How to Grow a Management Consulting Firm Past Your Network

The things that used to work are working less and less. The projects you need to win today are probably a lot larger than the ones you needed five or ten years ago. They require a lot more trust and a lot more due diligence on the client's part.

You haven't focused on that because the work just kept rolling in. Right until it doesn't.

Relying solely on referrals isn't a sustainable growth plan.

Key Takeaways

• Referrals still matter, but they are no longer enough to sustain growth.
• Salespeople don't arrive with sales systems in place.
• Consistency builds up timing, and when opportunity and timing meet, that is a project or a retainer.
• The easiest way I've ever made money is getting money from people who have already given me money.

Why does a consulting firm's growth stall when the founder's network runs out?

A lot of firms are in the same spot. They're reaching a ceiling where referrals have dried up over the last few years, especially since COVID.

The barrier to closing deals, or even getting buyers interested in working with you, has also increased.

In SparkToro's State of Digital Agencies 2024 survey of 612 agency owners and consultants, 66 percent said the top source of their referrals for new business was existing and past clients, and partner companies came second at nearly 13 percent.

What happens with small places like yours is that you get busy with the work. You're like, I don't need to worry about new clients as much. That's why you've got to build a system that keeps you consistent.

If your referrals have already slowed, start with what to do first when referrals dry up.

Should a consulting firm hire a salesperson or a marketing agency first?

When the work slows down, you start going, maybe we need to hire a salesperson. That's a bad idea. Or maybe we need to hire a marketing agency. That's a bad idea too.

Salespeople don't arrive with sales systems in place. Imagine hiring a developer, and when they start, you say, here's a computer, make web stuff. That's not how you onboard developers.

Salespeople close deals, and you will sell better than anyone else.

What you need is more people and more leads.

A marketing agency, unless they specialize in professional services, is going to have a really difficult time selling what you're doing.

Cold email these days is very challenging. You can have success with it, but it's just a part of a larger strategy. In SparkToro's 2025 survey of mostly small agencies, 59 percent had tried outbound sales. Of those, 9 percent called it very effective and 33 percent called it not effective at all.

When you're ready to hire, When Should an Agency Hire Its First Salesperson? covers the role, the pay, and handing off sales.

How does a consulting firm become findable without the founder?

If your positioning is not correct, buyers don't know when to call you. And if your offer is bad, people don't want to buy anything.

In a Hinge and XPX study of 262 business advisors, the top reason given for not referring a firm was not seeing its expertise, at 45.5 percent. Not being asked was 1.1 percent.

If you do go more vertical, you will have more success. Number one, you build trust faster with your ideal clients. Number two, you build expertise faster, so you become better at the work faster. Number three, you can charge more. And number four, you are not saying no to other work.

When we go to market, we are targeting very specific people with a very specific solution. Go talk to those people about the outcomes you provide. That's when they hire you.

We need to share our opinions about why one approach is better than another. We have to take a stand.

If you don't tell people how to buy something from you, it's very challenging. They don't know how to buy, because they don't do this all the time.

You need to have an initial offer, which is like an assessment or a diagnostic. I would avoid the word audit, because it's got a negative connotation. An initial offer is a way to start a conversation by anchoring what it takes to work with you.

If you can't make it easy to work with you, I'm probably going to go find something that's easy to work with.

How do you reach buyers outside your network?

We are in a very low-trust environment for services. People are getting spammed all day long now, and AI is just doubling that.

When people hired you in 2021, they were betting that maybe the project might fail, and they could absorb that. Today, people are scared for their jobs, so more often they're betting their job on whether they hire you. That's why trust signals are way more important. We want to invite people to a party instead of asking if we can join theirs.

The first thing I like to do is take all the titles of the people who have been your clients for the last five years. Then go find more of those people at the types of companies you want to work with. Block time on your calendar every day, send a few connection requests, and just keep chugging away. The messages we send people on LinkedIn are invitations to celebrate them.

Instead of reaching out asking for a meeting, you're inviting them to a webinar. It's the third or fourth one that does anything, because you're building up authority. Webinar five is where you start to see traction.

Trade shows are better than conferences for this. At conferences, people are going to learn, and at trade shows, people are going to shop. I look up the convention venues and then their event calendars. My ideal client is either going to be attending or exhibiting, and then I try to go to those shows.

You need to build up a list of partners that you're staying in contact with, because they could bring you in. This is a big part of how I built my last agency, and even how I built my consulting business now.

You've got opportunity and you've got timing. When those two meet, you get a sale. Most of my best clients watch me for a year without ever reaching out. They don't like a post. They don't comment on a post. I stay visible enough that when the timing is right and they need some help, they know exactly who to call.

Just because people aren't commenting on your stuff does not mean they don't see it.

What keeps growth going when the founder is busy delivering?

You just got to build your own systems like you would for a client. Consistency is what matters most.

You'll take off, you'll do a few, you land a couple of big fish, and then you kind of just phone it in for a little while.

You need systems in place that can run on their own for the most part, without you needing to be in the weeds.

Landing and expanding was a big part of our growth at the agency I ran. Expansion into our current clients, and providing more services for them, kept us from plateauing for a very long time.

Once you're in, it's somebody's job to go in there and start finding all the other opportunities. You are working with people who already know how you operate. They trust you. They want more of that.

For how to track all of this, see Pipeline Management: The Operating System for Revenue Growth.

How does Schmidt Consulting Group help a consulting firm owner grow past their own network?

Schmidt Consulting Group works with founder-led agencies and professional services firms on positioning, pricing, and new business.

Mentorship is twice-monthly counsel for founders on pricing, hiring, clients, and direction. You set the agenda, and your team does the work.

Advisory is a weekly operating rhythm for growth: a written plan, one priority at a time, and a review of results every week.

You'll hear the fee on our first call.