133 Pieces of Advice I Shared on LinkedIn in 2024

2024 was a transformative year for many consulting businesses.

I've observed many boutique consultancies trying to address the challenge of modern service buyers being more cautious than ever in their choice of external partner.

While the consultancy market and the demand for consulting services have risen again, buyers increasingly seek partners with exceptional expertise. They also want to minimise risk, another critical factor in their decision-making process. 

Furthermore, buyers are less loyal than ever. Due to the abundance of options and their changing needs and buying journey, C-level executives are less hesitant to replace existing partners with those who can offer more value, better pricing, or faster results.

In light of all these market dynamics, I witnessed boutique consultancies adopt a wide range of strategies:

• Some added new services to their portfolio to appeal to a larger market segment.
• Some focused on cost-cutting measures, creating leaner teams and reducing operational costs.
• Several boutique consultancy businesses got more proactive in their thought leadership efforts in a solid attempt to grow their reputational footprint.
• A few returned to the drawing board to reassess their business models, sharpen their expertise, create a stronger value proposition, and re-introduce themselves to the market as go-to experts in a more narrow expertise domain. (I loved seeing those!)

As I watched these strategies play out – sometimes from the sidelines and often as an external advisor to these boutique consultancies – I continued to write down everything I was learning along the way: the common mistakes I witnessed, roadmaps to success, and everything in between.

As a result, in 2024, much of the advice I shared – both on LinkedIn and through my blog articles – was around the following themes:

• The importance of repetition, narrow focus, and creating a signature methodology.
• How a value proposition can make or break a consultancy business.
• Service design: different models and success stories.
• What metrics should boutique consultancies prioritise for their performance assessment?
• What business development strategies deliver strong results, and which appear to create more headaches?
• Why is audience education-driven thought leadership imperative to the success of a boutique consulting business?
• What clients are looking for, and how boutique consultancies can optimise buyer journeys.
• The importance of internal alignment and discipline. 
• What foundational elements do high-performing boutique consultancies spend much time and effort on?

In this annual article, I present my catalogue of 133 pieces of advice on these themes, which I shared with my network and followers on LinkedIn in 2024. 

1. A new year's resolution suggestion for consultancy owners: develop existing clients!
2. 2 Mistakes consulting leaders tend to make when they are not specialised enough or focused.
3. Explore the 11 key success characteristics of boutique consultancy mastery (part 1).
4. Explore the 11 key success characteristics of boutique consultancy mastery (part 2).
5. Dear Consultancy Owner, LinkedIn is your live conference room.
6. Digital-first business development in a consultancy requires a significant mental shift.
7. Does your consultancy get invited by prospective clients consistently?
8. From daily grind to strategic mind: the critical shift consultancy founders must make.
9. Service and client journey design in a consultancy should be approached as a foundational, strategic activity.
10. The 2 most important outcomes of a high-performing boutique consultancy (part 1/4).
11. Do you know the ultimate manifestation of consultancy excellence? (part 2/4)
12. If I were to start a boutique consulting firm again, this would be my ultimate aspiration (Part 3/4).
13. The 2 success pillars of high-performing boutique consultancies (part 4/4).
14. Specificity lies at the heart of the high-performing boutique consultancy.
15. Achieving above-market revenue as a consultancy? Educate!
16. The updated Consulting Value Proposition Canvas has arrived.
17. KPIs shouldn’t be dictating how to run a consultancy but rather used to uncover a story. Right?
18. My Value Proposition Canvas articles and posts created 6 new client leads in the past 6 months.
19. The ultimate dream of a consultancy: clients come to you instead of having to chase the clients.
20. The inspirational story of a 180k more expensive pitch and still winning the contract.
21. Welcome to the 2024 edition of Boutique Consulting Trends!
22. Most boutique consultancies are doing exactly the same as 100s of other consultancies.
23. Is your consultancy constantly chasing after clients, or are you in the enviable position of attracting them?
24. Consultancy leaders tell me they don’t know what to write about. I really don’t get that.
25. To all boutique consultancy owners: get rid of all your vanity claims!
26. Consultancy high-performance in 3 words: attract, win, develop.
27. I would only start an important consulting project with an upfront discovery.
28. Most boutique consultancies don't have a structured plan to develop their existing clients.
29. [4 Case Studies] Inspiring and cautionary lessons from boutique consultancies
30. Why Your Consultancy's Website is Missing the Mark (And How to Fix It).
31. The mysterious case of disappearing prospects after they get a proposal.
32. I often hear from leaders of consultancy firms that they're at a loss for content ideas. This baffles me, honestly.
33. 95% of boutique consultancies started with an idea and a strong belief that this idea would become a success.
34. Why consultancy owners are missing the digital train.
35. Consultancy leaders, it's time to cut the AI hype.
36. “Does your consultancy have the capacity to deliver such a project?”
37. When I meet consultancy owners and ask what they excel at, I almost always get served ‘boring table stakes’.
38. Many boutique consultancy owners start with a vision of freedom & control over their work.
39. I carefully document FAQs from my clients. Here's the first list. More to come.
40. Small consultancy, big ambitions. Is excellence in multiple domains possible?
41. It took me several years to understand the concept of 'power in the sale' - in my early consulting years.
42. Industry focus is valuable but not the starting point for a successful consultancy.
43. The turning point in my consulting career? When I was able to achieve REVENUE STABILITY.
44. It’s not a great idea to add ‘we also do coaching’ to a consultancy’s service offering.
45. Ignoring 'Client Lifetime Value' (LTV) is a Missed Opportunity for Boutique Consultancies.
46. The report: I’ve audited the performance of almost 100 consultancies.
47. Too many consultancy owners operate their businesses in an ad hoc way.
48. "Luk, does my consulting team need to become more sales-driven?"
49. What does the consultancy team answer to the question: 'What is it what you do?'
50. How one mistake in my early consulting years taught me the value of stability.
51. Here’s how 2 consultancy clients transformed their fluffy propositions.
52. Are you looking at consulting revenue the old way? It’s time for a change!
53. Lots of new projects but struggling to pay the bills and the team salaries?
54. A consultancy can’t make a difference by explaining that it has an experienced team!
55. Too many boutique consultancies have become heavily commoditised due to under-differentiated propositions.
56. The excitement of growth and client acquisition can quickly turn into a relentless grind.
57. Highly specialized new boutique consultancies pop up DAILY, raising the bar for all the others.
58. The dark side of developing existing clients.
59. Most consultancy websites really suck. Really.
60. Many consultancy owners believe they’re in constant competition with everyone else.
61. The invisibility of most boutique consultancy owners and leaders is a critical misstep.
62. Will proposals become more outcome-driven in the coming years?
63. The demand for external support is on the rise: 62% expect to use more external support, up from 57% last year.
64. Please REMOVE the 𝗢𝗽𝗲𝗻𝗧𝗼𝗪𝗼𝗿𝗸 badge from your LinkedIn picture!
65. The statistics are shocking: 84% of the time, trying to convince a hesitant prospect backfires.
66. As the saying goes, many small consulting firms are only a few months away from insolvency.
67. What is a high-performing boutique consultancy (HPBC), a prospect asked.
68. Have you ever wondered how writing 100 newsletters can contribute to your boutique consultancy's growth strategy?
69. The boutique consultancy’s pipeline is weak? Here’s the first thing to do!
70. Why most One-Stop-Shop Concepts in Consulting are Low-Performing Concepts.
71. Prospects either knock on the door, or a consultancy is doomed to low performance.
72. Assessing a boutique consultancy’s performance? These five metrics are non-negotiable.
73. The plain truth is that your consultancy’s expertise is NOT UNIQUE.
74. Without an extensive FAQ on the homepage, a consultancy leaves its prospects in the dark.
75. The hidden metric that could transform a consultancy: Revenue per FTE.
76. Without the majority of revenue coming from existing clients, a consultancy will sink its existence.
77. Here's my KPI-differentiation quadrant (I love quadrants 😀 ).
78. A double consultancy mistake: selling generic capabilities to an unspecified audience.
79. The Future of Client Development: Elevating Client Functions for Lasting Impact.
80. Breaking the myth: a narrowly specialised consultancy can offer a wide range of services.
81. A must-read! Time to reflect on the consulting market halfway through 2024.
82. Every consultancy says that they are incredibly unique. But that has zero value.
83. Without a repeatable signature methodology, a consultancy tends to underperform.
84. Interested in understanding the structure of a consulting signature methodology?
85. Without existing client growth, boutique consultancies are trapped in a survival battle.
86. Too many boutique consultancies are making their services up as they go.
87. Why are so many boutique consultancies touting “customised services” on their websites?
88. When prospects don't seek out a consultancy's services, the firm is on a fast track to low performance.
89. What's the risk of saying yes to non-fit projects with existing good-fit clients?
90. I recommend that every consultancy assesses its expertise reputation regularly.
91. The consultancy’s proposal win rates tell me almost everything.
92. Consultancies have no choice: proposals must be outcome-driven to differentiate.
93. A Day in my life of advising boutique consultancies.
94. Stability in a consultancy comes from retaining and developing existing clients over an extended period in a programmatic way.
95. I had a surprising call with a (very) tired consulting leader.
96. I always get this question: what is the key to success in a boutique consultancy?
97. Almost nobody is talking about developing existing consulting clients!
98. It's great to hear about the increased demand for top-level professionals in the consulting market and the shift in hiring sentiment that James O'Dowd reports.
99. Consultancy leaders often tell me they don’t know what to write about.
100. Hiring more to grow more in a boutique consultancy? That’s a trap!
101. The sales success of a high-performing consultancy is a side effect.
102. Why do so many boutique consultancies make the same costly mistakes repeatedly?
103. What is the most challenging thing in my consultancy performance improvement work?
104. Don’t call yourself a consulting firm if you’re running a consulting marketplace.
105. Every boutique consultancy firm should have a discovery service.
106. One of my biggest consulting flaws in the past decade?
107. Growth or scale: Different paths for different boutique consultancies. What’s yours?
108. Marketing in a consultancy is all about helping to build long-term visibility and trust at scale.
109. Business development in boutique consultancies has changed radically in the past years.
110. Why growing a consultancy client is different from developing a consultancy account!
111. A laundry list of consulting services? Profitability at risk!
112. Think hiring a business development leader will fix the consultancy’s growth problem?
113. The challenge of creating a compelling consulting proposition.
114. Strategic growth takes a back seat when consultancy owners get lost in service delivery.
115. If a boutique consultancy can't retain & develop its existing clients, it will always have an existential struggle.
116. Think utilisation is king? Not if your consultancy service offering is a mess.
117. Internal misalignment: the silent threat to boutique consultancies.
118. I wouldn't be where I am today without LinkedIn.
119. Creating new consultancy services to grow revenue? Think twice!
120. Stop selling what every other consultancy is already doing.
121. Every failed consultancy has one thing in common: they couldn’t attract new clients.
122. If boutique consultancy owners are invisible in the market, their business runs on borrowed time.
123. Without a playbook, consulting client retention and development is wishful thinking.
124. Clients you chase today will be your problems tomorrow.
125. How adding new consulting services might undermine a consultancy's profit.
126. I thought I was helping my clients but was compromising my consulting business.
127. Clients want depth, not breadth. Specialist consultancies, this is your moment!
128. The Big Conundrums in a Boutique Consultancy, and my struggles with them.
129. Why can’t partners in a consultancy agree on what makes a project “the best”?
130. 18% of potential clients say a consultancy's methodology is the deciding factor when choosing a firm.
131. The High-Performing Boutique Consultancy: My Observations from the Trenches.
132. 2024 rewrote the rules of boutique consultancy performance—2025 will test who was paying attention :-).
133. 50 Boutique Consulting Quotes – Free eBook to Download

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