 The impact of digital on consulting firms has been well covered in the business press. However, this work has mostly focused on the disruptive nature of service platforms (such as Consignium) and less on the potential of digital technologies to help the growth of small consulting firms. In this talk (for the Institute of […]
The potential of digital for small consultancy growth Read More »
 In management theory, professional service firms are said to grow through a series of S-shaped stages from their founding through to billion-dollar multi-nationals. The S-shapes (Figure 3) are theorised because each stage of growth prompts new challenges which impact growth, causing the leaders to invest time and resources into structural (for example, governance, organizational,
How boutiques and consultancies grow Read More »
  There are three major symptoms of a firm without a succession plan – do any of these ring a bell? First, you are founder of a 30+ person boutique but can’t free up time to work on the business instead of for the business. Second, is a lack of skilled managers with the
Does your boutique consultancy need a succession plan? Read More »
Selling your firm is a project with a series of sub-projects. The biggest of these sub-projects is preparing your financial and operational documents for inspection by potential buyers and ensuring these are easily accessible, secure and well-organized. Here I have provided a comprehensive check-list of the documents that a buyer will want to see. I
Preparing to sell your consultancy: creating the data vault Read More »
There are lots of benefits to using a virtual assistant if you’re a small consultancy leader. Download my eBook on how to find and manage them. Some benefits include: Increased Efficiency: A virtual assistant can help with administrative tasks such as scheduling meetings, managing emails and bookkeeping, freeing you up to focus on your core
e-Book: How to use virtual assistants effectively Read More »
Storytelling is a powerful tool for management consultants to build trusted relationships with clients. Stories allow consultants to make personal connections, demonstrate empathy, establish credibility, and foster a shared understanding with clients. This ultimately enables consultants to become trusted advisors. There are several reasons why storytelling is so effective in a professional context: Â Â Firstly,
A story-telling workshop for consultancy partners Read More »
How Can People Businesses Remain Relevant While Achieving Sustainable Growth? I had a phone-call this morning with a founder that had ‘missed the boat’. He’d had a wonderful growth story until about 2008 when the market began to shift. Instead of moving with the market, he doubled down: hiring expensive sales-people and investing more in
How Consultancies Can Achieve Long-Term Success: Balancing Exploration and Exploitation Read More »
Key Takeaways: What is a CRM? Customer Relationship Management systems are tools to: They are useful because they take the lead and client insight out of the heads of the partners and put it into a system which is a company asset that can be controlled, measured and managed. Decent CRM Systems I don’t recommend
Choosing and Using CRM for Consultancy Growth Read More »
Key Takeaways There’s a lot of nonsense written about pricing out there which is based on zero evidence. The general advice from ‘gurus’ appears to be raise your prices and use value-based pricing. As we shall see, this is usually bad advice. It’s Not About the Pricing, Pricing, Pricing…. Pricing isn’t that important. Margins are
Pricing Advice for Ambitious Consultancies Read More »
Key Takeaways: Are you a consulting firm owner struggling to scale your business beyond a handful of clients? Do you find yourself overwhelmed by the complexities of growth and unsure how to stand out in an increasingly competitive market? As someone who has successfully grown and sold a consultancy and authored a book on scaling
How to Grow a Consulting Business in 2024: Everything You Need to Know Read More »
