:: I was fortunate to be in the audience when WIC hosted a panel on how to scale your consulting practice. These amazing speakers had very consistent advice and not necessarily what I was expecting to hear.
Lisa Ann Pinkerton, Founder and President, Technica Communications
Sheila Hatch, Creative Director and President, Decca Design
Emmy Gengler, CEO and Founder, Softjourn
Kathryn Bowsher, Managing Director and Founder of Act One Healthcare
These 4 women have really scaled their consulting practices to thriving businesses with numerous employees and contractors. And they didn’t talk about hiring more sales or business development; they talked about trust, follow-up and process.
1. Trust – As their practice began to grow, adding employees and contractors required a high level of trust that came from long standing relationships. They had to bring in people they already knew for client facing activity. If they didn’t have an existing partner to consider, they would have new employees work behind the scenes to assure a common understanding of quality and client satisfaction.
2. Follow-up – Do whatever it takes to assure quality as your name and reputation are on the line. If that means daily or weekly calls, do what is necessary to make sure that personal representation of your brand is engrained in each person who represents your business.
3. Process – Once you’ve been down that path a few times, further growth depends upon well-documented processes. No one – even long standing collaborators – can read your mind. Take the time to clearly document client engagement, employee and contractor onboarding, and other key processes that are essential to scaling your business.
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