David A. Fields Consulting Group Make Next Year Your Consulting Firm’s Best Year Yet with These 3 Simple Steps
Kudos to you if you have an ideal vision for your consulting firm. You know what’s better?
Yes, yes, you and I both immediately thought that a bar of rare Venezuelan dark chocolate infused with champagne and wrapped in edible gold leaf is better.
But I’m asking (rhetorically), what’s even better for your consulting firm than an ideal vision and Venezuelan chocolate?
The answer:
A practical, compelling one-year vision that’s already in motion to transform your Now Firm into Best Ever Firm.
You can build that one-year vision this week with a simple 3-step, 7-question exercise.
3 Steps to Make Next Year
the Best Year Yet for Your Consulting Firm
Step 1: Identify the Bigger Win for Your Clients
Q1: What bigger problem can you solve for your clients?
Alternatively, what bigger aspiration can you help your clients achieve?
Becoming Best Ever Firm starts with your clients, of course.
Many consulting firms mistakenly believe they should focus on larger clients.
The faster, more reliable, more scalable path to Best Ever Firm is to focus on bigger wins for the clients you already know how to reach and win.
Q2: What greater value will you create?
Identifying the problem/aspiration isn’t enough.
You also need to be able to compellingly articulate the huge, incremental benefits the client will receive if your consulting firm addresses the bigger issue.
Q3: How, ideally, will your clients’ experience be different?
Remember, your clients’ perception of value is based just as much on their experience of working with your consulting firm as it is on the tangible results you deliver.
Step 2: Determine the Implications for Your Consulting Firm
Q4: What will you do differently?
Identify how you will need to change your consulting firm’s current approach in order to solve the bigger issue, deliver the greater benefits, and create the better client experience.
Q5: What is required to succeed?
Your new approach undoubtedly demands capacity, expertise, knowledge, skill sets, processes, systems, and/or tools that your Now Firm doesn’t possess.
You have gaps to fill, and knowing exactly what those gaps are is great for the future of your consulting firm.
Step 3: Make it Real
Q6: Can you envision the change?
Many firms that make it through the first two steps to becoming the Best Ever Firm, still get stuck close to or exactly at Now Firm.
The reason, as best I can tell, is they can’t truly see themselves investing the resources (money, time, focus) to change from where they are now into the boldly envisioned future.
You must embrace the mental image of yourself taking on the uncomfortable task of filling the gaps.
Q7: What will get you started now?
Write down the first five, granular actions required to fill the gaps between Now Firm and Best Ever Firm.
Also note who will take those steps and exactly when they’ll be taken.
Note that you don’t need an entire execution plan in order to get started.
Some readers will be deeply discomfited by jumping into action before a plan is fully baked. If that describes you, embrace the discomfort and jump into action anyway.
Your likelihood of transforming into Best Ever Firm skyrockets once you take the first five actions.
What is one thing you’re going to do to make next year the best year ever for your consulting practice?
Text and images are © 2025 David A. Fields, all rights reserved.
The one thing I am going to do next year, which has been differetn from all the rest, is that I am going to replicate my one and only, hugely successful, client-focused “Real Stories, Real Impact” seminar ten times next year. (About once a month.)
OK Universe, i’ve thrown down the gauntlet, and told you about my dream. Now support me!
Replicating your successful seminar sounds like a great idea, Ken. Maybe there’s an even higher level problem you can speak to in a revised version of that seminar.
David’s on vacation this month, but I’m sure he’ll also be interested in hearing about your plan for next year.
Thank you for sharing next-year plan, Ken.
Hi David,
Loved reading this after my dad shared some of your content with me!
I’ve recently gone independent after 4 years of consulting at PwC UK. Despite success with two clients so far so far, I worry that being younger & less experienced than the industry norm I may struggle to find and win new clients going forwards.
I’d love to have a chat to hear your views on the world of boutique consulting and seek some inspiration to help me as I look to find my next client / project in the coming months. Would you be open to finding 15 /20 mins at some point for some intro’s and a chat?
Best,
Jake
Congratulations on moving into independent consulting, Jake!
I’m sure David would be happy to chat with you once he’s back from his November vacation.
I’ll ask David’s EA to reach out to you to coordinate a time.