There is a common yet costly habit that many consulting founders adopt – one that feels logical but seriously undermines the firm’s growth.
This habit is not immediately visible in your financial statements. It doesn’t trigger alarms right away. In fact, it often begins with what seems like a strategic decision. But over time, it erodes momentum and creates a dependency that becomes difficult to reverse.
Here is how this plays out in practice:
⚠️ First, founders often bring in a salesperson – or a fractional head of sales – with the intention of offloading the sales function. While this can be a sound move later in a firm’s evolution, doing it prematurely can be damaging. If the founder has not already validated the offer, understood the target market, refined the messaging, and personally closed deals, the salesperson will be operating with too many unknowns. Instead of accelerating growth, this often leads to poor conversion rates, misaligned expectations, and wasted resources.
⚠️ Second, many firms turn to lead generation agencies that promise a steady flow of appointments. These services often promote a performance-based model that seems risk-free. But lead generation is a tactical layer built on top of a strategic foundation. If your messaging is unclear or your offer lacks resonance, those leads are unlikely to convert. At best, you will get occasional meetings. At worst, you will end up with a pipeline filled with the wrong prospects.
⚠️ Third, some founders delegate marketing execution to a junior business development hire or marketing assistant. The hope is that regular content, social media visibility, and design updates will attract clients organically. However, without a clearly articulated point of view, differentiated positioning, and an overarching strategy, these efforts seldom translate into business results. They become activity for activity’s sake – well-intentioned but ineffective.
These behaviours reflect what I call the mindset of a “Project Leader” – a founder focused on delivering client work while avoiding the challenging (and often unfamiliar) work of building a growth engine.
“Growth Leaders” take a different approach. Before delegating sales or marketing, they invest time in answering critical questions:
✅ What specific problems are we best equipped to solve?
✅ Which market segments do we understand thoroughly?
✅ Where are the current gaps in the market, and how can we address them in a way that is both compelling and credible?
They test their ideas, engage directly with prospects, and iterate until the message resonates and the offer delivers results.
Only once this foundation is in place do they begin to scale sales and marketing operations. This ensures alignment, reduces friction, and increases the likelihood of sustainable growth.
Clarity must precede delegation. That is the difference between a consulting firm that scales with intention and one that struggles despite talent and effort.
—
Ready to add $100k-$500k revenue to your consulting business in 12 months or less without burning out? Schedule a call and let me show you how.
