Protect your consultancy during uncertainty

Although protecting your firm during uncertain times might sound defensive, there is a time to safeguard what you have created. However, as a passionate chess player from the age of ten, the phrase ‘the best form of defence is attack!’ comes to mind.?

Having grown a business through more than one recession over the last 25 years, I want to share some ideas that can help you plan your offensive and defensive strategies to navigate uncertain times.?

'Don’t panic, it’s going to be ok'

Slumps are a natural part of the business cycle and as such they are temporary. So, my first message is: ‘don’t panic, it’s going to be ok’. And my second message is more of a question: how are you going to use this tough time to your advantage and come out even stronger – just like so many firms did following the pandemic??

Let’s explore what your strategy might be through some different lenses:?

1. The client lens?

Tough times are a great opportunity to deepen your relationship with your existing clients on two levels – organisationally and personally.???

Organisationally. Ask your team:??

• How are your clients’?perceived?needs changing in the context of an uncertain market??? Typically needs shift towards saving time, money or mitigating risk. Are those needs really that unusual??

Once you have qualified and understood those changing needs, the next obvious question is: ? ‘How do your services need to be developed to meet these new perceived needs?’ Or perhaps it’s simply a case of adjusting your messaging and packaging what you do differently.?

Personally. Ask your team:?

1. What are your clients concerned about personally??
2. Can your work help them keep their job, get a promotion, build their reputation???

The best way to succeed at this is to get your whole team on board with having these types of conversations.??

Value. Value. Value.??

A parallel strategy to getting closer to your clients is to shout your value from the roof tops. What stories can you jointly promote within the client that could go viral in the business, making your firm indispensable??

The unfortunate truth is that the longer you’ve worked for a client, the easier it is for them to take your services for granted. It’s your job to remind them of the value you’ve created. A smart way to do this is to enter an award for your work, which will showcase and publicise the benefits of the programme. You can read about The Consultancy Awards here.?

2. The leadership lens?

If uncertainty affects your business, you’re probably thinking: How transparent should I be with the team? Should I protect them or share the reality??

How do these questions vary by role or seniority? There are no universal right answers, as they depend on your firm’s culture and your leadership style. If you have always kept business information close to your chest, it might shock your organisation if you share everything now!?

So, a few questions for you to consider:?

• What kind of leader do you want to be??

• How do you want to be remembered when the market recovers??

• What do you want your team to be saying about you during and after this period???

• What do you want your clients to be saying about your firm (and your team)???

Start painting a vision for how you will thrive when things start to feel more certain and work backwards from there.??

3. The internal lens?

What if things don’t get any easier? In fact, what if they get worse? What simple things could you and your team do differently???

• A great place to start is to raise the commercial awareness of your team and in parallel introduce targets that go beyond revenue and share accountability for expenditure. For example, if your account directors are currently bonused on revenue, consider bonusing them on gross margin – this will drive them to think twice about using an associate rather than a permanent member of the team or throwing extra days at a project without upselling the time to the client.??

• Review your suppliers to ensure you are not paying over the odds for their service and you are getting maximum value. If you are a member of The Consultancy Growth Network then direct your finance person to the benefits page on the?Growth Hub?and make sure you are saving where you can.??

• Strip out or defer non-essential costs and vanity projects that will not deliver in time to support you navigating these difficult times.??

• Upskill your team in negotiation skills to drive more favourable termination clauses, longer term contracts and to minimise discounting.?Check out?‘From difficult conversation to winning negotiation’?on the Growth Hub.?

• Consider which clients or sectors are likely to thrive during tough times and which ones will suffer? Direct your marketing efforts towards those that are less likely to start tightening budgets or are more likely to lean on consultants.??

For a more in-depth look, you can read my full article here.?

Consultancy BenchPress?

For more data, insights, tips and tools, read the 2024 Consultancy BenchPress report: