When instability is coming from each route—the economic system, political surroundings, wars, and the job market —how do consulting corporations survive and thrive?
Conditions like these are precisely why the Hinge Analysis Institute conducts its annual Excessive Progress Research of the consulting trade in partnership with Deltek. Consulting corporations—like all different skilled companies corporations—are nonetheless experiencing vital uncertainty. Over 300 consulting corporations participated on this 12 months’s research. Their prime concern for 2023? Unpredictability within the market, adopted intently by a scarcity of prime expertise. As we speak’s consulting corporations are keen to seek out new methods to boost their visibility, entice new purchasers and broaden their present consumer base, however they usually don’t know the way. Probably the greatest methods to attain enterprise development is to be taught from the methods and techniques of the trade’s most profitable corporations. We name these organizations “Excessive Progress Companies.”
On this article, we spotlight a number of of the findings from the 2023 Excessive Progress Research: Consulting Version by outlining the 4 key benefits of Excessive Progress consulting corporations that helped cement their path to development and profitability. Specializing in what you may management in an unsure surroundings will assist consulting corporations 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 Companies
The Hinge Analysis Institute defines a consulting agency as a “Excessive Progress” agency when it has a compound annual development price of 20% or larger over a three-year interval. What’s spectacular is simply how briskly these corporations are rising. Within the determine beneath, we see that Excessive Progress consulting corporations grew 4 instances sooner than their Common Progress friends.
Not solely are the quickest rising corporations far outpacing the No Progress and Common Progress consulting corporations, Excessive Progress consulting corporations are additionally twice as worthwhile.
Key Benefit 1: Expertise
This 12 months’s information revealed that Excessive Progress corporations undertake and use enterprise growth and advertising and marketing software program at a larger price than their slower rising friends. Whereas digital transformation has been a buzzword within the consulting trade lately, the most effective performing corporations are strolling the stroll. Many consulting corporations are possible serving to their purchasers with their digital transformation technique and implementation. And lots of Excessive Progress corporations have turned these expertise inward and are having fun with the advantages of a profitable digital transformation. The determine beneath exhibits that Excessive Progress Companies are over 3X extra prone to have gone via digital transformation than their No Progress friends. There are nonetheless many corporations, nonetheless, which have but to finish their digital transformation and benefit from the fruits of a completely deployed system. This can be a key benefit now, however finally the pack will catch as much as the leaders.
The research additionally highlights which enterprise growth applied sciences are utilized by Excessive Progress corporations to enhance effectivity and use information to know the evolving wants of purchasers and prospects. On this approach, consulting corporations can ship a extra custom-made resolution with larger effectivity to their purchasers—a win for each side: higher deliverables utilizing fewer labor assets.
Key Benefit 2: Expertise
At Hinge, now we have 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 lowered prices. On the similar time, consulting corporations are fishing in the identical pond for the highest expertise to fulfill these greater consumer calls for. On this 12 months’s research, we discovered that to catch the most effective folks, you want a nice firm tradition constructed on transparency, authenticity, and team-focused initiatives. We additionally discovered that Excessive Progress corporations are doing a greater job of constructing that firm tradition, as illustrated within the determine beneath. Having a fascinating firm tradition is perhaps the ultimate deciding issue when prime candidates are deciding between a number of affords.
Within the research, we dive deeper into which actions and advantages are most important to constructing an interesting firm tradition. We additionally discover what particular expertise staff at prime consulting corporations want to fulfill in the present day’s consumer wants. We additionally discover what expertise Excessive Progress corporations are most definitely to outsource, and why.
Key Benefit 3: Advertising and marketing
This 12 months’s research dives deeper than ever into Excessive Progress corporations’ prime advertising and marketing priorities, prime advertising and marketing strategies, 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 corporations’ minds: “How a lot ought to I allocate to my advertising and marketing finances?” The figures beneath present that Excessive Progress corporations are spending extra on advertising and marketing and are seeing a considerably larger variety of digital leads.
An important approach Excessive Progress corporations generate these high-quality digital leads is by producing a gentle stream of high-quality instructional content material. In reality, this was the primary precedence for all consulting corporations within the research. But it surely’s not sufficient to easily produce content material. You could produce and advertise accurately. Try this current publish by Lee Frederiksen to be taught why and the way a content-based advertising and marketing program works.
Key Benefit 4: Technique
One final benefit loved by Excessive Progress corporations is within the realm of technique. One key differentiator of Excessive Progress consulting corporations is that they look ahead to the long run as an alternative of turning to the previous for steering. 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 may see within the determine beneath. Excessive Progress corporations’ prime three considerations are market volatility, elevated competitors and downward worth strain on companies. Whereas there may be a substantial amount of settlement on this checklist between Excessive Progress and No Progress corporations, notice the areas the place No Progress corporations differ most: the necessity for brand spanking new expertise, managing a distant workforce and generational adjustments. These are points that many Excessive Progress corporations have already handled. The largest space of distinction for Excessive Progress corporations—automation/synthetic intelligence—is a sign of how these corporations are wanting additional forward than their slower-growing friends. Excessive Progress corporations normally see the tide coming in earlier than the others. Companies can take a look at this checklist to gauge the place their enterprise challenges stack up. Is your agency nervous concerning the unsuitable factor and placing an excessive amount of effort into one thing that received’t clear up future issues?
The complete report additionally examines the position of M&A within the consulting trade, what subjects and developments consulting corporations wish to be taught extra about in 2023, the best way Excessive Progress corporations versus No Progress corporations 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 now we have performed this research, {the marketplace} is ever-evolving. If you’re feeling the challenges of an unsure market, you aren’t alone. Uncertainty is the primary enterprise problem going through skilled companies corporations in the present day—and consulting corporations are not any totally different. What separates Excessive Progress consulting corporations 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 utilize 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 when you want some assist, make sure to attain out to us right here at Hinge.
