Revolutionizing Consulting: How Embracing “No Deliverables” Can Transform Your Firm

In the world of small service firms, the journey from struggling to thriving can be a daunting one. Each firm’s unique challenges and complexities can often seem insurmountable, especially for those who have dedicated their lives to building their businesses. But as the saying goes, “When one door closes, another one opens.” For one member of Collective 54’s mastermind community, this sentiment rang true, leading to a transformative shift that turned his unsellable lifestyle firm into an attractive acquisition target.

Meet John, the founder of a sustainable energy consulting firm. Approaching 60 years of age and struggling to scale his business, he found himself trapped in a vicious cycle. His firm relied heavily on lengthy, customized deliverables that demanded highly experienced, and highly paid senior consultants. However, when he attempted to sell his firm, potential buyers couldn’t envision its future beyond the brilliant founder and a handful of senior consultants. His firm was at an impasse, deemed unsellable.

John’s path to transformation began when he stumbled upon Collective 54 through Greg Alexander’s LinkedIn profile and a YouTube video addressing his precise dilemma. Intrigued by the possibilities, he decided to join the community to learn how to breathe new life into his struggling firm.

At Collective 54’s annual event, The Founder’s Summit, John had a pivotal encounter over drinks with a fellow member. This peer suggested a radical transformation in how he delivered services to clients – a change that would eliminate the need for hard-to-find senior consultants and their hefty salaries. The key insight? Eliminate deliverables altogether.

Instead of providing reports, decks, models, or plans, this member told his clients that his primary deliverable was insight and advice. He realized that the 250-page reports he used to produce were seldom read by clients, and their creation necessitated an army of consultants. So, he took a leap of faith and focused solely on delivering valuable insights.

Today, his firm employs just a team of 10, and it was recently acquired by a larger platform, seamlessly integrated to expand their service portfolio. He received a fair price for his firm, with 75% upfront and a 24-month earn-out for the remainder. This allowed him to ease into retirement with a sense of accomplishment.

But how did he get away without producing traditional deliverables to demanding clients? He explained that the larger acquiring firm indeed provided reports, but they weren’t authored by humans. Instead, they harnessed the power of AI Assistants, using a private version of ChatGPT called Custom GPT.

This AI Assistant took transcripts from client meetings (recorded via audio on consultants’ mobile phones) and, with a few prompts from the consultant, generated reports. Consultants acted as editors, not creators, dramatically reducing report creation time from days to mere minutes. The clients’ focus shifted from scrutinizing the report to discussing the valuable insights it contained. The value shifted from perceived value, i.e. a long report, to true value, i.e. insights delivered by an expert.

John initially hesitated to fully embrace the “no deliverable” approach but found comfort in having an AI Assistant draft reports. This decision allowed him to continue to grow his business by 30% yet now without the need for additional headcount, which in the past would have been impossible. Senior consultants are paired with junior resources as they always have been. But, now the junior resource is an AI Assistant, not a human being. And the AI Assistant works 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 52 weeks per year and never complains about work life balance.

Interestingly, John noticed that AI-written reports differed from those created by humans. They got straight to the key points without lengthy preamble and featured a concise executive summary in bullet point format, with supporting evidence in a detailed appendix with footnotes. To his surprise, clients appreciated the straightforward approach, feeling they received something more user-friendly and valuable. John was afraid that in the eyes of the client the length of the report correlated to the size of the fee. But it did not. The fee was justified by the quality of the insights.

In conclusion, John’s journey from struggling founder unable to scale his firm to a highly scalable firm was made possible by joining Collective 54. The chance encounter with a like-minded peer at The Founder’s Summit led to a transformative shift in his business model, leveraging AI Assistants to streamline his operations and offer clients more valuable insights. We are very fortunate to live and work anywhere empowered by virtual meeting technology. However, there is something special about meeting in person in a social setting with peers. A properly designed member experience leverages both virtual and in person meetings.

Collective 54 is a community where such serendipitous meetings can change your business trajectory. By joining, you open doors to knowledge, connections, and opportunities that can propel your service firm to new heights. Embrace the power of collective wisdom, and who knows what remarkable transformations await you on your path to success. Join Collective 54 today, and start shaping your firm’s future.