Why SaaS Development is So Risky for People Firms My traditional advice on consulting firms developing SaaS offerings is “don’t do it”. Whilst there are a lot of theoretical reasons for this, the primary reason is that I’ve seen it fail too many times. The biggest reason it fails is that SaaS or software companies […]
Can Consultancies Develop Successful SaaS Offerings? Read More »
Training & Development is an Investment for Consultancies Training and development play a crucial role in creating a profitable, growing consultancy. Done well, they enable: As someone who has worked in the consulting industry for several years, I’ve witnessed firsthand the impact of effective training solutions on individual growth and organizational performance. In this blog
Training in Consultancies: Best Practices for Professional Service Firms Read More »
Filling the top of your consultancy’s funnel is crucial, but it is equally important to fill it with the right kind of leads. I have often seen difficulties in some consultancies where sales are generating lots of useful leads, but these are either inappropriate or end up expecting something else than what the delivery teams
Top-of-the-Funnel Lead Generation for Boutique Consultancies Read More »
Contrary to the trite nonsense on LinkedIn and the CIPD magazine, people are not your greatest asset. Indeed, this blog argues, acting this way can devalue your firm and increase strategic risks. It examines when a founder should switch from an entrepreneurial focus, where a reliance on individuals is crucial, to a system-based firm where
Your People Are Your Worst Asset: Why Consultancies Need Talent Systems Read More »
If you have left a large firm then a steady supply of motivated and skilled talent is often taken for granted. Yet, smaller consultancies rarely have the brand to attract talent and early on generally rely on recruiting people they know, sometimes poaching talent from their old firms. However, as firms grow, the connections of
Attracting and Keeping Talent: Recruitment Advice for Small Consultancies Read More »
I commonly encounter boutique CEOs who are jealously eyeing high-margin, high-growth, and high-valuation SaaS businesses. Knowing they already have a client base and a great idea or two for an app, a platform, or SaaS, the CEO typically follows a well-trodden path of misery. Typical SaaS Development Process Plagued with Missteps The journey of developing
Boutique Consultancies and SaaS Ventures: A Roadmap to Success Read More »
An interesting divide between leaders that are still growing their firms and those that have sold their firms is that the former often proudly tell me that their growth is funded solely through cashflow, and the latter often tell me they wish they’d borrowed or sought investment for faster growth. Growing From Cashflow If you
Consultancy Growth Finances: Cashflow vs Investment and Borrowing Read More »
We’ve been told for a long time, that ‘traditional’ management consulting is being ‘disrupted’ (or even ‘dead‘). The idea being that new entrants, the democratization of knowledge, the competition for talent (especially from technology companies) and the rise of ‘asset-based’ consulting (read consulting + databases & software) will knock the incumbents off their thrones. The Resilience of
Consulting is Changing, but the Big Beasts Are Still Winning Read More »
I’m going to talk you through a few areas, five in total, where the average small consultancy sales process can be improved. These should lead to an improvement in your pipeline and your conversion rates. The evidence comes from working with my own clients who are small consultancies that want to grow and study their
5 Ways Small Consultancies Can Boost Their Sales Read More »
You’d have thought that “help me scale my firm” is something I would be glad to hear from a potential client. However, it usually creates a little anxious feeling in my throat. Let me explain why. The Reality of Scaling a Consultancy No consultancy scales until its revenue is at least £3m. Over the last fifteen years,
Small Consultancies: Grow, Don’t Scale! Read More »
