[dkrich]

In my experience, differentiating from competition wasn't really a factor in how much I charged or how much I made. For a lot of businesses that would hire a solo consultant, there is no consideration of the competition.

Most of the businesses that I've dealt with are intimately familiar with the problem/objective, but really don't have much knowledge of what is required to get there. This is where the consulting part comes into play. Many times it's been as simple as "let's talk about what you're trying to accomplish here" and from that I am able to formulate a solution in my mind of how that can be solved with custom software (or in some cases, an out of the box tool). I make the recommendation, and boom, a sale is made.

This is where making the business case for what the client stands to make comes into play and why what another developer might charge is highly irrelevant. If you can convince a business owner that he'll make $100,000 with your solution, convincing him to pay you $30,000 is not too difficult, regardless of whether he could technically find a high-school student who would do it for $15/hour.

To me, the key word is trust. Once you prove that you have good ideas and know how to execute on them, making sales is really more about just repeating the process than undercutting the competition. It goes without saying that you must deliver, though.