Climb In Consulting

Learn from David Bailey about the art of M&A deals in consultancies, including specialization strategies, navigating acquisitions, and preparing your business for sale. Discover why being a generalist can deter buyers, how to maximize firm value, and the importance of analyzing employee LinkedIn profiles. Explore the journey of a consultancy founder turned M&A advisor and gain insights into post-acquisition success and strategic decision-making in consultancy firms.

Learn how a successful consultancy firm, Freeman Clarke, carved a unique path to success by focusing on mid-market clients, forming strong client relationships, and choosing a hands-on approach. Discover the benefits of targeting a niche market, building strong partnerships, and scaling a consulting business in the IT industry. Explore insights on expanding into the US market, impactful career advice, and the challenges of the consulting industry dynamics.

Discover the unconventional journey of Marc Jantzen from managing fast-food franchises to scaling a consulting firm. Explore the challenges specific to consulting firms and the strategies for growth. Learn about the value of team development, addressing underperformance, value-based pricing, and evolving business propositions. Gain insights on career advice, book recommendations, and engaging with a marketing agency for consultancy success.

Exploring unique success strategies in consulting with Hatmill, a grade-less consultancy emphasizing work allocation and team support. Delving into workplace culture, optimizing work allocation, feedback importance, transparent salary structures, crisis management, and community building. Special emphasis on genuine feedback, leadership, and book recommendations for consultants.

Assad Ahmed shares his unconventional path to consulting success, highlighting the importance of taking action over planning. They discuss overcoming challenges like profitable clients hindering growth and thriving during economic downturns. Assad's embrace of planning with 90-day plans, putting people first, and maintaining culture are key takeaways for aspiring entrepreneurs.

Graeme Curwen, Co-Founder and CEO of Enfuse Group, talks about their journey of starting a consultancy firm, understanding client needs vs. wants, building deep relationships, handling awkward questions, transitioning to a larger organization, the analogy of a rock band and success, and creating a high performing workforce with a positive team culture.

In this episode of Climb in Consulting, we’re bringing you something a little out of the ordinary, as we feature not one, but four industry titans sharing their consulting growth strategies. Nick and Frankie recently attended The Consultancy Growth Network’s (TCGN) annual summit, for a day of hugely insightful talks from leaders from across the industry. Knowing what our audience likes to learn about, we thought that this talk would make a great episode of Climb In Consulting, and are very pleased that TCGN agreed. This was a panel session focused on different strategies for growing your consultancy. The panel session, which was led by Marc Jantzen, Founder of TCGN and seasoned consulting entrepreneur, featured a heavy-weight panel of experts: - Paul Collins - Founder and Chairman of Equiteq, the advisory house specialising in global mergers and acquisitions in the consulting space. - Susan Lohr – Founder of four global businesses during her 30-year career, and currently a Partner in The Vibrant Company, a professional development consultancy. - Fred Akuffo - a renowned supply chain expert, and Founder of Olive Horse, a supply chain management consultancy that was recently acquired by PWC. In this insightful discussion, the panellists share their journeys to success and the growth strategies that worked for them. In a session packed with practical and actionable advice, here are just a few of the highlights: - The importance of making it as straightforward and easy as possible for customers to buy from you - How packaging up your services and productising your consultancy can unlock huge growth - The key questions you need to ask before moving into a new geographical market - The pros and cons of using channel partnerships as a primary growth strategy - Why the partnership model doesn’t work for every firm The panellists also offer advice and insights on a wide range of topics from raising finance, maintaining healthy margins and scaling through acquisitions, to building a strong culture and the challenges involved in setting up overseas. If you’re looking for something to help you start 2024 in the best way possible, then this episode is a must-listen! Reach out to the panel: Marc Jantzen - https://www.linkedin.com/in/thebusinessgrowthspecialist/?originalSubdomain=uk Paul Collins - https://www.linkedin.com/in/pecollins/ Susan Lohr - https://www.linkedin.com/in/susan-lohr-12146a/ Fred Akuffo - https://www.linkedin.com/in/fred-akuffo-6a3953/ You can Learn more about The Consultancy Growth Network - https://www.consultancygrowthnetwork.com/

Welcome to the latest episode of Climb In Consulting! This time around, we were delighted to welcome Chris Southwell, Partner at The Berkeley Partnership, the consultancy that helps organisations transform under the most complex, challenging, and high-stakes circumstances to achieve their ambitions. This thought-provoking episode of Climb in Consulting focuses primarily on a topic that’s incredibly close to Chris’s heart – mental health and wellbeing. In this one, Chris talks openly and honestly about his struggles with mental health, and how his difficult upbringing led to a hugely challenging period in his life, when he first became a father. It was this that led him to seek professional help and focus on getting himself mentally well. Chris worked hard to overcome his challenges and return to health, although as he points out himself, we are all a work in progress. After returning to work, Chris went on to make Partner (with a small detour along the way), and has since seen Berkeley go from strength-to-strength. As well as talking candidly about his own mental health struggles, Chris and Nick cover a host of fascinating topics in this episode, including: - Chris’s challenging start in life, and how he came to see his upbringing as a strength and motivating force - The three things Chris swears by to protect his mental and physical health - Why Chris recommends talking therapies for everyone - Why it’s vital to normalise and remove the taboo around mental health …and much more! If you’re currently wrestling with your own mental health challenges, or maybe you just want to keep your mental health as good as it can be, you’re going to find this episode invaluable. We hope you enjoy the show! Reach out to Chris: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christopher-southwell/ Learn more about The Berkeley Partnership: https://www.berkeleypartnership.com/ Books, magazines, and websites mentioned in the show: Atomic Habits by James Clear https://www.helloself.com/ https://www.createengage.co.uk/podcasts/michael-mahony-the-berkeley-partnership/

Join Nick and Paul in a fascinating discussion about Paul's career journey from KPMG to CEO at Mason Advisory, inspired by a chance encounter on a train. They cover pivotal career decisions, the importance of values in roles, scaling a business, and giving people opportunities to shine. Whether starting in consulting or considering a career switch, this episode is a must-listen for valuable insights.

In this week’s episode, Nick chats with Matt Cheung, CEO at Clarasys, the international business consulting firm, focused on delivering the best possible experiences for their clients and their people. Regular listeners may recognise Matt’s name, and that’s because Matt was the very first guest on Climb In Consulting. Having previously talked about the origins of Clarasys and Matt’s journey to founding the business in that episode, Nick and Matt wanted to do something a little different with this one, and use it as a chance to go into detail on many of the principles behind Claraysis’s success. In this Conversation Nick and Matt talk about a range of topics that challenge the common orthodoxy in consulting, as Matt shares his perspective on why these widely held beliefs are actually holding people and consultancies back. They cover some fascinating areas, including: - Why Matt believes the traditional hierarchical approach to running organisations has had its day - The importance of being open and honest with your people, even in difficult times - Why Matt thinks many Consultants are unhappy – and the ingredients we all need to find happiness at work - How and why Matt took the decision to turn Clarasys into an Employee Ownership Trust …and much more besides, including a chat about Matt’s fascinating book ‘Trust and Patience’ – the story of how he built Clarasys. So if you’re just starting out on your consulting journey, thinking of making the leap from firm to founder, or simply enjoy listening to values-driven success stories, you’ll love this episode of Climb in Consulting. We hope you enjoy the show! Reach out to Matt: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mattcheungclarasys/ Learn more about Clarasys: https://www.clarasys.com/ Books, magazines, and websites mentioned in the show: Trust and Patience, by Matt Cheung and Samantha Roberts Reinventing Organizations: A Guide to Creating Organizations Inspired by the Next Stage of Human Consciousness, by Frédéric Laloux Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, by Daniel Pink Corporate Rebels: Make work more fun by Joost Minnaar, Pim de Morree The Fearless Organization: Creating Psychological Safety in the Workplace for Learning, Innovation, and Growth, by Amy C. Edmondson