David A. Fields Consulting Group As the old saying goes, there’s more than one way to peel a banana.
Good thing, because bananas can be tricky and when banana is actually a metaphor for Business Development (BD) at your consulting firm, it’s helpful to have another couple of options if the one you’re pursuing isn’t producing results.
There’s a decent chance you have a (reasonably) solid plan in place to win consulting business from two groups of decision makers:
1. Your current clients who could engage your consulting firm for more projects.
2. Totally new clients who could hire your consulting firm for the first time.
Securing follow-on work with current clients is relatively easy, whereas lassoing totally new clients can be downright challenging.
There are, however, two additional groups of decision-makers you can target.
Adding a BD strategy for all four types of prospective clients will maximize your odds of winning consulting projects, boost revenue and create a more stable consulting firm.
You’ll reveal the two groups of decision-makers you may be ignoring if you decouple individuals from organizations.
For instance, let’s say your contact database includes Madeline Dorr, the CEO, of Appalachian Misadventures. You also have contact entries for Mattie’s sister, Corrine (“Corrie”), who runs the Paranom-Asia division and their brother Maurice (“Mor”), who runs a team out of Calembour, France.*
Generally, you think of the Dorr siblings together, as part of one organization: Appalachain Misadventures.
If Appalachian is currently a client, you strive to win additional projects.
If Appalachian is not yet a client you target them with your marketing activities.
You have a couple more options, though.
By considering people (a.k.a. contacts) separately from their employers you reveal two additional classes of decision-makers and four BD success strategies.
Strategy: Go Deep
Target: Current Decision-Makers at Current Clients
Goal: Capture every available dollar your contact could spend on consulting.
Tactics:
- Deliver outstanding work that warrants repeat business.
- Keep an eye out for additional opportunities and phases.
- Strengthen your relationship with your contact.
- Potentially include your contact in your marketing efforts.
BD Focus: 10-40%.
If your clients don’t have multiple buying points and you’ve only scratched the surface of possible projects, then concentrate more effort on Going Deep.
Strategy: Go Wide
Target: New Decision-Makers at Current Clients
Goal: Create relationships then win business with every decision-maker in your client’s organization, across groups, divisions, functions, geographies, etc.
Tactics:
- Include a broad, client audience in your projects’ kickoffs, information gathering, and report outs.
- Ask for internal introductions.
- Client-specific lunch ‘n learns, webinars and thought leadership publications.
BD Focus: 0-30%.
If your clients have multiple buying points, then prioritize this strategy over Going Deep.
Your consulting firm’s position will be much more stable when you can retain key clients despite your initial decision-maker’s departure or your clients’ organizational shakeups.
Strategy: Go After
Target: Current Decision-Makers at Prospective Clients
Goal: Follow your contacts when they move to new organizations and leverage the relationships you’ve built to win business from entirely new companies.
Tactics:
- Actively help your contacts advance their careers.
- Emotionally support executives who are between jobs.
- Stay on top of new hires and suggest a “First 100 Days” offering.
BD Focus: 5-10%.
This group may seem entirely opportunistic; however, if you treat Go After as an explicit strategy that you’ll devote time to, you’ll find a surprising number of opportunities to put it into practice.
Strategy: Go Fish
Target: New Decision-Makers at Prospective Clients
Goal: Win a steady stream of new clients with contacts and organizations that have not worked with you previously.
Tactics:
Consistently build visibility via relationship-building, writing/publishing, public speaking, digital presence, and trade associations/partnerships. (See more detail in this book.)
BD Focus: 60-100%.
Even if you have a full portfolio of current clients with whom you can Go Deep and Go Wide, dedicate at least 60% of your new business efforts to a Go Fish strategy.
Fishing for entirely new clients is much more difficult and time consuming than pursuing current clients, and is vitally important to your consulting firm’s long term health.
Which of the four “Go” strategies has been most successful for you and your consulting firm?
Text and images are © 2025 David A. Fields, all rights reserved.
Hi David
I am trying to build my list of clients using your very helpful strategies. But most of my current contacts that I can ‘tap’ into are not end users of my services but could possibly connect me to their clients (there is no overlap in our services) or refer business to me… What would you recommend as tweaks to the strategies you have mentioned?
You’re in an interesting and challenging place, Andrew, and you have a few choices. Since you don’t have direct contact with the buyers of your services you need to either work through an intermediary/partner, or you need to change your services to something needed by the people you can reach.
Working through a partner is not unusual; for instance, consultancies focused on technology platforms frequently win their clients through the platform rather than directly. However, that comes with very significant downsides. A related strategy is to build visibility in your desired market by partnering with an adjacent provider that serves the same market as you.
In general, you’re better off when you’re closer to the customer. That means either finding ways to build a network of end users (which will take quite a bit of time) or adjusting what you do to the needs of the market.
I appreciate your asking the question, Andrew.
Hi David,
Great article as usual! For me the combination of a) being late career and b) having modest financial needs has led me to go “old school” in my BD efforts these days. Despite my efforts in cyberspace over the years, I’ve only gotten a couple of clients purely owing to that method. Befitting my belief that business (and life) success is ultimately about relationships, most of my new business comes from referrals from a few strong relationships (aks “raving fans”) that I’ve developed over the years.
Doc, virtually all consulting engagements (for small firms) is won because of relationships. Relationships –> Conversations –> Opportunities –> Engagements.
What has changed is how relationships are started and nurtured. “Cyberspace” isn’t where consulting is won; however, it’s a new venue to forge relationships.
I appreciate your old school vibe, Doc. Your dedication to relationships is well-placed, and being open to new channels will also serve you well.
Great article David! The only thing is that you repeated the target statement in the second purple box (Go Wide), so it confused me for a second. I believe it should be “New Decision Makers at Current Clients?”
Thanks for the catch, Praveen. Editing error on my part. All fixed now!
Since my firm is still very young we are 90% Go Fish. I’m still trying to ensure I’m fishing in the right pond and have an offer people are buying. Some past clients were too small (no budget), some had scope creep on the project ( unrealistic expectations) so this quarter the goal is to really ensure my fishing line is good and the pond is right.
Outstanding self-awareness and plan, Aaron. Fishing Where the Fish Are is the absolutely right focus for your firm. For any firm, actually.
One of the most obvious and inescapable conclusions drawn from our hands-on work with hundreds of consulting firms is that thriving, growing firms address expensive problems that clients urgently want to solve, whereas struggling firms address discretionary problems that clients aren’t aware of or have little urgency to solve.
You’ll speed up your process by focusing your fishing on contact you already know, Aaron. Keep me apprised of how you’re faring.