[ INSIGHTS ]
How consultancies win work on purpose.
Each of these answers one question and ends with instructions. They are written for firms where the people who win the work also deliver it.
What does a repeatable business development process look like written down?
How to write a business development play your team will actually run
A play is one repeatable move written down end to end: trigger, research, score, draft, approval, stop rule. Build two or three, not ten. If somebody else cannot run it on Monday without asking you a question, it is not a play yet.
Read itWe need a proper pipeline. Do we build it, hire for it, or get help?
Should you build business development yourself, hire someone, or buy the shortcut?
Answer three questions in order and the first no gives you your route. Building takes six to twelve months of partner time. Hiring takes three months plus a salary. Compressing costs money up front. All three still need an hour a week from you afterwards.
Read itHow do we know when a company is actually ready to buy consulting work?
Buying triggers: how to tell which companies are worth approaching now
Stop sorting companies by what they are and start sorting them by what just happened to them. Seven events matter in consultancy markets. Each has a short window, so track a small list often rather than a big list occasionally.
Read itWho exactly should we be going after, and in what order?
How to build a target list of named companies and score it
Pick one service line. Write down forty named companies. Score each out of three on fit, budget, access and trigger. Remove anything that hits a disqualifier. Work the top ten this quarter and ignore the rest.
Read itHow many of our last ten clients did we go out and win deliberately?
The origination number: how to tell if your firm is winning work on purpose
Take your last ten clients. Count how many your firm chose and pursued on purpose. That count is your origination number. Most boutique consultancies score 0–2, which means they cannot choose what they sell, who they sell it to, or when.
Read itHow do we keep winning work when everyone is buried in delivery?
The weekly hour: how to stop business development dying in a busy month
Business development stops in busy months because the people who do it are the people who deliver. Fix it with a standing weekly hour, one named owner, a fixed agenda, protected like a client meeting. One hour a week beats a big push twice a year.
Read itHow should our firm use AI to win work without embarrassing ourselves?
Where AI helps consultancy business development, and where it must not
Give AI the research and the preparation. Keep the judgement and the send button. Set one rule before you buy anything: a person reads and sends anything that reaches a buyer. Start with research, not writing.
Read it