Growing a Consulting Business
Discussion
I've been a director of a consulting business for ten years now. Our line of work is project management (and a whole load of things that go with it), working in the construction sector. We are a small firm, which I like, and we punch well above our weight. As a result, we have some pretty envious blue chip clients, and also niche developers. We have a 100% repeat commissions rate, which I think is testament to our ethics and quality/value, BUT the really hard part is winning new work. I personally think Consulting is tough; to some people what we do might appear abstract perhaps. So, all of our work is word of mouth, introductions personally or repeat business. We never obtain commissions via our website. Winning work is often unpredictable, and I'd like to widen the Client base, increase security by way I'd diversification.
I'd welcome some insight, sometimes I feel to close to it all to see this clearly.
Thanks all.
I'd welcome some insight, sometimes I feel to close to it all to see this clearly.
Thanks all.
If the bulk of your business comes from referral, reputation and repeat engagements, it strikes me that you need to get the people who are commissioning you regularly to talk about the projects you’ve delivered. Back in the day it would have been a case study but things have moved on. I would be looking at either running events around specific topics, either physically or via webinar format, which are a combination of you and your team’s opinions / experiences on relevant things, backed up with pieces from your existing client base. It works best in a discussion / debate / sharing context.
An example - recently I attended a session (90 minutes ish) with a partner and two of their other clients. We were each asked to share a challenge we had, and then debate it, facilitated by the partner. Inevitably we talked about things that the partner had helped us solve. If you can mix in a small number of prospects, they will get a good feel as to what you can do and what value you have added to other clients.
An example - recently I attended a session (90 minutes ish) with a partner and two of their other clients. We were each asked to share a challenge we had, and then debate it, facilitated by the partner. Inevitably we talked about things that the partner had helped us solve. If you can mix in a small number of prospects, they will get a good feel as to what you can do and what value you have added to other clients.
miniman said:
If the bulk of your business comes from referral, reputation and repeat engagements, it strikes me that you need to get the people who are commissioning you regularly to talk about the projects you’ve delivered. Back in the day it would have been a case study but things have moved on. I would be looking at either running events around specific topics, either physically or via webinar format, which are a combination of you and your team’s opinions / experiences on relevant things, backed up with pieces from your existing client base. It works best in a discussion / debate / sharing context.
An example - recently I attended a session (90 minutes ish) with a partner and two of their other clients. We were each asked to share a challenge we had, and then debate it, facilitated by the partner. Inevitably we talked about things that the partner had helped us solve. If you can mix in a small number of prospects, they will get a good feel as to what you can do and what value you have added to other clients.
Miniman is spot on. I'd also suggest conferences. Most request submissions for presentations around six months before they run, so you'll need to plan ahead. The beauty is it's a captive audience and if you can give some real life insight, instead of the usual navel gazing you get from so many speakers, then you will come across really well.An example - recently I attended a session (90 minutes ish) with a partner and two of their other clients. We were each asked to share a challenge we had, and then debate it, facilitated by the partner. Inevitably we talked about things that the partner had helped us solve. If you can mix in a small number of prospects, they will get a good feel as to what you can do and what value you have added to other clients.
WinkleHoff said:
Thanks. This is interesting and certainly within reach.
What is your view on social media? We have twitter, and plenty to say, but I don't see that the time spent will yield a reward.
I would suggest you’re better off with LinkedIn, assuming you have a reasonably good network. You can get some good reach. Make sure you say something that contains your opinions rather than just commentary on what other people are saying. What is your view on social media? We have twitter, and plenty to say, but I don't see that the time spent will yield a reward.
A couple of my posts:
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/test-driving-digita...
Reached 250+ people, 60 or so interactions and several new connections. This is an “article” format - allows more content.
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/jameseskinner_digit...
This had just shy of 13,000 views which was driven by tagging Ovo, and using #cx and #digital tags.
You certainly need to tag in a couple of relevant topics that people are likely to be searching for or subscribing to, but not so many that it’s a massive tag fest. I would say two at most.
Definitely recommending maxing out on the networking as the others have said. A lot of business comes from referrals (and clients moving jobs then taking you with them).
I'd suggest arranging dinners for loyal customers - evening networking events. If you can create a special interest group type metup this goes down well and can aggregate attendees, bringing in new customers. It works better in London than out in the sticks.
Having events also gives you something to post on LinkedIn and can trigger "Fear of Missing Out" so if you're lucky people will start asking for invites.
White papers and "resources" are an awful lot of work. They can generate plenty of views and interest but you will be losing chargeable time while you produce them. A slightly different twist is to do "surveys" on the "state of the industry". That can give you something interesting to report on without having to do a huge amount of work yourself. Provided you can think of a good topic on which to hang the survey and your network is large enough to generate useful data.
Another idea is to have "surgeries" - rent a room somewhere and offer an Open House to customers to come and talk about their challenges. You need a concentration of clients and a particular type of client in one area to make it worthwhile, but if you can turn it into a regular thing (e.g. every Tuesday between 1100 and 1500 you are at XYZ, come by for a coffee) you can find it generates a lot of visibility and reduces the effort required to contact you.
Social Media is tricky, I haven't seen Twitter generate much but LinkedIn provided several leads. However, I found the best thing was to keep up the personal connections and use the Social Media to reinforce the relationship rather than trying to bootstrap a relationship purely via social media.
I'd suggest arranging dinners for loyal customers - evening networking events. If you can create a special interest group type metup this goes down well and can aggregate attendees, bringing in new customers. It works better in London than out in the sticks.
Having events also gives you something to post on LinkedIn and can trigger "Fear of Missing Out" so if you're lucky people will start asking for invites.
White papers and "resources" are an awful lot of work. They can generate plenty of views and interest but you will be losing chargeable time while you produce them. A slightly different twist is to do "surveys" on the "state of the industry". That can give you something interesting to report on without having to do a huge amount of work yourself. Provided you can think of a good topic on which to hang the survey and your network is large enough to generate useful data.
Another idea is to have "surgeries" - rent a room somewhere and offer an Open House to customers to come and talk about their challenges. You need a concentration of clients and a particular type of client in one area to make it worthwhile, but if you can turn it into a regular thing (e.g. every Tuesday between 1100 and 1500 you are at XYZ, come by for a coffee) you can find it generates a lot of visibility and reduces the effort required to contact you.
Social Media is tricky, I haven't seen Twitter generate much but LinkedIn provided several leads. However, I found the best thing was to keep up the personal connections and use the Social Media to reinforce the relationship rather than trying to bootstrap a relationship purely via social media.
I’ve been doing exactly the same as you for the past 20 years or so albeit in a different sector (behaviour change, waste management and economic development so equally niche).
Couple of things that might help…
You need to collaborate. Find complementary consultancies, build relationships with them and work with them jointly contracts. These shouldn’t be competitors but those working in related fields for the same sector.
In terms of pure promotion, all social media platforms are useful but the effect is always dependant upon the content you populate it with. Become ‘gurus’. Write articles, publish thought leadership papers, speak at conferences and contribute to industry progression. Do this as much as you can to the point that the market recognises you and your company as the principle market leaders.
You also need to establish why you want to grow. If you are looking at a future exit, selling the company on then seeking investment to increase capacity might be worth looking at. But this is risky and for any business but particularly consulting businesses, for it to acquire any meaningful value in terms of acquisition, the principle people have to be unimportant to the business but consultancy is only about the people.
We are all conditioned into thinking that business management is all about growth and sometimes it is, but not always. There is a lot to be said of running a good business that turns over good money and enables you to earn a decent living at minimal risk.
Growing a consultancy service means increasing your capacity which can only be fulfilled by people. Recruiting people ahead of need relies upon sufficient contracts coming through to fund them. If they don’t then you are in trouble. But you can only bid for work that you have the capacity to deliver.
Could you provide work overseas? The Department of International Trade has a host of support products to help companies expand internationally. Do this transformed our fortunes and well worth exploring.
HTH
Couple of things that might help…
You need to collaborate. Find complementary consultancies, build relationships with them and work with them jointly contracts. These shouldn’t be competitors but those working in related fields for the same sector.
In terms of pure promotion, all social media platforms are useful but the effect is always dependant upon the content you populate it with. Become ‘gurus’. Write articles, publish thought leadership papers, speak at conferences and contribute to industry progression. Do this as much as you can to the point that the market recognises you and your company as the principle market leaders.
You also need to establish why you want to grow. If you are looking at a future exit, selling the company on then seeking investment to increase capacity might be worth looking at. But this is risky and for any business but particularly consulting businesses, for it to acquire any meaningful value in terms of acquisition, the principle people have to be unimportant to the business but consultancy is only about the people.
We are all conditioned into thinking that business management is all about growth and sometimes it is, but not always. There is a lot to be said of running a good business that turns over good money and enables you to earn a decent living at minimal risk.
Growing a consultancy service means increasing your capacity which can only be fulfilled by people. Recruiting people ahead of need relies upon sufficient contracts coming through to fund them. If they don’t then you are in trouble. But you can only bid for work that you have the capacity to deliver.
Could you provide work overseas? The Department of International Trade has a host of support products to help companies expand internationally. Do this transformed our fortunes and well worth exploring.
HTH
StevieBee said:
I’ve been doing exactly the same as you for the past 20 years or so albeit in a different sector (behaviour change, waste management and economic development so equally niche).
Couple of things that might help…
You need to collaborate. Find complementary consultancies, build relationships with them and work with them jointly contracts. These shouldn’t be competitors but those working in related fields for the same sector.
In terms of pure promotion, all social media platforms are useful but the effect is always dependant upon the content you populate it with. Become ‘gurus’. Write articles, publish thought leadership papers, speak at conferences and contribute to industry progression. Do this as much as you can to the point that the market recognises you and your company as the principle market leaders.
You also need to establish why you want to grow. If you are looking at a future exit, selling the company on then seeking investment to increase capacity might be worth looking at. But this is risky and for any business but particularly consulting businesses, for it to acquire any meaningful value in terms of acquisition, the principle people have to be unimportant to the business but consultancy is only about the people.
We are all conditioned into thinking that business management is all about growth and sometimes it is, but not always. There is a lot to be said of running a good business that turns over good money and enables you to earn a decent living at minimal risk.
Growing a consultancy service means increasing your capacity which can only be fulfilled by people. Recruiting people ahead of need relies upon sufficient contracts coming through to fund them. If they don’t then you are in trouble. But you can only bid for work that you have the capacity to deliver.
Could you provide work overseas? The Department of International Trade has a host of support products to help companies expand internationally. Do this transformed our fortunes and well worth exploring.
HTH
This is really interesting, thanks. Lots to consider. I want to grow in a controlled and sustained way. I don't want to employ the wrong people, or do that too quickly. I want to build our perpetual client base a little more, employ support staff to increase consultant bandwidth. Couple of things that might help…
You need to collaborate. Find complementary consultancies, build relationships with them and work with them jointly contracts. These shouldn’t be competitors but those working in related fields for the same sector.
In terms of pure promotion, all social media platforms are useful but the effect is always dependant upon the content you populate it with. Become ‘gurus’. Write articles, publish thought leadership papers, speak at conferences and contribute to industry progression. Do this as much as you can to the point that the market recognises you and your company as the principle market leaders.
You also need to establish why you want to grow. If you are looking at a future exit, selling the company on then seeking investment to increase capacity might be worth looking at. But this is risky and for any business but particularly consulting businesses, for it to acquire any meaningful value in terms of acquisition, the principle people have to be unimportant to the business but consultancy is only about the people.
We are all conditioned into thinking that business management is all about growth and sometimes it is, but not always. There is a lot to be said of running a good business that turns over good money and enables you to earn a decent living at minimal risk.
Growing a consultancy service means increasing your capacity which can only be fulfilled by people. Recruiting people ahead of need relies upon sufficient contracts coming through to fund them. If they don’t then you are in trouble. But you can only bid for work that you have the capacity to deliver.
Could you provide work overseas? The Department of International Trade has a host of support products to help companies expand internationally. Do this transformed our fortunes and well worth exploring.
HTH
It si all about people, and that is what makes it tricky to scale if you are intent on maintaining quality.
StevieBee said:
You need to collaborate. Find complementary consultancies, build relationships with them and work with them jointly contracts....
What is your geographical location and coverage, OP? (Architects/Planning Constants practice, here, with little or no interest in on-site project management, but clueless clients who frequently require it).
Equus said:
What is your geographical location and coverage, OP?
(Architects/Planning Constants practice, here, with little or no interest in on-site project management, but clueless clients who frequently require it).
Thanks very much. Head office in Surrey, second office in Inverness (!). We serve whole of UK, but most of our traditional biding work is in the South. (Architects/Planning Constants practice, here, with little or no interest in on-site project management, but clueless clients who frequently require it).
WinkleHoff said:
Thanks very much. Head office in Surrey, second office in Inverness (!). We serve whole of UK, but most of our traditional biding work is in the South.
We're not exactly next door neighbours, then (we're King's Lynn, South Wales and Exeter), but if you can find time to ping me a PM with your contact details, I'd appreciated it - we occasionally have projects close to your offices where we may be interested in your services.Equus said:
We're not exactly next door neighbours, then (we're King's Lynn, South Wales and Exeter), but if you can find time to ping me a PM with your contact details, I'd appreciated it - we occasionally have projects close to your offices where we may be interested in your services.
That's great, will do. We currently have a Client in King's Lynn also! Interesting topic with some great insights provided.
Two I was going to mention. One has already been covered; be cautious about growth if it could threaten (i.e. water down) your USP. The other in terms of marketing; could you sponsor an award at a related industry bash or through a professional body?
Good luck!
Two I was going to mention. One has already been covered; be cautious about growth if it could threaten (i.e. water down) your USP. The other in terms of marketing; could you sponsor an award at a related industry bash or through a professional body?
Good luck!
Gassing Station | Business | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff