Client Acquisition For Boutique Consultancies With The Right Automation-Humanisation Balance

Have you ever heard about bearcats, those oddball-looking beauties native to Southern Asia?
Are they related to bears or cats?
No!
They are related to... weasels.
In fact, they look like some kind of bear-cat-weasel-raccoon cross with a long furry body, bushy tail, claws, and a weasel-like visage.
And no one knows for sure what it actually is.
And the same happens when consulting firm leaders want to automate some of their business functions that should be kept human and want to humanise functions that could be automated.
Has it ever happened to you? Most probably, yes.
Many years ago, I read an interesting study about the profitability (revenue per employee) of different industries.
It turned out that professional service firms, including consultancies, are behind manufacturing companies, cheap motels and junk food joints.
Yes, the comparison is really hard because they all have different business models, but it's still strange that a profession that consists of highly educated and dedicated people with all sorts of Ivy League advanced degrees performs more poorly than an industry that is made up by schoolkids with a general couldn't care less attitude.
Back in 2001, Michael Gerber told us at the E-Myth Mastery Academy, "Systems make it possible for ordinary people to produce extraordinary results."
And while junk food joints need different levels of automation from consultancies, if consulting firms could find the right automation-humanisation balance, they could generate significantly higher revenue per associate.
When it comes to sales, marketing agencies are at least 20 years behind the most cutting-edge industries. According to a Hubspot survey, 44% of agencies don't use a CRM, 42% haven't defined their ideal client, and 90% describe referrals and word of mouth as their main source for new business.
And consulting firms are pretty close to marketing agencies in terms of their business models.
Traditionally, consulting firms are filled with highly schooled people with MBAs and other degrees, so it's only fair to say that most of them passionately resent and look down on marketing and selling.
So, let's see what good marketing automation can do to maintain the right level of personal touch in this morbidly magnificent episode of Commando Consulting, expertly entitled, Client Acquisition For Boutique Consultancies With The Right Automation-Humanisation Balance
Enjoy!