Build a Thriving Consulting Practice that’s Authentic and Scalable
If you’re an expert, speaker, consultant or thought leader, you likely already know that building a consulting practice or a thought leadership practice isn’t for the faint hearted. Between the need to deliver brilliant work and manage the practice and your clients, it can feel impossible to find time to grow your business. And when you try, it can feel like you’re juggling flaming swords while riding a unicycle,
But building business development in a consulting practice is absolutely necessary if you want to scale and grow.
What is business development?
Business development (or BD) is different from marketing or sales, though it works in conjunction with these of course. But BD in consulting is about how you grow your relationships and expand into new markets to scale your business.
Most consulting coaches will tell you that at its core, business development for consultants and thought leaders includes the following:
Marketing
Sales
But in my experience, the third, and equally important part of BD is:
Systems
It’s these three elements together that really form the basis of your business development work. You can think of them as a team – there to help support your practice to grow sustainably. Marketing attracts potential clients by building awareness and positioning. Sales turns those relationships into paying clients. Systems support your ability to deliver as well as gives you the space and ability to actually perform your BD consistently.
But it’s your overall focus on business development that turns these elements into strategic relationships and growth.
Why business development in consulting matters?
Most consultants and thought leaders start their practice because they’re great at what they do. But technical brilliance alone won’t grow your business. You have to have a consistent approach to BD or you’ll suddenly find your calendar becomes an absolute roller coaster. You’ll be overbooked one month, and under booked the next. You might find that your income is unpredictable and lumpy. And your reputation and position will be severely underleveraged.
On the other hand, business development is what turns your expertise into opportunity. It makes sure that you’re getting in front of the right clients, that your sales conversations feel helpful rather than hustling and that your business is able to support your practice and give you the space to grow. It’s not just about getting more work – it’s about attracting the right work and the right clients, who value what you offer.
When you do BD well, you gain clarity, consistency and confidence. And this allows you to serve your clients at a higher level – which will ultimately allow you to scale sustainably (and that’s the whole goal of BD!).
What stops us from spending time in BD?
Many of the thought leaders and consultants that I’ve worked with, struggle to find the time or resources to do BD. It often comes down to a few things:
Client delivery takes over. When you’re busy serving your clients, BD is the first to fall off the to-do list. That is, until the pipeline dries up. Then you might feel panicked and rush to do something (anything!) that might not be the right approach.
Lack of systems. When we don’t have systems, it can be hard to know what we need to do (and when and how). BD feels vague and overwhelming. And even if we do get started, it’s really hard to get the support to follow through.
Discomfort with selling. Many experts find selling awkward. It can feel self-promotional or even pushy. So that means we have to avoid it. But it certainly doesn’t have to be!
Ironically, these are often the very barriers that BD can help us solve. When you invest in it consistently – you break the lumpy income cycle, attract aligned clients and build a more stable, confident practice.
How to build a thriving consulting practice
Get clear on your positioning
Business development starts with being absolutely clear on your positioning. Who do you help? What problem(s) do you solve? And what outcomes do your clients get when they work with you.
If you can’t answer these questions in one sentence, your client won’t be able to either – and this makes it much harder to buy you.
In consulting and thought leadership, clarity beats cleverness hands down. When your message is specific and relevant, then your clients feel seen and understood. And don’t just tell your clients what you do. Show them as well – through your social media posts, newsletter, case studies, whitepapers, books and more.
Tip: Write your positioning sentence, ‘I help [type of client] solve [specific problem] so they can [specific result].’Reframe selling as problem solving
Selling is always like the elephant in the room. But it doesn’t have to feel pushy or unnatural. The most effective business development consultants aren’t even ‘salespeople’ – they’re problem solvers. When you make your sales call, focus on listening to the potential clients. Ask thoughtful questions and focus on what they need.
When you reframe selling as helping and problem-solving, then you stop feeling like you’re trying to close a deal, and you start understanding the value that you really do offer.
Tip: Before your next sales call, research the client’s challenges and prepare some relevant collateral (e.g., a diagnostic tool or suggested framework). Then, during the meeting, spend 70% of the time asking and listening. Then follow up with a clear proposal that reflects the client’s goals, not just your offer.
Build supportive systems
Even the best consultants and thought leaders will burn out if their business relies solely on their own effort (or memory or inbox!). But that’s where systems come in.
You don’t need to become a project management guru overnight, but a routine can dramatically increase your visibility, accountability and ability to scale. Some things to focus on:
Inbox zero – inbox zero is something we do in our practice (it involves processing emails in batches, assigning certain categories to certain support staff and making the decision to delete, delegate, respond or defer straight away). When your email is under control, you free up mental space to focus on high-value work like client delivery, content creation and, of course, business development.
Streamline onboarding and delivery processes – create repeatable processes for onboarding new clients and for your regular delivery needs (such as workshops and keynotes).
CRMs – use your client management system to track leads, follow up and send out your newsletters.
Thought leadership – batch your content creation or schedule weekly blocks of time for innovation.
Delegation – having the right support, whether that’s a business manager or a VA, a social media expert or a copywriter (or any combination of these and more), helps you focus your energy on things that you’re an expert in, and allows you to delegate the jobs that don’t require your expertise.
Review – it’s important that you set aside time each week and month to review performance and plan ahead, particularly in relation to your business development activities.
Tip: Pick one system to improve this week.
Does it work?
One of my clients had built a thriving practice – at least that’s how it looked from the outside. Her calendar was full of back-to-back sessions and her clients were happy. But behind the scenes she was exhausted. She was working nights and weekends just to keep up with her current schedule, and that meant that she had no time for business development.
The problem wasn’t her capability – it was her capacity. She just didn’t have the time she needed because she was always working on it, not on it.
Working together we audited her week, and it became clear that without dedicated time for sales conversations, content creation and client nurture, her growth had hit a ceiling. So, we looked into the future and helped her block out the time she needed each week for business development and made it non-negotiable. Then we spent time getting her VA across the board, refining her positioning, creating visibility and putting in place the right systems.
The results were that within months she wasn’t just booked out – she was also in control, confident and growing the business on her own terms. That’s the power of creating space for business development in your consulting practice.
What’s next?
Ask yourself:
Which of these three areas needs your attention most right now?
Which of these areas do I tend to avoid… and why?
What’s one small, specific action I could take this week to strengthen my business development?
