When instability is coming from each course—the financial system, political surroundings, wars, and the job market—how do consulting companies survive and thrive?
Conditions like these are precisely why the Hinge Analysis Institute conducts its annual Excessive Progress Research of the consulting business in partnership with Deltek. Consulting companies—like all different skilled providers companies—are nonetheless experiencing important uncertainty. Over 300 consulting companies participated on this 12 months’s examine. Their high concern for 2023? Unpredictability within the market, adopted intently by a scarcity of high expertise. At this time’s consulting companies are keen to seek out new methods to lift their visibility, entice new purchasers and increase their current shopper base, however they typically don’t understand how. Probably the greatest methods to attain enterprise development is to study from the methods and techniques of the business’s most profitable companies. We name these organizations “Excessive Progress Corporations.”
On this article, we spotlight a couple of of the findings from the 2023 Excessive Progress Research: Consulting Version by outlining the 4 key benefits of Excessive Progress consulting companies that helped cement their path to development and profitability. Specializing in what you’ll be able to management in an unsure surroundings will assist consulting companies like yours develop a advertising and marketing system that delivers highly effective outcomes 12 months after 12 months.
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Defining Excessive Progress Consulting Corporations
The Hinge Analysis Institute defines a consulting agency as a “Excessive Progress” agency when it has a compound annual development fee of 20% or higher over a three-year interval. What’s spectacular is simply how briskly these companies are rising. Within the determine beneath, we see that Excessive Progress consulting companies grew 4 instances quicker than their Common Progress friends.
Not solely are the quickest rising companies far outpacing the No Progress and Common Progress consulting companies, Excessive Progress consulting companies are additionally twice as worthwhile.
Key Benefit 1: Know-how
This 12 months’s knowledge revealed that Excessive Progress companies undertake and use enterprise improvement and advertising and marketing software program at a higher fee than their slower rising friends. Whereas digital transformation has been a buzzword within the consulting business in recent times, the perfect performing companies are strolling the stroll. Many consulting companies are doubtless serving to their purchasers with their digital transformation technique and implementation. And plenty of Excessive Progress companies have turned these expertise inward and are having fun with the advantages of a profitable digital transformation. The determine beneath exhibits that Excessive Progress Corporations are over 3X extra prone to have gone via digital transformation than their No Progress friends. There are nonetheless many companies, nonetheless, which have but to finish their digital transformation and benefit from the fruits of a completely deployed system. It is a key benefit now, however ultimately the pack will catch as much as the leaders.
The examine additionally highlights which enterprise improvement applied sciences are utilized by Excessive Progress companies to enhance effectivity and use knowledge to know the evolving wants of purchasers and prospects. On this method, consulting companies can ship a extra custom-made answer with higher effectivity to their purchasers—a win for either side: higher deliverables utilizing fewer labor sources.
Key Benefit 2: Expertise
At Hinge, we’ve got been listening to from our consulting purchasers that it’s taking longer to shut new enterprise, and potential purchasers are urgent for a similar worth at diminished prices. On the identical time, consulting companies are fishing in the identical pond for the highest expertise to fulfill these increased shopper calls for. On this 12 months’s examine, we discovered that to catch the perfect individuals, you want a nice firm tradition constructed on transparency, authenticity, and team-focused initiatives. We additionally discovered that Excessive Progress companies are doing a greater job of constructing that firm tradition, as illustrated within the determine beneath. Having a fascinating firm tradition may be the ultimate deciding issue when high candidates are deciding between a number of affords.
Within the examine, we dive deeper into which actions and advantages are most crucial to constructing an interesting firm tradition. We additionally discover what particular expertise staff at high consulting companies want to fulfill at this time’s shopper wants. We additionally discover what expertise Excessive Progress companies are more than likely to outsource, and why.
Key Benefit 3: Advertising
This 12 months’s examine dives deeper than ever into Excessive Progress companies’ high advertising and marketing priorities, high advertising and marketing methods, use of social media, and the way they’ve expanded the position of the advertising and marketing staff into non-traditional areas.
There’s one query that’s on most consulting companies’ minds: “How a lot ought to I allocate to my advertising and marketing price range?” The figures beneath present that Excessive Progress companies are spending extra on advertising and marketing and are seeing a considerably higher variety of digital leads.
A vital method Excessive Progress companies generate these high-quality digital leads is by producing a gentle stream of high-quality academic content material. In reality, this was the primary precedence for all consulting companies within the examine. But it surely’s not sufficient to easily produce content material. You’ll want to produce and put it up for sale accurately. Take a look at this current put up by Lee Frederiksen to study why and the way a content-based advertising and marketing program works.
Key Benefit 4: Technique
One final benefit loved by Excessive Progress companies is within the realm of technique. One key differentiator of Excessive Progress consulting companies is that they look ahead to the longer term as a substitute of turning to the previous for steerage. With the extent of uncertainty within the present market, nobody has a crystal ball to make sense of all of it. However some key challenges are starting to emerge, as you’ll be able to see within the determine beneath. Excessive Progress companies’ high three issues are market volatility, elevated competitors and downward worth strain on providers. Whereas there’s a substantial amount of settlement on this checklist between Excessive Progress and No Progress companies, word the areas the place No Progress companies differ most: the necessity for brand new expertise, managing a distant workforce and generational adjustments. These are points that many Excessive Progress companies have already handled. The most important space of distinction for Excessive Progress companies—automation/synthetic intelligence—is a sign of how these companies are trying additional forward than their slower-growing friends. Excessive Progress companies normally see the tide coming in earlier than the others. Corporations can take a look at this checklist to gauge the place their enterprise challenges stack up. Is your agency apprehensive concerning the unsuitable factor and placing an excessive amount of effort into one thing that gained’t remedy future issues?
The total report additionally examines the position of M&A within the consulting business, what subjects and tendencies consulting companies wish to study extra about in 2023, the best way Excessive Progress companies versus No Progress companies are approaching ESG (and why), and the way conducting analysis can inform your agency’s key strategic choices.
Placing the Information to Work
As we’ve realized over the eight consecutive years we’ve got performed this examine, {the marketplace} is ever-evolving. In case you are feeling the challenges of an unsure market, you aren’t alone. Uncertainty is the primary enterprise problem going through skilled providers companies at this time—and consulting companies aren’t any completely different. What separates Excessive Progress consulting companies from their No Progress friends is the subtle advertising and marketing system they’ve constructed to drive development and profitability, 12 months after 12 months. You should use the info in our report to assist your agency navigate the unsure instances forward and begin to construct that profitable advertising and marketing system. And in the event you want some help, you should definitely attain out to us right here at Hinge.
