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I have a decade experience in software developement and specially web related applications. As a geek, I have a nice contacts but I do not see any of my contact turning into a perspective client. Recently I got an offer to incubate a small consulting firm inside another bigger firm. My firm will work in a specific niche. Say Mobile development consulting.

As of now I do not have any client and am dependent upon the various lead generation tools available on web.

My question is, I have heard bigger consulting firms do subcontracting, is there any specific process of becoming a subcontractors. And is this the right path to get into consulting business when we have bigger giants ruling.

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I am in the same (similar) boat. Trying to do consulting work as well with clients. – Manchine Jul 26 '12 at 15:16
Could you define bigger consulting firms - giving some examples? That would help. When I ran my 8 person startup, we did subcontracting work for a 40 - 100 person company at times. But I am not sure if this is what you mean by 'bigger' firms. – saurabhj Jul 26 '12 at 19:18
Bigger firms like IBM Accenture Infosys Wipro TCS like firms who are everywhere. They may not hvae the correct talent for a niche but they get the project on their brand presence and then subcon to the expert organizations. – Dhananjay Jul 27 '12 at 12:19

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Seems like you dont have any expeirence in sales. If you start consulting co you would need to do sales. Get yourself comfortable with that.

I think for consulting most important is to start building relationships. Try doing first projects really, really free and make sure people are happy about your results. Then start asking for recommendations. Then you can start slowly increasing the price.

Hope it helps Mark

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Hi Mark, you are spot on. Yes I am hardcore techie and have no direct sales exp. though I did some freelance through oDesk or by my own contact and did fairly well, but that too was back in 2010. I dont think that experience is sufficient to start a complete IT consulting. – Dhananjay Aug 14 '12 at 6:54
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Being a subcontractor just means you're not the prime contractor, nothing more nothing less - so no, there's nothing special about it. That said, some very large contracts require that a percent of the contract be subcontracted to disadvantaged business enterprises. On the other end of the spectrum, some contracts forbid subcontractors.

As for getting subcontracts, just find the people who have the primes, find out who writes the proposals, management the projects, handles outsources, etc. -- and make contact in a meaningful way to them; really depends on your pitch, meaning you're able to do something they can't, are a disadvantaged business enterprise, etc.

Honestly most bizdev on subcontracts comes down to building relationships, but professionally speaking, this is one of many great books on doing business development as a consultant, "Rain Making: The Professional's Guide to Attracting New Clients".

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Blunders, you are correct but at the same time when there is no contacts, there should be some ways to get started. I am clueless on that missing thread. – Dhananjay Aug 14 '12 at 6:56
Hmm, did you look at book I linked to? – blunders Aug 14 '12 at 11:04
Yes, already ordered through flipkart :-) thanks. – Dhananjay Aug 14 '12 at 11:15
Great! So, I've looked at 100s, if not 1000s of sales/marketing books, and that one has the most well rounded yet actionable advice I've seen in a single source for a contractor. Meaning there is no single best answer, expect to say to start selling/marketing yourself in different ways and see what gives you the best results. – blunders Aug 14 '12 at 11:49
@Dhananjay: Must say I'm a bit confused why you select Mark's answer over mine. Doing projects for free will never result in paying clients, and it's bad advice in my opinion. – blunders Aug 14 '12 at 11:51

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