Pro Serv Blogs Archives - Collective 54

The Sales Data That Matters Lives in Your Buyer’s Words

Greg Alexander / April 17, 2026

You pulled up your pipeline this morning. The number looked reasonable. You’re about to make hiring, spending, and growth decisions based on it.
Half those deals aren’t real and you know it. Your sellers know it too. The CRM just doesn’t.
I see stages advance because someone sent a follow-up email, not because the buyer did anything. I’ve watched forecasts get built on records that haven’t been touched in a month.
Every boutique professional services firm I’ve ever seen has some version of this going on.

Pro Serv Blogs

The Problem with 90-Day Rocks in a 9-Day World

Greg Alexander / April 16, 2026

Recently our community had a pretty heated debate about EOS – specifically, whether the Entrepreneurial Operating System is still the right framework for running a professional services firm in 2026.

Pro Serv Blogs

The AI Adoption Curve: What We’re Seeing in Collective 54

Greg Alexander / April 14, 2026

At Collective 54, I talk to hundreds of founders and executives of boutique professional services firms every year. Right now, AI comes up in almost every conversation. Where to start, what tools to use, how to get teams on board, and how to think about the future of the firm. We believe the future of professional services is becoming AI native, and everything we do as a community is oriented around helping firms get there.

Pro Serv Blogs

Close the Gap Between What They Said and What You Heard

Greg Alexander / April 13, 2026

You just finished a big call. A real prospect. The kind that could change your year.
You took notes the entire time. Two pages. You feel good about it.
Here’s the problem: what you wrote down isn’t what they said. It’s what you heard. And those two things are not the same.

Pro Serv Blogs

From ‘Sold Project’ to ‘Strategic Partner’: How to Grow Inside Existing Clients

Greg Alexander / April 10, 2026

Most professional services firms put the majority of their energy into winning new business. New logos, new pipelines, new pursuits. And while that matters, it often comes at the expense of the most overlooked growth opportunity sitting right in front of them: their existing clients.
The difference between firms that grow steadily and those that scale meaningfully is not just how well they sell; it’s how well they expand.

Pro Serv Blogs

Your Next Sales Hire Has a 50% Chance of Failing. Here’s How to Beat the Odds

Greg Alexander / April 9, 2026

About half of sales leaders fail in their first 18–24 months. That’s according to Harvard Business Review. If you’re a founder hiring someone to sell your expertise, those aren’t great odds.
The cost of getting it wrong goes beyond money. It’s time, energy, culture, and credibility. You trusted someone to represent your firm. They didn’t deliver. Now you’re cleaning up the mess and starting over.

Pro Serv Blogs

Planning for the Plateau: Why Consulting Firms Stall at $10M and How to Break Through

Greg Alexander / April 7, 2026

For many consulting firms, reaching $10 million in revenue feels like a major milestone. And it is. It signals product-market fit, a strong reputation, and a leadership team that knows how to sell and deliver. But for a surprising number of firms, it’s also where growth slows – or stops altogether.

Pro Serv Blogs

Speed Isn’t About Execution. It’s About Decision-Making.

Greg Alexander / April 6, 2026

Artificial intelligence is changing professional services. Clients now expect work to be faster, cheaper, and better. For the purpose of this article, let’s focus on one: speed.
A few months ago, a client asked if we could complete a project in three weeks instead of eight.
In theory, yes. The work itself can now be done much faster.
But there was a catch.

Pro Serv Blogs

Cash Flow vs. Profit: Why Profitable Companies Still Run Out of Money

Greg Alexander / April 3, 2026

It’s a financial paradox that baffles many business owners: the Income Statement shows a healthy profit, but the bank account balance keeps dropping. This disconnect is the key to understanding why profitable companies still run out of money. The simple truth is that profit does not equal cash.

Pro Serv Blogs

The AI Lab: The Good, the Bad, and the Stuff That Blew Up in My Face

Greg Alexander / April 2, 2026

In the last blog I talked about why I’m deliberately disrupting my own consulting firm and dragging it toward an AI-first future. That was the aspirational part. The vision part. The “future of the firm” part.

Pro Serv Blogs

The Sales Data That Matters Lives in Your Buyer’s Words

The Problem with 90-Day Rocks in a 9-Day World

The AI Adoption Curve: What We’re Seeing in Collective 54

Close the Gap Between What They Said and What You Heard

From ‘Sold Project’ to ‘Strategic Partner’: How to Grow Inside Existing Clients

Your Next Sales Hire Has a 50% Chance of Failing. Here’s How to Beat the Odds

Planning for the Plateau: Why Consulting Firms Stall at $10M and How to Break Through

Speed Isn’t About Execution. It’s About Decision-Making.

Cash Flow vs. Profit: Why Profitable Companies Still Run Out of Money

The AI Lab: The Good, the Bad, and the Stuff That Blew Up in My Face

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