The consultant’s dilemma: Deliver today’s work or sell tomorrow’s? 

As a consultant, you’ve got a battle for attention on your hands: client deadlines versus growing your business. 

Client work almost always wins. And that means you end up in a continuous cycle: 

Client work gets busy → business development gets pushed back → the pipeline weakens → projects finish → utilisation falls → everyone scrambles for new business → work comes in → client delivery gets busy again. 

It’s usually not down to a lack of sales ability. It’s really just down to not having enough time, structure, or consistency to focus your efforts across both. 

The biggest sales challenge for consultants 

You might feel that budgets, competition, or slow decision-making are holding you back from better sales. 

But the Consultancy Growth Network’s Consultancy BenchPress, based on data from 352 independent consulting businesses, suggests two big problems. 

When asked about their biggest new-business challenges: 

• 48% cited a lack of structured, consistent business-development activity  

• 44% said they weren’t spending enough time on new business  

Why delivery nearly always wins 

When you’re selling your own expertise, sales and delivery can’t always be neatly separated. TCGN notes that the people doing the work often play an important role in selling and scoping it. 

And that’s the problem: every hour spent developing an opportunity is an hour not spent on chargeable client work. 

From “selling when we have time” to a sales culture 

Consultancy BenchPress reveals just 24% of consultancies say they’ve developed a sales culture that they continually invest in improving. 

But those firms perform better: 66% grew in the previous year, their average gross margin was 50%, and confidence was seven points higher than average. 

So how do you get there? 

1. Protect business-development time before you get busy 

Treat business-development capacity like delivery capacity. Decide who needs to contribute, protect time in their diaries and be clear about what should happen during it. 

CRM and project data can then focus that time on opportunities that need attention and show what’s coming down the pipeline alongside work already being delivered. 

2. Don’t make everyone a salesperson 

You don’t have to turn every consultant into a cold caller or hand everything to a separate sales department either. 

TCGN highlights the risks at both extremes. Separating sales and delivery can create problems with scoping and leave salespeople detached from what the consultancy actually delivers. 

Instead, define the role each person plays. A consultant might spot an unmet need. An account lead can progress it. Sales can see what’s already been discussed. Everyone contributes without everyone having to own the sale. 

3. Make existing clients part of your growth engine 

Your best opportunities may sit within existing client accounts. 

Consultancy BenchPress identifies selling more to existing clients as one of the biggest growth opportunities for consultancies.  

Don’t leave those signals buried in meeting notes, inboxes or someone’s memory. 

Bringing CRM and project information together gives you a clearer picture of current projects, stakeholders, conversations, opportunities and next steps. AI can help too, by summarising account histories, capturing meeting actions and preparing context before the next client conversation. 

4. Get admin out of the way 

Limited time for business development? Don’t waste it hunting through emails or updating spreadsheets. 

Keep client information, opportunities and next steps somewhere people can find them. Automate reminders and routine admin. Use AI within your CRM to summarise meetings, research prospects and identify opportunities that have gone quiet. 

5. Measure activity before you measure the result 

Revenue is a lagging indicator. By the time you realise there isn’t enough coming in, the problem may have started months ago. 

Consultancy BenchPress looks at four useful leading indicators: new leads, sales conversations, proposals or presentations, and weighted pipeline value. 89% of firms above £2.5m measure all four at least quarterly, compared with 61% of smaller firms.  

When you’ve got a combination of CRM, project management and AI you can see the whole journey – from what’s being delivered to capturing growth opportunities as they emerge. 

Don’t choose between today and tomorrow 

You don’t have to sacrifice your pipeline for client projects. You don’t need to magic up more hours. You need to make sales part of the operating rhythm of the consultancy: Responsibilities are clear, time is protected, opportunities are visible and the team knows what needs to happen next. 

• Block one recurring BD slot in the diary: Even 60 minutes a week is harder for client work to steal if it’s already protected
• Review your top 10 client accounts: Identify one potential next project, unmet need or stakeholder you should speak to for each
• Pick four numbers to track: Start with new leads, sales conversations, proposals and weighted pipeline, then review them regularly 

Then build from there. 

If you’re looking for a No-BS CRM that gives you all of the functionality your consultancy needs, without paying for features you don’t, check out Workbooks here.