Pro Serv Blogs

Pro Serv Blogs

How Founders Should Be Leveraging Their Time to Drive Growth—Especially if They Dislike Sales

As founders of professional services firms, C54 members know the value of every hour. Most feel they simply do not have enough hours in the week. Many admit that they do not get around to business development because they are wired, even trained to dislike “sales”, so when they look at their calendar, any other option seems more attractive. So today let’s talk about how to get the best leverage out of your business development time even if you hate selling.

Pro Serv Blogs

How the Best Founders Close the Biggest Sales

The biggest deals of any small to mid-sized company are closed by the founder. Period.

In principle I don’t like this fact. If I hire salespeople, pay them well, give them a target for growth and larger sales, I expect them to close the deals. It’s their job, right? I hear from founders of companies frequently their frustration that, “I have to close all of the big sales myself.” It’s an obvious desire to delegate, but on big sales, it doesn’t work that way.

Pro Serv Blogs

The Value (and Challenge) of Forecasting Accuracy

In any business an accurate forecast is one of the most valuable things one can achieve. An accurate forecast is the basis of effective resources planning and reduction of risk in the business. As we think about recruiting, hiring, and resources without an accurate forecast, our plans are merely guesses. Many of us are also thinking about maximizing our exit valuation. The ability to forecast accurately reduces business risk significantly thereby increases business value.

Pro Serv Blogs

The Top 10 Business Theories Used in Product Companies and Why They Fail in Service Firms

The business world is flooded with theories that claim to drive growth, improve efficiency, and maximize profit. Many of these theories emerge from product-based companies, tech startups, manufacturing firms, and consumer goods giants, where scaling is a matter of producing and distributing more units. However, when these same theories are applied to service firms, they often fall flat. Why? Because professional services businesses operate on fundamentally different principles: expertise, client relationships, and human capital.

Pro Serv Blogs

Crafting Effective Time Off Policies in Boutique Consulting Firms

In today’s fast-paced, digitally-transformed business landscape, particularly within the consulting industry, the concept of time off—or Paid Time Off (PTO)—has become a linchpin in the realm of employee satisfaction and firm culture. For boutique consulting firm founders crafting an effective and competitive time-off policy is not just an administrative task—it’s a strategic tool.

Pro Serv Blogs

Why We Fail to Scale

Owners of boutiques are either focused on growing, scaling or exiting their Proserv firms. This post is focused on those owners looking to scale their firms. Many of us struggle to scale, even after years of positive growth. I have heard this from many of my peers in Collective 54. I have experienced it myself. So what’s the problem? Why do we fail to scale?

Pro Serv Blogs

Getting Beyond the Founder: The Modern Marketing Playbook for Professional Services Firms

Starting a professional services company can be deceptively easy. The founder’s network is a verdant hunting ground for both leads and referrals, and their mere presence is often enough to close a deal. But soon a harsh, inevitable truth dawns: without a reliable means of generating pipeline outside of the founder, the business can only go so far. And, when it relies only on the networks of few key employees, the business is also over exposed to cycles of feast or famine.