223 Pieces of Advice We Shared on LinkedIn in 2025

2025 marked an inflexion point for consulting firms. The year was shaped by a variety of forces:

• Consulting service buyers scrutinising their options and expecting consulting firms to justify the fees based on the value they deliver.
• Tech solution providers expanding into advisory services.
• Large consulting firms increasingly losing bids to smaller, highly specialised firms.
• Old growth models – e.g., growing through headcount and service line expansion – becoming more difficult (and often impossible) to maintain.
• The noise of AI combined with buyers' expectations to utilise AI technologies,
  + and a number of others.

It has become abundantly clear that in the coming years, a very specific type of consulting firm will win – one that clearly communicates its value, resolves vital pain points for clients, demonstrates deep expertise and a proven methodology, and is visible through its educational, narrowly targeted content.

Consulting firms that offer a buffet of services will simply be racing to the bottom, offering increasingly significant discounts to drum up new business.

The profitability differences between high-performing and average consulting firms will be more stark than ever. And these high-performing consulting firms will achieve it not by squeezing every ounce of life from their consultants.

In fact, they will be investing in their people more than ever. It will be achieved through constant optimisation of processes – something they can do because their work relies on repetition. They focus on a set of problems, develop highly effective methodologies to address them, run targeted marketing campaigns, and systematise internal knowledge sharing.

Consultancies that continue to rely on generic claims, broad promises, and vague marketing messaging will lose the race. Plain and simple. Nobody wants to buy what they are selling, mainly because nobody can clearly understand the value of what they are selling.

We've been sharing all our learnings from the consulting trenches as we've observed market shifts throughout 2025. And here, in this annual overview, we'd like to present our catalogue of advice on these themes. 

Luk Smeyers

Follow on LinkedIn here

1. If I were to start a consulting firm again, here’s exactly what I'd do.
2. The biggest mistakes consulting firms made in 2024.
3. I read '10x is Easier Than 2x' by Dan Sullivan and Dr Benjamin Hardy over the holidays.
4. Most advice on productisation in consulting is wrong.
5. Think hiring a consulting business development leader will solve your revenue challenges?
6. Are you running a consulting firm, or are you guessing?
7. Is adding new consulting services the silver bullet to protect or grow revenue?
8. My LinkedIn nearly exploded this week.
9. You’re not different. You just think you are.
10. There are two ways to run a consulting firm. One drains profitability.
11. The default consulting mode is the enemy of profitability.
12. Struggling to grow existing accounts? Stop chasing new services!
13. I had a conversation today with a stressed-out Big 4 director.
14. 2 Critical errors stemming from a missing value proposition in a consulting firm.
15. Most consulting firms sound the same: vague, broad, and forgettable.
16. This double consulting failure is leaving money on the table...
17. Consulting clients don’t buy expertise. They buy a solution to a problem.
18. I spent years trying to fix what wasn’t actually broken.
19. Here’s how 2 consulting firm clients transformed their fluffy propositions.
20. "Luk, don’t assess our website because it’s outdated…"
21. More consulting services, more revenue? Or just more complexity?
22. [Case study] Without a client success journey, you're just selling consulting projects.
23. Ditch the consulting Royal Buffet services menu!
24. Your consulting firm isn’t stuck. Your weak value proposition is keeping it there.
25. Why do so many consulting firms avoid being specific?
26. The consulting market is brutally competitive. Maybe even arguably saturated.
27. Productisation in consulting is either a game-changer or a missed opportunity.
28. Your consulting firm doesn’t have a sales but a value proposition problem.
29. These two axes decide a consulting firm’s fate.
30. Are consulting firms selling services or solving problems?
31. A consulting value proposition isn’t a tagline. It’s the firm’s identity.
32. I got a surprising call from a former data scientist colleague.
33. How weak consulting value propositions derail the sales conversation.
34. Most consulting firms operate in 'default mode'. “We do X".
35. Most consulting firms still lead with ‘what they do’, the first step toward commoditisation.
36. You don’t earn strategic work by doing good project work.
37. Consultancies that cannot develop existing clients have an existential health challenge.
38. New consulting value proposition. Scrap the old firm?
39. There are two ways consulting firms start conversations. One wastes time.
40. If consulting firms are invisible in the market, their business runs on borrowed time.
41. Here's how a boutique consultancy beat a Big 4 firm, even though they were $180K more expensive.
42. The challenge of creating a compelling consulting proposition.
43. The sales success of a high-performing consulting firm is a side effect.
44. Consultancies, stop selling what clients already have. Start solving what’s broken.
45. Most consulting firms are trying to solve the wrong problems.
46. The high-performing consulting firm: my observations from the trenches.
47. The moment of truth isn’t in the meeting room. It’s in front of a prospect.
48. Most consulting firms try to stay flexible. The best ones get specific.
49. Is your consultancy stuck in the cycle of low revenue, one-time projects?
50. Last week, we said no to a €28k project. Here’s why.
51. The Risks of Competing on Consulting Capabilities.
52. Poor value propositions in consulting are epidemic, 98% of the consultancies need improvement.
53. What really sinks consulting firms? In 90% of cases, it’s inconsistent client attraction.
54. Why Do So Many Consulting Firms Struggle to Stand Out?
55. I am always surprised that few consulting leaders can explain what business problem(s) they solve.
56. This year alone, I’ve seen five consulting firms turn to cold outbound because revenue was behind.
57. How a Data & Analytics Consulting firm broke free from "We do X" capability selling.
58. Do you know the shortest path to commoditisation in consulting?
59. Five firms. All reputable. All specialised. All are now presenting themselves ‘AI-first’.
60. Most consulting firms are stuck in a quadrant they don’t even know they’re in.
61. Most consulting firms never develop a clear consulting value proposition. Here's why.
62. “Clients don’t know what their problems are”. That’s a consulting myth!
63. Most consulting firm websites suck. Yes, really suck.
64. Consultancy leaders tell me they don’t know what to write about. I don’t get that.
65. How this Employee Engagement Consultancy transformed from a survey vendor to a strategic advisor.
66. Client success journey: one of the most underused tools in consulting.
67. The most awkward client call a consulting leader can make?
68. Can 50 consultants truly master four complex expertise domains?
69. Most consulting firms still have this ‘first-meeting-syndrome’:
70. Why are consulting leaders struggling with explaining the business problem they solve?
71. The turning point in my consulting career?
72. They’re not ghosting your consulting firm. You’re just selling capabilities.
73. Designing a strong consulting service is hard. Designing multiple? Even harder.
74. The 7 Layers of Consulting High-Performance.
75. Consulting leaders continue to ask me why growth is harder now.
76. Change management has become one of the most commoditised labels in consulting.
77. Some consulting firms run better than others.
78. "Luk, we want to sign bigger, more strategic consulting deals.”
79. “Without bigger tickets, shouldn’t we focus on creating a consistent funnel of small deals?”
80. What causes consulting firms to stall or sink?
81. How to design compelling and differentiating consulting propositions?
82. Sometimes, saying yes to a non-fit project is the right call.
83. “Luk, we need your help for a brand refresh.” My response: "Don’t do that!"
84. "We want to become more strategic.”
85. The choice: constant chasing or profitable compounding?
86. Consulting is not dead. Stop the nonsense.
87. A weak consulting value proposition redirects your entire firm toward the wrong conversations.
88. Please REMOVE the 𝗢𝗽𝗲𝗻𝗧𝗼𝗪𝗼𝗿𝗸 badge from your Linkedin picture!
89. Too many consulting firms think a strong relationship network is enough to fuel growth.
90. "Luk, our target decision-makers never engage with LinkedIn content."
91. Far too many consulting firm acquisitions fail at the root.
92. Leadership behaviours build or break the performance of a consulting firm.
93. Value articulation for a consulting firm is not easy. Here are 15 questions to assist.
94. You can’t do consulting value proposition design in a meeting room.
95. I didn’t track the team’s utilisation at Deloitte. And I survived.
96. Every consulting firm claims to add value. Only a few can articulate it. These 15 questions separate the two.
97. Here’s our Point-of-View Canvas to help consulting firms turn expertise into influence.
98. I gained nearly 2,000 new LinkedIn followers during the summer months, but many of their profiles left me scratching my head.
99. The value proposition challenge that can make or break a consulting firm.
100. Strong consulting firms aren’t built in one move. They’re built layer by layer.
101. Strong opinions from consulting firm leaders don’t equal a strong point of view.
102. The essentials of consulting value proposition design in one place.
103. Improvisation is one of the main root causes of a consulting firm’s profit erosion.
104. Interested in self-assessing the quality of your consulting firm?
105. Work is changing. Consulting advice must change, too.
106. A menu of services is not a consulting proposition. It’s a burden on the buyer.
107. If I were to scale a consulting firm again, the ‘Client Success Journey’ would be one of my core growth levers.
108. Stop selling consulting capabilities. You are training buyers to treat you like a commodity.
109. When consulting firms call us, the story is often the same.
110. “We want to sign bigger deals. We want to become more strategic.”
111. The cross-selling myth in consulting firms.
112. ‘Value articulation’ is the most underused growth lever in consulting.
113. Every consulting firm thinks it's different. But they are all similar.
114. I overachieved my revenue and margin targets. But got criticised for poor utilisation.
115. Consulting success is built on ‘trust at scale’. And too many consultancies don't get that.
116. Two consulting firms. Same problem: no clear proposition. Here’s what they changed.
117. The hardest part of growing my consulting firm wasn’t the work itself. It was learning which contradictions I could live with.
118. Value articulation in consulting is NOT about creating a new marketing tagline.
119. How one mistake in my early consulting years taught me the value of stability.
120. If a pitch starts with what the consulting firm does (capability-selling), it has already diluted its impact.
121. When every partner tells a different story about the consulting firm’s value, the firm's underperformance is imminent.
122. When a large multi-service firm calls us, the first question is predictable: “How can you help a firm of our size?”
123. Weak consulting value propositions always affect the performance of a consulting firm or practice.
124. Every struggling consulting firm has a long list of tactical fixes.
125. “Luk, our target C-level clients don't read our LinkedIn posts.”
126. Cons
127. Value articulation is one of the most straightforward performance levers in a consulting firm.
128. Stable revenue doesn’t mean a future-proof consulting firm.
129. Endless project customisation in consulting is a silent drain on trust and profitability.
130. Cold outbound in consulting doesn't work.
131. A new consulting value proposition? Now move forward step by step.
132. The perfect storm in consulting: clients want depth, not breadth.
133. A new prospect asked: “Luk, why do we need a value proposition?”
134. The toughest competitor of a consulting firm? Sameness!
135. Dear consulting leader, need a growth tip for your 2026 plan? Focus on developing your existing clients!
136. Clients do not respond to broad consulting claims, but to the specific situation they are stuck in.
137. If two partners interpret value differently, the consultancy has already lost the room.
138. Silence from prospects is a big red flag.
139. Ask ten consulting leaders “what business problem do you solve” and most will answer with ‘what they do’.
140. Many consulting firms pour money into sales training and wonder why nothing changes.
141. Consulting Myth: AI pushes consulting firms to outcome based pricing.
142. Consulting firms, replace your “Why us” slide.

Florian Heinrichs

Follow on LinkedIn here

1. New Year’s Resolution Idea: Rethink How You Run Your Consultancy
2. Let’s make “testing” consulting firm strategy and bizdev ideas a 2025 resolution, shall we?
3. Be careful where to "content" with your consultancy (i.e., don't publish fluff).
4. Is your consultancy too client-centric?
5. Account Planning: Are You expanding relationships or driving complexity?
6. Are you increasing your consultancy's complexity costs without realizing it?
7. The differentiation mistake hurting so many consultancies:
8. 2025: The Year to Fix Consulting Firms' Biggest Mistakes—Before They Become Too Costly to Ignore
9. Is growth stalling in consulting? 
10. Big Firms Sold Capacity. Smart Firms Will Sell Outcomes.
11. Thursday theory: If most consultancies were startups, they’d be failed startups... here's why
12. Solving Proposition Design for the Multi-Service Firm.
13. Some AI optimism for consulting firms—from someone who's usually quite skeptical.
14. Can your consultancy even "solve for x" in its own business? 
15. Is your consultancy struggling with 'thought leadership' and 'content creation'?
16. Still on the fence about whether to revise your consulting firm's strategy? Well, time might be running out.
17. A consulting proposition you can't "fake".
18. Consulting firms: Stop mimicking the big guys... it’s costing you too much.
19. It’s not just the Big Four, though - expert platforms are coming for your consulting business, too.
20. Stop Trying to Change Your Entire Consultancy Overnight!
21. The Hidden Costs of Competing on Consulting Capabilities Alone
22. Why Most Consultancies Struggle to Resonate with Their Market
23. Here's a Simple Three-Step Start to Refining Your Proposition
24. Need to make a case for refining your consulting firm's proposition? Here’s a simple 4-step start.
25. Clients Don’t Have Meetings to Discuss Consulting Buzzwords
26. "What's Our USP?" Is the Wrong Question in Consulting.
27. Your Consultancy's Value Proposition Isn’t a One-Off. It’s a Process.
28. How Smaller Consultancies Can Compete (and Win) Against the Big Firms
29. Consulting Firms: Stop with the “How-To” Posts Already!*
30. How to Build Your Big-Firm Book of Business
31. Why Your Consulting Firm’s Proposition Message Should Sound More Like a Bakery Sign
32. Testing > Market Research (When It Comes to Refining Your Consulting Firm’s Proposition)
33. Your Consultancy Can’t Differentiate From Everyone - Until It Stops Competing With Everyone
34. Want to Make Your Consultancy More Strategic? Then Strategy and Execution Must Serve the Same Proposition.
35. Strategy, Positioning, Value Proposition Design… Aren’t They All the Same?
36. Why Sales Training Won’t Fix Your Consultancy’s Sales Problem
37. Refining Your Consulting Firm's Signature Method? Match It to Your Clients’ Maturity Curve!
38. "Proposition design" = the literal equivalent to "product design" in consulting.
39. Consultancies, Beware: "Transformation" Without Destination Is Just Expensive Wandering
40. New consultancy go-to-market rule of thumb.
41. How Boutique Consultancies Should Compete Against Bigger Firms
42. Your New Proposition Isn’t “Just a Story.” It’s Your Entire Firm—Redesigned.
43. Want to Build IP? Start by Finding Your “Delivery Difference”
44. Some Consulting Firms Complain About a “Dry Pipeline”…
45. Consulting Firms: Are You Selling Inputs—Or Outcomes?
46. Want to Out-Create (and Out-Deliver) Your Rivals? Start by Narrowing Your Proposition.
47. What "Outcome Selling" Really Means for Consulting Firms
48. Is Your Consulting Firm Carrying Too Much "Proposition Debt"?
49. Selling “AI,” “Data,” or “Change”? You Might Be Selling to the Wrong Problem
50. A Strong Value Proposition Isn’t So Much About Differentiation
51. Why “Proposition Selling” Might Be the Best Move Your Consulting Firm Ever Makes
52. Refined Your Consulting Proposition? Now the Real Work Begins.
53. Successful Consultancy Business Development ≠ Making More Noise
54. Consulting Execs: Stop “Working on the Business” Without a Validated Strategy!
55. Consultancy Strategy: Why Proposition Clarity Often Feels Like Boredom
56. Many consulting firms stumble when refining their value proposition.
57. No, "Issue-led" Consulting Propositions aren't Fear-Mongering.
58. Re. "Specifying" Your Consulting Proposition.
59. Why Your Consultancy Should Explore Clowning
60. Your Consulting Proposition Isn’t What You Say... It’s What You Build Upon
61. Consultancies: Use Your Refined Proposition to Upgrade Your Pitch!
62. Without A Strong Point of View, Your Consultancy Will Remain A Service Provider.
63. The Big Miss in Most Consulting Firm Propositions
64. The Power’s in the Details (When It Comes to Consulting Propositions)
65. If AI Feels Like a Real Threat to Your Consulting Firm, Your Proposition Might Be at Fault.
66. Proposition Debt: The Price Many Consulting Firms Pay for Growth
67. The Hidden Job of Your Consulting Proposition? Building Buyer Confidence.
68. Think Your Consulting Firm's People Can’t Lead “Strategic” Conversations? The Real Issue Might Be Something Else.
69. "So WhAt Do CoNsUlTaNtS rEalLy Do ThEn?"
70. In Big Consultancy BizDev, It’s Often the Blind Leading the Blind
71. In Consulting, Strategy Rarely Starts on a Whiteboard.
72. Want to Grow Your “Big Firm” Consulting Business? Partner With Marketing — Strategically.
73. Consulting Proposition Pro Tip: This Isn't About Mirroring Client Issues — But About Reframing Them
74. Why Can’t Consulting Firms Pitch Themselves Like Their Consultants Do?
75. So the Rush to "Outcome-Selling" in Consulting Is On. But Is Your Firm Carrying Too Much Debt to Make the Change?
76. Consulting Proposition Design ≠ Positioning
77. FY2026 Planning Season: How Strong Consulting Firm Plans Get It Right (And How Weak Ones Fail)
78. Current Consulting Growth Playbooks Are Becoming a Liability: Here's How You Fix Yours in Time for 2026
79. Too Many Pitch Decks? That’s a Proposition Problem.
80. “Isn’t Consulting Proposition Design Just a Messaging Exercise?”
81. Working on Your Consulting Point of View? Start Here.

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