Helping to Build High-Performing Consulting Firms

🔴 EDITION #142 | January 28, 2026

Dear reader, 

Here comes the 142nd edition of our newsletter. In our featured article, we focus on the discovery service and how consulting firms can design it for maximum client value.

Clients – especially those in CxO roles – are increasingly dissatisfied with their engagements with consulting firms. A value-focused discovery service is the perfect antidote to clients walking away disappointed.

Enjoy reading, 

Luk & Florian

Our New Article

Every Consulting Firm Needs a Discovery Service

According to Source Research, in 2025, only 32% of UK clients spoke positively about the value consulting firms delivered. This number is down from 39% in 2023 and 44% in 2021. Furthermore, the same study shows that CxOs are the most dissatisfied (compared, for example, to managers and department heads).  

Unfortunately, a major reason this happens is the reliance of many consultancies on the outdated "trial and error" method to solve clients' problems.  

Just like an operator wouldn’t order spare parts for a broken manufacturing machine without a full diagnostic, a consultancy should only propose a contract for a large-scale project with a proper discovery.

Read the New Article

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🔴 LUK SMEYERS

BUSINESS MODEL

Watch out for the AI double squeeze in consulting!

BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT

Consulting firms keep selling. Buyers keep stalling.

STRATEGY

Improvisation is one of the primary root causes of a consulting firm’s profit erosion.

CONSULTING PROPOSITION

Why the ‘unit cost of consulting’ risks to increase.

AUDIENCE EDUCATION

Consulting success starts with building trust at scale.

CONSULTING PROPOSITION

Florian and I often discuss sales in consulting with clients.

🔴 FLORIAN HEINRICHS

VALUE ARTICULATION

Does Your Consultancy Know Which Questions to Ask - and Answer?

PROPOSITION DESIGN

“We’re Too Big for That” And Other Myths About Proposition Design

STRATEGY

Another Lense To Refine Your Consulting Proposition Through:

BUSINESS GROWTH

Capability ≠ Value - And That's Becoming a Problem for Consulting Firms

SERVICE DESIGN

Re‑Designing Your Services for a Sharper Consulting Proposition

CONSULTANCY PERFORMANCE

Focused Proposition + Program-Packaged Services = Increased Consultancy Performance

STRATEGY

Should Your Consultancy “Niche Down”? We’d Say: Not Quite.

Here's How We Help Consultancies

1. Consulting Value Review

A structured, 4 to 6-week, value-proposition-anchored rapid assessment of a consulting firm's growth and performance potential.

Best for:

• Buyers or Investors evaluating the proposition and performance of a consulting firm pre- or post-acquisition/investment

2. Value Maximisation Program

A 10 to 12-week intensive program designed to define, sharpen, and operationalise a firm’s consulting proposition. 

Best for:  

• Boutiques struggling with differentiation & business development
• Practices in large consultancies needing a clearer positioning
• Consulting firms launching new service lines
• Enterprise SaaS companies starting a consulting/service function or needing to improve their current consulting proposition

3. Service Portfolio Optimisation Program

A deep dive into the cohesion, efficiency, and superior client value of a consulting firm’s service portfolio.

Best for:  

• Large consulting firms with too many overlapping or unclear service offerings
• Consulting firm practices seeking to scale profitably by optimising service-market fit

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