By: Florian M. Heinrichs, Founder of Client Friendly
Are you struggling to grow your consultancy? The way you sell your consulting services might be the issue.
Most consulting firms start and grow through "capability selling," where they highlight their expertise and chase clients. This method works fine—to a point. You can grow a practice to 3-5 million in revenue and beyond (I've seen a few firms get to 10). But if you seek to build a thriving, high-performing consultancy, "capability selling" will eventually hold you back. Here's why:
Why Capability Selling is Hurting Your Consultancy
There are two main issues with capability selling. I'll highlight them quickly below:
1. It's a tricky pitch.
Think about it: "Capability selling," like the above example, forces the client to figure out how to use your expertise, which introduces friction and often positions your firm as an "order-taker." This simply isn't in line with how prospects expect to find, vet, and hire a firm in today's digital-first world full of uncertainty, where you're expected to create confidence in and trust in your offering through a smartphone screen.
This isn't just about new clients either: Retention is becoming more challenging across all consulting segments, and if your pitch is unclear, even your best clients might turn elsewhere for their next challenge.
2. It invites variance.
Pitching a capability inevitably ends with "bespoke" engagements. Creating these from scratch with every new opportunity and RFP means you're increasing project initiation times, resource consumption, and cost inefficiencies … which almost always result in quality issues and burnout within your firm, reducing employee engagement, client success, and profits over time. Surely, there must be a better way of running your firm.
Pivoting to a “Service Selling” Model Can Help You Grow
There is, of course, and you'll have guessed it already: "Service-selling" is the answer. This involves offering pre-structured, issue-focused engagements designed to deliver specific outcomes. By clearly defining and packaging your services, you make your value easy to understand and trust-building—even through a smartphone (which, to stick with our change management example, could show something like "click here to see our 'Strategic initiatives de-risking' program"… see what we did here?).
However, the best part is how service selling reduces business variance. Well-defined services make your processes more cohesive and predictable, boosting client confidence and success while streamlining delivery and enabling expertise- and IP formation. A carefully designed service can turn your consultancy into a well-oiled machine, improving business development success rates and core business KPIs. I've seen firms 2-3x their business development KPI while also improving almost all their financials - high-performing consultancies often see gross margins over 50 percent and EBITDA rates of 32 percent and above.
Four Key Steps for a Successful Service Selling Pivot
Could you get to similar numbers to those high-performing firms? I think so – if you implement a few changes in how you sell:
- Narrow your proposition: Be specific about the business issue you solve, the clients you target, and the outcomes you deliver. This clarity makes your value proposition compelling.
- Design a client journey: Detail the "path to success" and your "signature method" to instill confidence in clients.
- Prepare your story: Develop thought leadership, marketing, and business development content to educate prospects about your method.
- Build a system: Create a business development program and routines to execute consistently, putting your story in front of prospects regularly.
A Real-World Example of Service Selling
Consider this firm I helped a while ago: The 43-employee change management consultancy wanted to grow to 75 people and a second office. However, they struggled with reduced client budgets and saw poor new business development results. A thorough review of recent engagements revealed that their best work involved supporting enterprises in delivering strategic initiatives by empowering middle managers. After leveraging this insight to narrow their proposition and formalize their method, they ended up with a refined service, which now informs their new content strategy, business development effort, and sales collateral. And their new way of selling is already bringing in 2-3 inquiries per month (vs. their previous zero), which the firm now closes much faster and at a higher rate.
Before We Close: A Critical Tip
I've said this before, but let me reinforce it here: It's critical that you ground each step of your pivot in true client and work understanding and insight gained through careful listening. It's the only way to ensure your proposition and service align with your prospects' current pains and expectations. I recommend regularly revisiting and updating your thinking to incorporate market changes and client feedback. You cannot fall into the trap of starting to "push" something onto clients they no longer need.
And now - re-think how you sell!
In summary, shifting from capability-selling to a service-selling stance is crucial for winning more business, increasing efficiency, and improving client retention. I've seen firms 2-3x their business development KPIs along the entire "funnel" while improving delivery, margins, and employee satisfaction through increased clarity and enhanced focus – and I'm certain you can do the same. If you'd like to get started but aren't quite sure where and how to begin, watch our webinar, "Building a More Successful Consultancy - One Client at a Time," where I explain some of the steps listed here in more detail.
About the Author
Flo Heinrichs brings over ten years of consultancy business development and marketing experience, having roles at Deloitte, Accenture, and a number of marketing consultancies. At these firms, he played a key role in forming and growing new business units, driving the organic growth necessary to achieve ambitious targets. With expertise in marketing strategy, management, and sales enablement, Flo has honed robust skills in business development, service sales, and account management. As the founder and senior consultant at Client Friendly, Flo focuses on refining business strategies, enhancing value propositions, and optimizing client journeys to drive business development ROI for mid-sized management and IT consultancies. His pragmatic approach ensures that essential elements are in place for firm growth and performance improvement.
