Most Ops Issues are Created in the Sales Process

There is a big misconception around operations, sales, and marketing and how they all intersect. Mandi Ellefson debunks some of these misconceptions and discusses how operations and sales impact scalability in a consulting agency.

Key Ideas:

1. Most approaches to scaling a consulting agency are actually more applicable to scaling a general company - they don’t account for the nuances of a consulting agency. 
2. Many operational challenges in a consulting agency are actually sales challenges. The root problem is the abundance of variability in the services you offer due to how you generate clients. If you’re only relying on referrals, it can keep you in an entrapment growth model where you keep delivering whatever you get asked to do. You can’t build repeatable processes around that much variability.
3. To avoid getting stuck in the entrapment growth model, you need to curate a compelling offer with an equally compelling outcome. One of the first steps to doing this is identifying who your ideal client is.
4. When you help a client see a bigger vision for their company and services, they’re willing to pay more and invest sooner. 
5. After creating your client map that clearly articulates your compelling offer, you should pass it on to your operations leader, who can now use it to operationalize your services so you can be more hands-off.

Resources

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Hands-Off CEO - Executive Briefing