Is it possible to establish a platform of consulting service?

[Ian Cai]

Many industries have been disrupted by the internet. Is it possible that someone could establish a consulting platform or online community providing all the competent and talented people to give advice and share their knowledge directly rather than needing to go to a large consulting firm? 

-eg:   Quora or Zhihu could provide a new service giving excellent users chances to sell their knowledge and expertise directly to the clients. 

[Tom Spencer]

It is possible and already starting to happen with sites like Freelancer and PeoplePerHour. 

A key question for these platforms, though, is what kind of business model to use?

If the platform aims to make money by charging a fee for every project or hour that the consultant works, then the consultant has an incentive to use the platform initially and then avoid the platform once they have attracted a few paying clients.  As a result, the only consultants who will use this kind of platform in the long run are ones who are not competent at attracting and retaining clients on their own merits.  Such a platform will ultimately become full of low quality consultants (this seems to be the case with Freelancer). 

If the platform aims to make money by charging consultants a subscription fee, then it needs to be able to offer enough value (e.g. a steady stream of potential clients) to make the subscription fee worthwhile.  This is similar to the business model used by LinkedIn Premium, which gives its premium users broad powers to search for people in specific locations and industries. However, while LinkedIn Premium may help consultants identify potential clients, it still does not guarantee that they will be able to make a sale.

Platforms are tools that can help people to connect and communicate, and as a result can support consultants in their sales and marketing efforts. However, at the end of the day, generating sales still depends on other important factors like having the right marketing message, having some relevant services/solutions to offer clients, and having a strong reputation within your relevant industry niche.