How to Land High Paying Consulting Gigs by Simply Giving Feedback

If you are the type that both loves to complain and can formulate your complaints in a constructive way, than you may be able to land yourself a high paying client.

I have always been a big believer in providing feedback, whether asked for it or not. Online it’s much easier to do than in person.

If you are the type that loves to give constructive criticism then read this post as it might help land you a high paying consulting gig, advisory role, or even a job.

Many years ago, I learned that a lot of people don’t give feedback about online products. I had reached out to a company that I wanted to give some feedback to and they informed me that out of many customers I was the only one that year that had provided helpful feedback.

I later learned that because they had a feature that a lot of people disliked, everyone else just complained in an non-constructive way.

I slowly learned to formulate my feedback in a way that I was offering a solution to their problem. This is how my brain works, I think of solutions to problems.

But the difference between successful entrepreneurs and entrepreneurs that never get anywhere – has majorly to do with having the balls to go out there and make your solution a reality.

One simple way to test your smarts and your solutions is to provide feedback for other companies products and services.

This is great practice for being an entrepreneur and running your own business.

See if you can get companies to go with your idea or introduce your solution into their platform. See if you can convince them why they are doing something they shouldn’t, and how your way is better. Get them to execute it.

This is great practice for running your own product or company. It doesn’t cost you any money to do this, just a bit of time in sending your feedback.

How do I send companies my feedback?

  • Facebook messages
  • Emails
  • Twitter DMs
  • Phone calls
  • LinkedIN messages

How do I construct my criticism and feedback?

It always has to be positive, when egos are at play if you tell someone that their product or feature is  stupid you will likely just get deleted.

Formulate your feedback into specific parts. Tell them what features you would really like to see and why. If you know of others on online forums or even friends that also want those features, tell them that too.

The important bit here is to tell them why and make sure it would be something that a majority of their user base would likely want as well.

One of my mail applications didn’t have a “send later” feature, so I sent in feedback. But not after realizing that a TON of others also wanted that feature. I made sure to point all of that out and most importantly why I wanted it, and how it was a feature I had to have or I’d pick another mail app. Now the feature is being developed.

How do I make money from my feedback?

I charge an advisory fee. Sometimes I’ve even received equity.

The trick is to keep sending feedback, without expecting anything in return! It’s a numbers game. People aren’t going to send you a check for feedback most of the time, until you become a valuable recurring resource for them.

The way to eventually make money with it is to mention your feedback but also mention how you can help them execute it and oversee the delivery. Another angle is to keep sending valuable feedback and you might get offered an advisory or consulting role if you provide consistent value.

Many successful entrepreneurs I know do this for many different online startups and companies.

The more personal of a following you have, the better. You can now not only help give feedback but you can also distribute and get eyeballs on the product or company at hand.

I have a growing user base of people that love to find out what tech I’m using and give it a try as well.

Don’t be afraid to ask for a deal

Converting these into clients is pitching and asking for the deal. If you endlessly provide feedback and don’t ask for anything, they may not offer it.

You may have to practice tough love and provide feedback for another company instead. It really depends on why you are doing it. If you are doing it for experience and testing your theories then maybe that’s a good enough value for you.

Otherwise, provide a few rounds of feedback and ideas and then ask for a deal. If it doesn’t work out, move on to another company. You can also do this with several companies at once, until you sign an exclusive deal within a partial vertical.

Landing the big deal

One of my most successful clients I got because I did this. I noticed a problem with their business, pointed out what they were doing wrong, and how I could help (the solution).

The important take away was that I told them the problem right off the bat and didn’t try to ask for a deal before telling them the problem. Then I positioned myself as the solution, and it worked!

Opinions expressed here are opinions of the Author. Influencive does not endorse or review brands mentioned; does not and cannot investigate relationships with brands, products, and people mentioned and is up to the Author to disclose. Accounts and articles may be professional fee-based.

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