Consulting Growth Hour

At the start of the year, most consultants had a plan.More clients.More conversations.
More momentum.But now it’s April… and for many, things aren’t quite where they expected.
Here’s what I’m hearing again and again:
The pipeline feels slower than it should.
Outreach isn’t converting into real conversations.
Senior executives aren’t engaging the way you expected.
Your offer still feels a bit too broad or unclear.<...

You built your consulting practice on expertise. You're good at the work.

But somewhere between client deadlines and delivery, business development keeps slipping. When a project wraps up, you scramble. You reach out to old contacts, post a few things on LinkedIn, and hope something moves.

It's not a discipline problem. It's a system problem.

Most solo consultants have never been taught how to build a pipeline that runs co...

Most consultants don’t land conversations with buyers because they lack expertise.They lose them because they approach buyers at the wrong time.Consulting engagements are rarely random. They are typically triggered by events such as: 👉 A leadership change.👉 A hiring surge.👉 A contract about to expire.👉 A missed quarter.👉 A regulatory shift.👉 An acquisition.Yet most outreach happens without visibility into these triggers. It b...

Most consultants have valuable intellectual property. But over time, it gets forgotten. It sits in folders somewhere on your computer.Frameworks, checklists, spreadsheets, diagostic tools, methodologies. Half-used. Half-forgotten.You probably created them for a one-off workshop, a presentation, or a specific client engagement. You spent hours thinking them through, structuring them, refining them. Then the project ended and those t...

Many consultants do not struggle with sales because they lack ability.They struggle because they have quietly decided that sales is not “for people like them.”I regularly hear consultants say they are bad at sales, that they do not like asking for business, that they are not extroverts, or that selling feels awkward and unnatural. Some believe that if their work is strong enough, clients should simply find them without much effort....

I recently ran a poll on the average length of a consulting engagement.Here’s what I found:👉 57% of consultants said 8 months or less👉 78% said 12 months or lessOn the surface, that sounds fine. But the most of these projects are one-and-done. And in consulting, the real profits come not at the start of a client relationship, but towards the back end.Research by Fred Reichheld (creator of the Net Promoter Score) with Bain & C...

I’m running this workshop for the 4th year in a row - because the most important buying season for consultants is right around the corner.Every September, B2B demand rises as decision-makers return from summer, refocus on priorities, and lock in budgets for the year ahead. If you’re prepared, it’s a prime window to win new business.This year, in addition to proven sales and marketing principles, I’ll share some of my proprietary AI...

Consultants: Is your growth engine stalling?Many firms get stuck because they:⛔ Struggle to spot the real buyers and learn how they buy⛔ Fail to specialize, so the brand blends into the noise⛔ Run business development on gut feel instead of clear metrics, processes and incentives⛔ Fail to develop the right services and expand existing accounts.⛔ Log endless delivery hours yet still battle to extend their market reachThink back to l...

Everyone’s using AI to create content.And I think that’s a great thing.AI can help you articulate your ideas better, save time, and boost your productivity.But here’s the problem:There’s way too much content out there—and your posts are getting buried.Consultants are spending hours crafting posts, designing visuals, trying to say something meaningful.And the result?👉 A few likes from familiar names 👉 No new leads 👉 No real busin...

Are you really running your consulting business – or is it quietly running you?
You're landing clients. Revenue’s flowing. It all looks good from the outside.
But under the surface?
No systems. No forecasting. No plan for when things slow down.
That’s not growth. That’s a time bomb.
- You’re committing to new expenses (team, tools, systems)… without knowing if your business can support it
- Your personal and f...

Many consultants hate the word sales.It conjures up images of manipulation, pressure tactics, or pushing something clients don’t really need. So they avoid it.They partner with others.They outsource sales too quickly.They don’t want to “bother” people.They stay out of the chat.The problem? When you avoid sales, you avoid learning how to do it well.You miss the skills that actually help you land the work you’re meant to do. Skills s...

Most independent consultants try to look like the big firms.Same jargon. Same frameworks. Same polished websites.But that’s exactly why they blend in.The irony? Your biggest edge isn’t scale or polish. It’s proximity. Purpose. Positioning.That’s the argument Sri Kaza makes in his upcoming book Unconvention - and he’s joining me next on the Consulting Growth Hour to explain how small consulting businesses can thrive by being more th...

Pricing your consulting work shouldn't feel like guesswork - but more and more, it does.Some clients want to pay by the hour. Others ask for fixed price. Some are open to outcome-based models - but won’t define the outcome. And then there are those who simply won’t tell you what budget they have at all.Add to that the rise of AI, and now clients are wondering, “If this takes less time, why should I pay the same?”Pricing in cons...

Is your consulting business stuck passively waiting for referrals, leaving your income unpredictable and your pipeline empty between projects?Too many consultants rely on chance referrals. Without a structured approach, referrals happen randomly - creating gaps between engagements, financial uncertainty, and turning the excitement of working for yourself into ongoing stress.But when you systemize your referrals, you can take back c...

Most consultants hit a revenue ceiling – not because they lack expertise, but because they’re stuck doing the same thing over and over again, unsure of what else could work to break through.They work harder, take on more projects, and squeeze in extra hours… yet revenue and profit barely move. Recognize this struggle?👉 The real issue at play? Revenue leaks.👎 Fees that don’t reflect your true value👎 Inefficient sales that leave m...

Every consultant I meet is unique – decades of experience, deep expertise, hard-earned insights. But when they talk about what they do…

…they sound like everyone else.That’s a tragedy.Here’s how you know your messaging isn’t working:🔹 Too many prospects say, “Sounds interesting, I’ll think about it” – and then disappear.🔹 You get lumped in with lower-value consultants who don’t have your depth of expertise.🔹 You attract the wrong...

The consulting world is getting crowded.
Everywhere you look, there’s another consultant offering the same services, making it harder for buyers to tell the difference.
And that’s the problem.
When clients can’t see the difference, they default to price. This leaves you competing in a race to the bottom.
Here’s the good news: You don’t have to blend in.
You already have unique strengths that can make you stand out, attract high-value cl...

Strategic growth can be hard if your consulting business constantly feels like a rollercoaster.

One month, you’re riding high with projects. The next, you’re stuck in the dreaded feast-or-famine cycle, scrambling to find your next client. It’s exhausting – and it makes strategic growth feel impossible.

This month at Consulting Growth Hour, we’re focusing on strategic foundations and planning – because without a solid plan, consis...

I’ve spent a lot of time over the past couple of weeks thinking about where I want to take the Consulting Growth Hour series next. Here’s what’s planned for 2025:

Over the past few years at Consulting Growth Hour, we’ve explored topics like:

Crafting compelling value propositions

Maximizing fees without losing clients

Identifying and dominating underserved markets

Leveraging LinkedIn to win high-value clients

This year, we’re introducing...