The star of today's show is the 2023 consulting trends piece. To put it together, I went over all my notes from this year – the ones I took during client Zoom calls and webinars, the observations from workshops I conducted, the audits and project work with my consultancy clients, and all the emails from consultancies with thought-provoking questions, and more.
I urge consultancies to pay close attention to these trends in the upcoming year. It's not an academic piece of work but trends from the frontline, supported by research from famous international experts.
In the meantime, as always, I hope I can create a bubble of calmness with my bi-weekly ‘think piece’, a place of stillness in the face of everyday stress. A chance to reflect on what really matters in your consulting work.
Enjoy reading,
Luk
Client Learnings
Client questions and case studies from the consulting frontline.
10 TRENDS consultancies must be aware of as they enter 2023.
A new year gives consultancies an excellent opportunity to review their client work over the past year and brainstorm how to adjust their business development strategy to grow moving forward.
I have spoken to 100+ consulting leaders in 2022. I also hosted webinars, received countless emails with questions from individual consultants, read thought leadership content by consultancies, reviewed business plans of firms, both small and large, and audited positionings of 30+ consultancies.
In this annual post, I’m sharing the 10 most pronounced trends that I’ve observed in my projects, research, and audits. I urge consulting leaders to pay close attention to these trends – they can make or break a consulting business.
When pitching a consulting firm to potential clients, what's the best way to introduce them? Most consulting leaders default to talking about the consultancy’s history or impressive lineup of consultants.
But there's a better way to make an impression - by highlighting the firm's unique achievements in solving problems. In other words, focus on your firm's client-centered outcomes that were achieved in previous projects.
The outside, client-centered view instead of the inside, self-centered view.
In one of my articles, I explain in detail why consulting leaders need to roll up their sleeves and get actively involved in marketing. The simplified explanation is this: the higher the quality of marketing assets, the stronger the ROI, and marketers do not have nearly the same depth of expertise on the subjects that the target audience cares about as consulting leaders.
As a result:
Only 16% of B2B marketers rate their lead nurturing initiatives as ‘excellent’.
It's crucial that consulting leaders set the example for the rest of the team and dedicate time regularly to produce pieces that educate the target audience, place their pain points into a larger context, and inspire transformative action. That's the kind of authoritative content marketers can use to generate and nurture leads!
🅾️ Assessing the Consulting Firm's Market Positioning
Many consulting firms make the same mistake – rushing to pitch their services without putting enough effort into their positioning.
It always seems so counter-intuitive to me. It makes growing a consulting business so much harder, such a poor positioning.
Without a strong market positioning, you do not have a proper framework to organize your priorities, client work, and business development. Moreover, your target market has no clear idea of what you do, how you do it, and why what you do is of value.
I can help you assess the consulting firm's strengths and the areas for improvement. So take a piece of paper and a pen and return to the drawing board. Get the foundation right, and the rest will follow.
My assessment takes you through a rigorous process of diagnosing, researching, assessing, and comparing the touchpoints that connect your consultancy with your ideal audience for the years to come.
If you don't assess your positioning every 2 to 3 years, you might have missed a few things on the market.
🅾️ In-company business development workshops for consultancies
Are you seeking help to build and grow the foundations for a solid business development footprint in consulting?
I can help with short virtual interventions, 2-hour virtual workshops, half-day or full-day classes (virtual or live in West Europe), or 2-day boot camps in a retreat format.
🅾️ Soon to come (early 2023): a new social media support service for owners, leaders, or partners of consultancies
I always get that question, "Luk, could you help me with my thought leadership and social media?"
Well, as of 2023, I will be able to support these requests. With a group of experts, we are developing a brand-new service to build and help manage the social media of people like you...on popular demand.
Curious? Interested? Please send me a mail: luk.smeyers@thevisibleauthority.com.
