather than just partners. Are you making this mistake right now? When I first speak to people who are struggling to grow their business, they tell me I'm a SaaS partner, I'm a HubSpot partner, I'm a Zoho partner, I'm a Microsoft partner. Just insert the platform that you support and then put partner on the end of it and go to your LinkedIn profile. You probably haven't got it on your header up there. And normally their business model is to get leads from their SaaS partner or vendor. Right. Seems so easy. Wrong. It's not that easy. Listen, clients don't buy drills. They buy holes. Let me say it again. They don't care what SaaS platform you use to solve their business problems. They just want their business problem solved. 

(3:34): Think of the last time you purchased something. You didn't want all the details, right? You got a busy life. So if you've got a plumber in to fix a tap or might be an electrician or whatever the trades person is, you don't care what tools they use to fix it. You just want to know that they've done it before. They've done it specifically for someone like you and that they have experience to solve it. And the SaaS partners that are very successful know how to position themselves correctly and they know how to pick a specific target market and solve their specific problems for them. They get their positioning right and then all the other tactics fall into place. So the secret is to be a business consultant first and a SaaS partner second. 

(4:23): Now, how do you turn things around? Start now by changing your mindset. You see yourself as a consultant first and then focus on your positioning. Analyze your four key marketing assets. Like I said before, your LinkedIn profile, your website, your YouTube channel, and how you position yourself on partner portals, right? Might be the Salesforce partner exchange or whatever it may be. Are you highlighting the benefits to your prospective client or just talking about features and certifications, right? Do you basically look like every other partner because that's what we typically copy.

(5:01): So when someone approaches me for mentoring, I go and look at these four marketing assets and I can instantly see that their greatest opportunities is around their positioning, right? Like they just copied everybody else and then they post it and they just talk about the number of platforms, certificates that they've got. When to be honest, the end client doesn't care. Look, certificates are simply the right to play, not the right to profits. Once again, when an electrician or a plumber turns up, I'm not going to ask him or her about their certifications. Did they finish their TAFE degree, their university qualification, whatever it is, and it's probably not university, right? It's more a TAFE. But all of that, I don't ask them, right? I just want to know if they are going to solve the problem I've got, right? I don't need to know about their 15 certifications, when they did them, what score they got, all of that. Itdoesn't really matter. 

(6:02): And all of those 15 certifications on your website or your LinkedIn profile, that's just the right to play, right? It's not the key positioning. That's talking in your language internally, right? It's not positioning yourself as the key consultant solving a specific problem for a certain kind of client. Top consultants go in a very specific market, right? They target someone specific. They solve a very specific problem in a very specific way. And that's what makes the difference. I know it. I've spoken to them. And then once they've actually made that mindset change, they're going to not be a SaaS partner anymore, right? But they, and you are going to think of yourself as a consultant first. Then you can work through your position and find how you are different versus better or best. So here are some key actions to wrap this up.

(7:00): First, assess your marketing assets, those big four, and be honest with yourself. Are you focused on your client and what they want? Or are you focused on you and how good you are? Right? Second, learn category of one positioning. So category of one is where you position yourself as the only choice for a certain kind of client. You focus on how you're different versus trying to compete with all the other partners. Have a branded process. Educate clients on what you ask before they hire a consultant like you. Be helpful and always have an irresistible first step. I help people with this. And ifyou want help, reach out to me. Third, speed up your results with focus, the right mentoring and accountability. 

(7:53): So let's get started right now with a one page power positioning action guide showing you how to stop drowning in a sea of sameness and become sought after expert that's actually making healthy margins in your business because you're not compared on price like everybody else. The bottom line, the secret to better clients and lifestyles you want begins with positioning yourself correctly in the marketplace. Stop bringing about all your certifications. Position yourself as a consultant who understands the client's business and can solve their problems efficiently. Okay. Time for action. Get the power positioning action guide I mentioned and you'll also get tested marketing methods for cloud consultants. Just go to www, you know that by now, paulhigginsmentoring.com/power. Ready, set, go! See you next time on the Cloud Consultants Solo Show for quick and simple ways to grow your cloud consulting business and live more of the life you want.

Outro: Learning is just one piece of the puzzle. it is now time for action. Head to Today's show page at paulhigginsmentoring.com/podcast, get the links, and put it into action. Head to your favorite podcast platform, subscribe, rate, and review the show. Suggest topics for me to cover at [email protected], and don't wait one more minute to gain access to content, especially for you, a cloud consultant at paulhigginsmentoring.com/newsletter. This could be the difference between wasting time figuring it out yourself or scaling quickly with less effort to enjoy life.