If I Were Starting My Consulting Firm Again
No ‘em-dash’ (—) in sight:
My articles might be worth reading, if only for the fact that ai doesn't write them. Warts ‘n’ all, it takes me 3-4 hours to write one, hence why can I post just one per week. I don’t write for you, I write for me.. and share it with you. I have no interest in asking someone or something, what I think I think. I have faith in humankind’s ability to endure and overcome this ludicrous phase. I’m with humans for the win.
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I sold my last company in 2019, or you could better say that I ‘escaped it’. Unlike the first company I sold to private equity years before, this one was in the consulting/agency hybrid space and it was becoming a beast. Long story short, I had a fork in the road; go for a series B and take aim at our only (billion dollar) competitor, yet lose more of my life (and possibly soul), or sell it to them and do something different.
I chose the latter, and boy did I get lucky this time. We inked the deal 3 months before COVID-19 hit and flattened the industry.
This time I was going to do it differently. ‘Scale’ in the traditional sense no longer had the same allure, and I no longer craved the trappings of a ‘big company’. I wanted a life AND a business. Could it be done?
After much hard earned trial and error, I found that it could.
I was asked recently on The Consulting Rainmakers podcast, as I have often been asked, how I would have done it differently if I were starting over, and it got me thinking.
Well here goes, I’m spilling my candy in the lobby. There are 12 things that I wish I’d known, and had done well from the start, to avoid the feast, famine, pain and anguish:
I. Market Intelligence
I wouldn’t go flailing around at anyone with a pulse just because I ‘could’ help them. Of course I could help them, I could help lots of folks, but that doesn’t mean I should.
Instead I would spend a long time defining who I should serve, which markets were commercially most attractive, which signals would indicate they were in a buying cycle and where I’d easily find those people. Like Abraham Lincoln might have done, given six months to build a business, I’d spend the first five figuring out the who.
II. Unfair Advantage
I wouldn’t think for a moment that it was near good enough to be great at what I did, or even exceptional. I would know that I had to be the ONLY choice in a sea of sameness otherwise I’d struggle to win in this game.
I would have honed my positioning, differentiation, specialisation, competitive alternatives, category, unique value proposition and carved out my undisputed authority on one very special thing. I wouldn’t invent it, you can’t do that. I’d dig deep and find it.
III. Offer Architecture
I would know that pricing, and especially ‘value-based pricing’, was a science and a labyrinth of potential disaster. I would know that getting it wrong would keep me very busy, very disappointed and looking to ‘scale’ to solve my problems once again.
Knowing this, and building on strong positioning foundations, I would have been able charge what I was worth whilst offering tremendous return on investment for those who paid me. We’d both win, I’d work less and I wouldn’t need ‘scale’ to be very wealthy.
IV. Preframed Trust
I wouldn’t have been so naive as to think that merely creating a great product, at the right price and hitting the market with it was enough to impress anyone, let alone move mountains.
I would know that prospects were researching me before they ever spoke with me, let alone bought from me, and therefore I would reverse engineer that journey and painstakingly rebuild what people find when they go looking for me. I would never lie, not a single syllable, but I would be in control of it. I would understand preeminence and set about building the authority and presence needed to possess it.
V. Engineered Prominence
I would know that if I went out creating content aimlessly, I’d look like every other wannabe creator selling $99 courses on the internet. I would know that spraying it across every channel was futile for the high-value business that I wanted to win.
Instead, I would spend time understanding where my prospects hang out most, what they wanted to see, how they consumed it, and I’d make sure that if they’d shown interest in what I do… they’d keep bumping into me where it mattered until they knew me. I might deliberately elevate my visibility, reputation, perceived status and authority through syndicated thought leadership, publishing, strategic associations, publicity and market presence. But I’d know how, vs reading $100M offers and taking a stab.
VI. Frame Dynamics
Though I’d been in boardrooms and had my ass handed back to me in more deals than I’d care to recall, as well as handing a few out… it wasn’t until 2024 and starting to write my book, The Frame, that I finally understood the role power and authority played.
I would study books by people like Robert Greene, Chris Voss and Chase Hughes (and me of course), and I’d learn how to carry status, balance power, create scarcity, and implement rules of engagement that determine how my buyers perceived and interacted with me. All those battle-won scars would have meant something to me at the start, because I’d truly understand that whether I chose to play it or not.. business was a game of power should I wish to win in it.
VII. Artisanal Outbound
I wouldn’t jump onto tools, automation, VAs and volume, believing all the hype that “its a numbers game”. I wouldn’t adopt tools before I mastered skills.
I’d know, now more than ever, that humans crave interaction with other humans and can feel intuitively when its not me, since thats what makes us human in the first place. I’d also know that if I followed the latest advantageous wave, I’d have no edge at all and so the violent competition would follow me.
Instead, I would enjoy the hand-to-hand combat that is artisanal outbound. I wouldnt pitch people, I’d start conversations.. knowing that all sales start with one. I wouldnt sound like anyone else, and so I’d stand out. I’d be curious, and I wouldn’t have my own selfish objectives in mind. The outcome would simply be the outcome. I wouldn’t measure it, I’d just enjoy it and embrace it as part of my routine.
VIII. Leveraged Inbound
I wouldn’t annoy people by sending them things they didn’t want, following up into a void, or pretending to offer them value then selling them crap instead.
I would of course know, that people only value what they ask for and don’t like to be sold to. Having collected lots of wonderful people in my ‘room’, I’d use that to offer genuine value wherever I could. I’d hold events, I’d send my assets and artefacts, and I wouldn’t ask for a thing. I’d simply look for handraisers, people who told me they could use some help… and I’d offer to help. It would be classy and I wouldn’t feel dirty after I’d done it.
IX. Force Multipliers
I would fight my introverted personality and overpowering desire to ‘go it alone’ in everything I did. I would know that leveraging other peoples time, money and resources was what would make or break me.
I would not be too proud to ask for referrals from people who knew me best and believed in me most. I would partner with other people, and have fun doing it. I would guest and have guests on my stuff, and I would joint venture wherever I could. I would know that doing this would increase my velocity no end, and that of everyone I encountered.
X. Anti-Selling Protocols
I wouldn’t chase a sale even if my kids ramen depended on it, ever. I wouldn’t qualify prospects, I’d aggressively disqualify them.. I’d look for all the reasons they would NOT be a good client for me. I wouldn’t prescribe solutions before I truly understood the problems, just to look smart, and I’d never attempt to persuade someone to buy from me.
I would do all this, not to be an arsehole, or to play power games. I’d do it because its the right way to sell, and I’d know that how an engagement begins is typically how it continues. I would be radical about my approach to (un)selling (nod to my friend Kevin Casey)
XI. High Frame Closing
Though I’d fully detached from the outcome, and no longer chased, I’d know that whilst I might not be desperate, I still wanted the damn sale. I wouldn’t be so naive as to think that the rules of human psychology didn’t apply to sales, and that simple laws of evolution and nature would dictate the outcome. I would know that, paradoxically, the more I tried to “help” or "consult”, the farther from the sale I would get. And whilst I would know that scripts were bullshit, I would also know that process’ and frameworks were not.
I would therefore have designed a closing framework which followed the natural laws of human psychology and allowed me to establish value, navigate objections, negotiate from strength and protect my pricing integrity without pressure or discounting. I would take the time particularly to learn the difference between the neocortex and the limbic system, and how each interacted during negotiations. I would, of course, do all of this with integrity and ethicality, because I’d know that these skills were powerful and should be used to help people, not harm them. I would never sell to anybody that wouldn’t be better for me having done so.. I’d sell for them, not to them.
XII. Retention Loops
I wouldn’t be so short-sighted as to build an entire practice around winning new customers, that I forgot that the lifetime value of my existing customers is by far the most crucial, yet under-optimised metric in any business. I would have known that ‘acquisition’ is hard, very hard, no matter what the hype-artists told me, and that if I optimised exclusively for that I would forever be that ‘hamster on the wheel’.
I would spend an awful long time understanding why my customers didn’t stay. Had I engineered the end? Was I all sizzle and no steak? Could I help them as much on the last day as I could have on the first? Knowing all this, I would become so good at delivering on my promises that it would be illogical not to continue working with me. I would know that it was my duty to continue to help and serve these people as long as they needed me, and way beyond some pre-packaged container or program suggested I might. I’d also have the good grace to accept when my work was done, and it was time for me to move onto the next dusty town that needed me.
In Closing
With the gift of hindsight, I’d have built a beautifully functioning firm that allowed me to work when I wanted, and not when I didn’t. I’d work to live, and I’d have hobbies I loved so much that I couldn’t wait to finish my day job to go do them. I’d always be home for dinner, and I’d never miss a sports day. I’d know that life is long if you know how to live it, but tragically short if you miss the point.
I wouldn’t take for granted the people that cheered me on when I was at my lowest, nor would I hate those that helped put me there.. because I’d try really really hard to believe that humans are inherently good.
I’d dedicate the time to doing the hard things, even when it felt pointless. Because I’d know that without those, the easy things wouldn’t stick.
I wouldn’t believe the doomsayers who told me that ai would eventually make my work redundant, because I’d know that some things would stand the test of time. I wouldn’t optimise for what might change, I would optimise for what would stay the same.
Above all else, I wouldn’t be so impatient. I’d know that anything worth building would take time, and that anything that promised me otherwise was a trap for fools. I’d settle in by the fire, pick up a glass of wine, and accept that this was going be a long road and so I’d better enjoy the journey.
I’d commit these 12 pillars to paper, and they would be come my guiding laws, principles and frameworks. And eventually, I’d used them to help others to achieve some of the things I had and avoid many of the mistakes I’d made.
Who knows, perhaps I’d call those pillars the Vanquish Method.
