Consulting Mastery

You're waiting for referrals that never come—checking your inbox, hoping a past client remembers you exist. Meanwhile, there's a massive network of people in your orbit who would happily refer you tomorrow, except they can't explain what you do. I've watched this pattern play out across hundreds of consulting businesses: consultants sitting on untapped referral potential while chasing the same 8-10 past clients who might think of them. In this episode, I'm breaking down why your referral strategy is fundamentally limited and showing you how to build referral infrastructure that compounds—turning acquaintances, former colleagues, and content followers into active referral sources who understand exactly who you help and what problems you solve.Show Notes:Why the traditional referral model caps out at 8-10 people who actually remember your work clearly enough to refer youThe coworking space conversation that reveals what most consultants miss about who can actually refer themHow one client's "small win" demonstrates the difference between waiting for referrals and building referral infrastructureWhat happens when you quiz your network on what you do—and why the answers should concern youThe straight-line thinking trap that makes consultants dismiss content that's actually workingWhy people who've never paid you a dollar will still refer you (and the social capital dynamic that drives this)How the vetting process has changed and why every prospect now researches you regardless of how warm the introduction wasThe compound effect: how consultants go from 2-3 referrals per year to 2-3 per month without changing their client workWhat separates consultants who generate consistent referral opportunities from those waiting on occasional client mentions

A consultant filled out my workshop intake form last week and wrote something that caught my attention: "I want to land clients without reaching out to hundreds of people hoping for one yes. I cannot do that kind of marketing." That single sentence captures the exhaustion I see across my client base. The LinkedIn gurus are telling consultants to send a thousand messages and wait for the 1-2% response rate, but nobody's talking about what that approach actually costs you. When prospective clients see generic, mass-produced outreach, they're drawing conclusions about how you operate—and those conclusions aren't helping you. In this episode, I'm walking through why volume-based outreach backfires (based on patterns I've observed across hundreds of consulting businesses), what actually works better, and how positioning lets you reach 40 people instead of 1,000 while landing better clients.Show Notes:The intake form response that sparked this conversation—why so many consultants feel trapped by volume-based outreach tacticsWhat your outreach reveals about your consulting approach: If you're sending the same message to hundreds of random prospects, clients are wondering how you'll handle their businessReal examples from my inbox: The food and beverage manufacturing pitch (I don't work in that industry) and the Harley-Davidson parts message that illustrate thoughtless targetingWhy "just get in front of more people" advice misses the point—the consultants I work with who are winning clients aren't reaching more people, they're reaching the right peopleThe three positioning elements that make outreach efficient: who you serve, what problem you solve, and how you're different (without these, you're guessing)A client's current bottleneck: 20-30 active conversations with qualified prospects in her LinkedIn inbox—what that looks like when positioning worksThe actual math on efficiency: One client from 1,000 outreach messages versus landing clients by reaching 40-50 highly targeted prospects

I keep having the same conversation with consultants: "My network is feeding me deals, so I'll fix my positioning when things slow down." It sounds perfectly rational—why fix what isn't broken? But here's what I've learned from working with over 1,000 consulting businesses: the consultants who wait until they feel crisis pressure to build positioning and pipeline face a fundamentally harder challenge than those who do it proactively. You're not just building skills—you're trying to rethink your entire market approach while worrying about next month's mortgage, while your confidence is shattered, while your runway shrinks. In this episode, I'm breaking down the five legitimate reasons you might not need to worry about positioning right now, the hidden vulnerabilities each one creates, and why the consultants who scale to 7 figures consistently build these capabilities before they need them—not after they become desperate.Show Notes:When your warm network actually is enough: The specific conditions where you genuinely don't need to panic about positioning (and the critical difference between being "busy" versus having real pipeline flow)The whale client illusion: Why being busy with one large client creates a completely different risk profile than having consistent opportunity flow—and what happens when that whale disappearsThe money you're leaving on the table: How simple positioning tweaks can increase your fees 20-50% for the exact same work with the same clients—and why that's hard to ignore even if you're "satisfied" with current incomeBuilding from strength versus desperation: Why doing positioning work when you're comfortable is a completely different experience than scrambling to figure it out when your network dries up or your big client leavesThe soul-sucking client problem: The consultant making $250K who didn't need more money—he needed to stop working with clients who drained his energy (and how positioning gave him that choice)The fragile network reality: Why your warm network isn't just finite—it's fragile, and what happens when key referral sources retire, change companies, or simply stop sending businessThe honest assessment: Five questions to determine whether you actually have a sustainable consulting practice or you're just riding luck that won't last forever

I can tell within our first conversation which consultants are operating with a mental model that will keep them stuck. If you've built your practice through referrals and now feel uncomfortable "selling," you're carrying beliefs about sales that will cap your growth far below your potential. After working inside hundreds of B2B consulting businesses, I've identified the exact pattern that separates consultants who scale from those who stay trapped in referral-dependency. In this episode, I'm breaking down the four-pillar ethical selling framework that the top performers use—the ones who don't struggle with sales because they've reframed it as professional responsibility, not self-promotion. This isn't about tactics or scripts. It's about rewiring how you think about the entire sales process so closing deals feels like doing your clients a favor, not imposing on them.Show Notes:The Slack post that reveals why most consultants plateau: What one client's honest confession about sales discomfort taught me about the #1 growth blocker I see across hundreds of consulting firmsWhy your sales discomfort has nothing to do with integrity: The flawed mental model inherited from pushy salespeople that's actually preventing you from scaling—and how the top performers think completely differently about the entire processThe "talking points syndrome" killing your close rate: How to tell if you're genuinely diagnosing client problems or just waiting for keywords to justify your predetermined pitch—and why this distinction determines whether you'll scaleThe radical transparency strategy that won the $280K deal: Why the consultant who spent fifteen minutes detailing potential failure points beat out competitors who promised "seamless transformation"What happens after you pressure someone into buying: Why pressured clients produce substantially worse outcomes and fewer referrals—and how respecting client agency actually accelerates sustainable growthThe four-pillar framework used by every consultant who broke through their revenue ceiling: Genuine belief in transformation, solving actual problems, honest representation, and respecting client agency—with specific examples from consultants who've made this shiftWhy "I've never had to sell before" isn't the flex you think it is: The hidden trap in building through referrals and what happens when that well runs dry (spoiler: most consultants aren't prepared for this transition)The reframe that changes everything: Why hiding your expertise isn't humble—it's negligent, and how the consultants who scale fastest view sales as professional responsibility rather than necessary evil

You just wrapped what felt like a perfect sales call—great chemistry, all questions answered, prospect seemed ready to move forward. Then they say "we'll discuss internally and get back to you," and suddenly you're second-guessing everything. Here's what most consultants don't realize: your deal isn't won or lost during your presentation. It's decided in the room you're NOT invited to—when the buying committee sits down without you and asks three specific questions about whether to hire you. Miss addressing these questions during your conversation, and you're gambling on hope. But when you understand exactly what they're discussing after you leave, you can structure your entire sales process to make those questions easy to answer. I'm breaking down the three questions that determine every consulting deal, and more importantly, how to address them before you ever leave the room.Show Notes- Discover the three questions every buying committee asks after you leave—and why most consultants never address them during the actual sales conversation- Learn why "booking a meeting" and "getting budget approved" are completely different decisions (and the urgency gap that kills deals in the committee room)- Understand why clients want to feel "common" not "unique" when hiring consultants, and how this psychology shapes their decision-making process- Explore the assumption of prior attempts: why every prospect has already tried to solve their problem internally (and what that means for how you position your approach)- Uncover the critical difference between Consultant A who says "I can solve your problem" and Consultant B who explains "here's why you haven't solved it yet"- Master the specific questions top consultants ask during discovery to surface real urgency and consequences—without manufactured pressure tactics- Get the exact positioning strategy that pre-answers the buying committee's questions before they even gather to discuss your proposal

Starting a consulting business feels like you need everything perfect before you begin—the website, the positioning, the delivery system, the tech stack. So you spend months "getting ready to get ready" while your bank account stays at zero. The real problem? You're doing everything except the one thing that actually matters: talking to prospective clients. I've worked with consultants at every stage, and I've never met one who got their first clients by perfecting their website or running ads to strangers. Every successful consultant started the exact same way—and in this episode, I'll walk you through the exact sequence I'd follow if I had to start from scratch today. No theory, just the proven path that actually works.Show Notes:Why "getting ready to get ready" is killing your consulting business before it starts (and what to do instead)The scientist phase: How to have conversations that create clarity without trying to sell anythingSpeed to revenue: Why imperfect deals with imperfect clients are your most strategic early moveThe 20% rule: How to identify which work is worth building an entire business around (after 6-12 months of getting busy)Raising your floor: The exact moment to stop saying yes to everything and start replacing low-value clients with premium onesWhy the consultants who "move slow to go fast" end up with seven-figure practices while the perfectionists are still struggling years laterThe counterintuitive truth about positioning: Why you should deliberately avoid committing to your niche until you've done this first

I'm going to tell you something controversial: the most successful consultants I work with aren't the smartest ones. They're not the most credentialed, most experienced, or most technically brilliant. Yet they're the ones building thriving seven-figure practices while their more qualified peers struggle to hit six figures. The difference? They have an extreme bias toward action while everyone else is trapped in analysis paralysis, waiting for perfect conditions that never arrive. Every day you delay publishing that post, making that call, or testing that offer is another day your less-qualified competitor is building the business you want. In this episode, I reveal the exact traits that separate action-takers from over-thinkers, why your intelligence might actually be sabotaging your success, and the specific practices you can implement today to break free from the planning trap and start building real momentum.Show Notes:Why the most successful consultants aren't the smartest (and the dangerous trap that intelligence creates for business builders)The "protection mechanism" that's keeping you stuck: how one failed LinkedIn post or uncomfortable sales call can freeze your entire businessPoker lessons for consultants: why folding every hand guarantees you'll waste your time at the table (and what to do instead)The two types of messy growth and why one scales 3x faster than the other (even though both feel uncomfortable)My qualification question that predicts success: "When I say jump, do you say how high?" and why your answer determines everythingThe micro-decision practice that rewires your brain for decisiveness (start with lunch, scale to your business)Why failed action beats perfect planning 100% of the time: the data advantage nobody talks aboutThe 20% rule that separates consultants who grow from those who stay stuck in delivery modeHow to build tolerance for disappointment (the skill that matters more than your expertise)

Ana Laskey, founder of Ground Control Research and a leading customer research coach, shares her insights on how consultants often misstep by focusing on their expertise instead of truly understanding client needs. They discuss the importance of identifying unmet needs to carve out unique market positions. Ana highlights a tax advisor's successful pivot to ‘deal-relevant tax insights’ and why focusing on the right problems can create more value with less work. They emphasize meeting clients in their own language to build trust and confidence.

Cold outreach fails for most consultants because they skip steps. In this episode, Ahmed and Karie break down the 100-year-old AIDA model—Attention, Interest, Desire, Action—and show how to apply it directly to consulting sales. Learn how to grab attention, spark genuine curiosity, build desire, and finally get prospects to take action—without sounding desperate.

I used to think that working harder and being smarter was enough to scale my consulting business – but I was dead wrong. After watching countless brilliant consultants hit the same revenue ceiling around $500K-$1M, I discovered the brutal truth: most consulting businesses will never scale to the level their founders dream of, and it has nothing to do with intelligence or effort. The real problem? We're trying to scale chaos – doing different work for different clients with no clear focus, making it nearly impossible to hire talent or attract new clients beyond our warm network. But here's the solution that's helping consultants break through to $2M+ revenue: scale requires simplification, and growth means removing things before you add them.Show Notes:Why most consulting businesses fail to scale despite having smart, hardworking founders (and it's not what you think)The "dog's breakfast portfolio" problem: How doing great work for random clients actually prevents you from growingWhy hiring becomes nearly impossible when you need "rockstar" consultants who can handle infinite variabilityThe identity crisis that kills growth: How being like Procter & Gamble instead of Tesla destroys your market positioningThe traditional consulting growth model (do good work → get busy → hire more people) and why it's fundamentally flawedReal case study: How a $750K consulting firm is restructuring to hit $2M by identifying their most scalable 20-30% of workThe "scale requires simplification" framework: Why you must remove services before you can multiply revenueHow to overcome the fear of focus and find abundant opportunity within a narrow specialtyWhy saying no to profitable work feels counterintuitive but creates the foundation for breakthrough growthPractical steps to identify which of your current services are truly scalable versus which ones are growth killers