The Professional Services Owner’s Dilemma. “That’s a great idea! How do I act on that? And then that one, and that one…”Sound familiar? As a professional services firm owner, you’re caught in a perpetual whirlwind. You’ve mastered your technical expertise and now you’re expected to simultaneously become an expert in every facet of business operations.
A few winters ago, I was driving down I-29 in a brutal Midwest blizzard.
The kind where you can’t see more than a few feet and you’re just praying you can make it to the next exit before you slide off the road, or worse.
In those moments, you don’t look around — you look for the white line. That single white line on the edge of the road becomes your focus.
Many firms craft value statements, put them in a slide deck, and hope the words sink in. The unfortunate reality is that values that live only on paper rarely have any gravitational pull. They have to show up in hiring, onboarding, daily routines, and feedback.
As I’ve spoken with more members of Collective54 about their Go-To-Market strategy, there is a common theme. Their primary Buyers, their Heroes, are typically C-level executives, but rarely the CEO. This is true of professional services generally, as CFOs, COOs, CIOs and CHROs dominate the landscape of Buyers. Proserv firms vary in their capability to engage and stay relevant with CEOs. If you are wondering how effective your team is at engaging CEOs, there are two leading indicators to look for.
I thought running a professional service firm would get easier over time. Eighteen years later, I’m still waiting for that day.
Daily obstacles never stop coming:
The marketing community has been denigrating the idea of a buyer’s journey as a funnel for years – possibly decades – yet the metaphor persists. It’s so comforting in its simplicity that we keep using it, even though it no longer reflects people’s buying behavior.
Growth. It’s the one constant we’re all chasing. More revenue. More Income. Higher valuation. Etc, etc,etc.
However, it doesn’t always go according to plan.
2023 saw a new high for my company as we increased revenues and income by almost 50% over the previous year. It was an exciting time that I – in my infinite wisdom – thought would go on. Because of course it would. Right?
Ever since artificial intelligence (AI) became widely accessible and democratized just a couple of years ago, a wave of uncertainty swept across professional service firms. The prevailing concern was clear: Will AI replace us? Will clients simply turn to AI tools instead of hiring experts who have spent years mastering their craft?
Early in my consulting career, I noticed something odd—smart, capable consultants showing up like robots. Great résumés. Fancy decks. But no humanity. No warmth. No soul. I remember sitting in a room of very senior executives as a 22-year-old with what I thought was a dumb question. My internal monologue went like this:
In a market where visibility is fractured and trust is earned in milliseconds, how you plan for growth in 2026 will determine whether you lead or fall behind.
From May through August, most executive teams, whether at brands or professional services firms, are knee-deep in building strategies and budgets for the coming year. But many are using outdated models: departmental budgets created in isolation, growth projections rooted in past performance and plans that treat customer experience as a byproduct rather than a priority.
