If you run a consulting firm, “Jack of all trades” is killing sales.

If you run a consulting firm,
“Jack of all trades” is killing sales.

Look, if you’re building a house,
you don’t ask the architect to do the brickwork.
You don’t ask the plumber to be project manager.

You hire the right trade for the job.

Clients think the same way about consulting.

They don’t wake up thinking:
“I need to hire a generalist today.”

They wake up with a specific pain.

A need for a recommendation...
so they can make a decision.

A need for a proven approach...
to tackle a specific issue.

A need for a capable resource...
to do a predefined role.

They might bundle some of these together.
But they are always scanning for one thing:

Clear signs you have distinct skills and experiences,
that the can trust to meet their requirement.
Confidence you will solve that urgent issue they have.

Not a sorta-kinda fit.
Not “we do a bit of everything.”

On the whole, clients don’t want
Jack-of-all-trades consultants
who deliver average results.

They want expert practitioners,
who deliver extraordinary results.

So the real question isn’t:
“How do we do more things for more people?”

It’s this:

What do we stop
so we can become known
for the work where our expertise
actually makes a clear value difference?