Let's build a consulting practice, together.

Along with several significant and ongoing updates to Coaching, Insider, Legacy & the Strategy Control Room Advanced, we have a year-long series of programs that outlines the steps to build a consulting practice/business. From the early idea to a functioning practice and lots of sales strategies, we are going to take you along on that journey.

You can watch what we are doing, follow our guidelines, and assess yourself against the best-practice examples we will show you. The files will be loaded in the SCRA and the videos will be available to Insiders & Legacy members.

We want to start this in February/March so you have the entire year to follow our guidance, build your practice alongside us, and set yourself up for the first three months of the year after. Building a strong practice should be done slowly, sequentially, and with a strong foundation. Flash-in-the-pan sales, without a sustainable base, often do not lead to growth. We will show you each step as we build things out.

1-on-1 coaching clients can receive our focused personal guidance in our weekend clinics. To get the most from this year-long program, it helps to have done the prep work before we begin in February/March. 

Here are the different parts of the program.

Module 1: Point-of-View

Consultants must have a PoV. This differentiates you from all other consultants and is what clients buy. They buy your PoV and agree to implement it within their organizations. A PoV is your idea about how something works or does not work. Kris and I are going to use a single-threaded approach. Over the year, we will show you how to develop a POV, why it should be simple, and how to explain the PoV. Your PoV must be simple. Simple does not mean it is not valuable.

We will follow that one PoV as it leads to a proposal, into a study, an article, a book, a sale, and more sales. So, you can see how a single PoV evolves into a practice. We have not used this approach before in our sales training and it is complementary to The Consulting Sales Rainmaker Process, but it is a different process.

Prep:

Explain your PoV in about 5 minutes orally.
Write your PoV and edit it to cover about half an A4 page.
Is this PoV valuable to clients?
Is it your PoV because you are an expert here or because it helps clients?
What are the limitations of your PoV?
How have clients responded to it?
Why do you believe it is not working with clients?
What is the equivalent PoV at your three main rivals?
Does the PoV organically lead to upsell/spin-off work?
What assumptions are you making about why this PoV will be successful with clients?
Why make these assumptions?
Why do you believe these assumptions to be true?
What would need to happen for them to be true?

Programs within Insider/Legacy to review before we begin:

Re-Building a Consulting Practice
Partnership. Memoir
How to Build a Consulting Firm
How to Sell Like a Partner, While Facing Discrimination
How to Solve Big Problems
Competitive Strategy
Advanced Competitive Strategy

Resources within the Strategy Control Room Advanced (SCRA) to review before we begin:

One Week Immersion: Consulting Mastery Center of Excellence (1,078 SLIDES)
The Professional Sales Journal_draft (242 PAGES) (Update Coming)
Competitive Strategy Journal_draft (123 PAGES)
The Strategy Visioning Workshop Journal (214 pages)
Encyclopedia of Strategy Analyses Tools Center of Excellence (264 SLIDES)
Detailed Business Case Methodology Center of Excellence (709 SLIDES)

Module 2: Proposal

Once we have the PoV, we will show you how to convert the PoV into an engagement structure to generate the benefits from the PoV. Always remember that a PoV is just an idea/theory until it is tested on a consulting assignment. We will focus on the critical elements of the proposal, including work streams, staffing, pricing, and margins. Selling a PoV is the easier part. Structuring an engagement to deliver the proposed benefits is much tougher. In many cases, the engagement team is not skilled at the analyses required to find the anticipated benefits. This is a primary reason engagements fail. The PoV may be correct, but the team cannot unlock its value at a client. 

Prep:

Has this PoV ever led to a sale?
If not, why do you believe it did not lead to a sale?
What is the most successful proposal for this PoV?
Why do you consider it successful?
Have you been able to replicate the success?
How are you measuring success?
What are your strategic intentions with sales/this PoV?
Do you find sales for this PoV to be difficult and tiresome?
Why is this?
What assumptions are you making when determining whether the proposal is ready for the client?
Have the proposed benefits from a PoV ever been realized by a client? Why?
If not, why do you still believe the PoV has value to clients?

Module 3: Engagement Structure

Now, we have to design the sequence of steps and activities that must be done to complete the engagement. This is the engagement structure and contains the project logic, workstream charters, and activity plans for the major workstreams. The goal is to keep things simple. Simple studies can deliver astonishing insights and value to clients. Most engagements fail at this stage. The engagement structure is generic and the guidelines are generic which eats up billable hours since everything is tested and no one knows what is the hypothesized answer. Therefore, they do not know when to stop the analyses. Streams are built around hypotheses.

Prep:

What are your answer-first hypotheses driving this study?
How does the engagement structure focus on these initial hypotheses?
What assumptions did you make when developing the engagement structure?
What role did you intend to play, and what role did you end up playing?
Did you have an explicit goal to grow as a professional through the engagement?
What are those goals, and did you achieve them?
Did you assume that the act of completing the engagement alone would lead to your growth?
Have you explicitly built in a buffer/actions to grow the practice while delivering this engagement? What are they?
Where have you staffed the most insightful team member and best leader in the engagement?
Is the entire team trained in the same operating standards?

Module 4: Engagement

In this phase, we plan to concurrently release the full engagement that was completed as a result of the POV, proposal, and engagement structure we developed earlier. You will see the entire study and all of the analyses. This is what we classify as one of the core studies. Mastering the approach will teach you foundational skills in strategic thinking. The earliest full studies done for a POV are important since they become guides for other similar studies you will do. They help train new team members. They are the cornerstones of the practice. So, we often tend to over-deliver when documenting the initial studies. That said, documenting and documentation is critical to any professional services firm. Poor knowledge management is a lead indicator of a declining professional services firm.

Prep:

What percentage of your time in a week is required to work within your engagement teams to complete the engagement from the/a PoV?
Why did you pick this percentage?
Are you intentionally involved in the delivery of the engagement?
Is your engagement structure the ideal structure?
What would the engagement structure look like under ideal conditions?
Do you think you are working in the practice or on the practice?
Do you find there are conflicting demands from the firm as you grow your practice through this engagement?
How are you managing those conflicting demands?
What is your strategy for documenting the engagement analyses, best practices, methodologies, etc?
How will you explicitly use this knowledge?
Are there any instances where you will not share this knowledge within the firm?
How will this knowledge be used to improve the engagement teams' and their work?

Module 5: Writing Your Article

Potential clients must understand what you do. The best way to do this is to write an article. In this phase, we will show you how to write an article as part of the deliverable of the engagement. So, the article is not a distraction to the engagement, but it becomes the primary tool to guide the teams and update the client. The article will become the final deliverable to the client versus a set of slides. Though you can have both if needed, you will find the article is more powerful and is more likely to get the client to act. Articles tell a story that PowerPoint often fails to capture.

You will see the article we wrote for the engagement from the POV. And we will guide you on how to do this. We also have the Published Author Program where we can write the article with you or for you since consulting articles have an accessible yet technical style that is not found In general writing.

Prep:

Do you understand the strategic significance between the following three options; 1 - Writing an article unrelated to an active engagement, 2 - Writing an article after an engagement, and 3 - Writing an article as an output of an engagement?
What is/was your strategy from the options above?
Why?
When will you begin the article?
How will you structure the article?
What writing style will you use? Why?
How will the article be checked and circulated?
Will draft versions be shared? And to whom?
How have you built in the article writing to be an asset and not a distraction?
When, where, and how will you specifically use the article (please be as detailed as possible)?
What will you do to get the maximum return from the article?
How have you defined returns?

Module 6: Developing a methodology/book

Here we are going to do something that takes you to the next level. And we truly mean a level above most professionals. Once you solve a problem that can be useful to many clients, it is strongly encouraged to write out the methodology of what you did so your teams can use this approach as a guide. Yet, if you will do all this work to update the methodology from an engagement, why not convert it to a published book? This elevates your standing and places you far ahead of your peers.

So you will, by this point, have seen us develop a POV, convert that into a proposal, design the engagement, deliver the engagement, write an article, and now develop a book from all the work done thus far. All off a POV and without distracting you from your work. All of this supports your work and ongoing sales.

You are welcome to prepare the book yourself or you/your firm can use ourPublished Author Programto prepare (or even publish) the book with our help. Consulting books tend to be more complex, and this is something we specialize in. 

Prep:

What is the explicit value to you, your team, your firm, and your clients from converting the study methodology into a book?
Break down AND expand the benefits to you even further.
Write down how the book (and article) saves your time, saves money, improves your branding, improves your visibility, increases the size of your sales pipeline, expands your connections to clients, and allows you to market yourself 24 hours.
Repeat the question by adding in the non-financial and non-quantifiable benefits.
Are the benefits clear to you?
Are you able to explain the benefits?
What is your critical path to preparing the book?
How can some of the work to prepare the book be done within the engagement?
What are your plans to publish and distribute the book?
Will you do all of this yourself, use professional help, or a combination thereof?
What is your timeline to publish the book?
What is your critical path?

Module 7: The next sale

It is often the case that clients do not want large and wide-ranging projects. In this phase, we will show you how to adapt the largeer study into a smaller study that is more easily sold to a client. So, now you have two assets:

A - The larger detailed methodology.

B - A smaller piece to get into the client to develop the business case for the larger program.

Prep:

From the original PoV, what smaller concepts within/aligned to the PoV can be taken to clients to quickly demonstrate the value of the overall PoV/your practice?
What is the benefits case to the client of the smaller concept/s?
There are six primary benefits cases. Have you looked at them all?
What is your strategy AND plan to take this to your most promising potential client?
Why can these smaller concepts not be taken to an existing client?
What is the burn radius of the PoV and/or smaller concepts? (How replicable is the work at the same client in the same year)
How will you use the smaller concept engagement to gain a larger engagement?

Module 8: The Professional Sales Journal

In this phase, we will give you access to updated The Professional Sales Journal (which will be available within the SCRA and discussed within Insider and Legacy membership). This is a Journal we use with consulting teams to help them understand the conversations they need to have to build their sales. We will show you how to use the journal, specifically the conversations that should be held. Kris and Michael will release guides around the conversations within Insider/Legacy membership.

At the end of the program, you will have finished the only complete consulting sales practice building program to scale into major clients. 

Prep:

What is your sales bench strength? (how many people on your team bring in sales)
Why is this your chosen/accepted bench strength? 
What is your delivery bench strength? (how many people on your team can lead an engagement in your absence)
Why is this your chosen/accepted bench strength? 
What is your insights bench strength? (how many people on your team can generate valuable insights that lead to additional revenue for your practice)
Why is this your chosen/accepted bench strength? 
Do you train people to sell or do you hope it catches naturally?
Are you defensive of your clients, from the rest of your firm, AND your team?
Why is this?

Three Options to Join + Add-On

1. Subscribe to Insider - gain access to video/audio materials related to this program.

2. Subscribe to Legacy - everything within Insider plus submit your question and get an audio input from us tailored to your situation.

3. Work with us via personal results clinics - 1-year executive coaching program where we work with you personally to help you build out your practice (email team@firmsconsulting.com to apply).

Add-on - Team access - Want to build out associated digital assets for your business? Use our nontechiesleague.com service, where our team will help you build out digital assets.

Add-on - Article + Book - Published Author program to help you write your article/book.

We have just released Preparing for Disaster Management Proposal. It is accessible within the Strategy Control Room, Advanced Level.

***

The new SCRA release is an unusual proposal, but it's very timely, given all the fires and natural disasters around California and so on. It is a proposal that we helped the client put together. He works at a very large professional services firm, and they are doing projects for one of the large utilities operating across the United States. That utility has decided that they need a dedicated Disaster Response Center and the capability to be able to forecast disasters as and when they unfold rather than responding to them after the fact. 

The proposal talks about the entire approach of how the entire system will be put together: the infrastructure, the methodology, and the processes to be able to be more proactive when these things happen. Because what the utility is predicting is that these are not once-off events. They're always going to be happening, and they may be happening in other parts of the world as well.

So, they're building a kind of a pilot center for the Western Hemisphere, the Western region, as they call it, and this is the ability to predict disasters before they happen, be proactive in getting the system out there. But also, if a disaster happens that they couldn't stop, could they have a better response to it? And it's about building a major data center and an early warning forecasting system so that they can have more capabilities on the ground. 

The other big decision that this proposal looks at is how to bring firefighting capabilities under the control of the utility. Previously, all they would do was work on clearing brushes and removing trees and branches around the power lines, but they've made the decision to build their own firefighting capability, and that will be phase two of this project. 

The proposal is very relevant because many companies around the world are dealing with this, and it's something that will be very valuable to members. It's not just about this problem. It's how you plan and have a disaster management response to any type of major problem you're likely to experience.

HOW TO FIND PREPARING FOR DISASTER MANAGEMENT PROPOSAL:

1. Log in to The Strategy Control Room, Advanced Level, membership area.
2. See the "PROPOSALS" dropdown. 
3. Select "35 Preparing for Disaster Management"
4. Preparing for Disaster Management proposal consists of 81 slides.

If you are The Strategy Control Room, Advanced Level, member, here is the direct link to this particular update.

If you joined an Advanced Level of the Strategy Control Room today, you would find the most powerful strategy, problem-solving, consulting, and results-oriented leadership reading library in the world. The resources include:

• Michael's explanation slides for selected programs on StrategyTraining.com

• 13 full engagements

• Change Management Influence & Persuasion Center of Excellence 

• Detailed Business Case Methodology Center of Excellence 

• Encyclopedia of Strategy Analyses Center of Excellence 

• Corporate Training Center of Excellence

• One-Week Immersion: Consulting Onboarding / Consulting Mastery Center of Excellence

• 35 proposals

• Flipcharts

• Layout guides

• 17 strategy and problem-solving books which we do not make available anywhere else

• 2 brand new strategy and problem-solving books just released and not available anywhere else

• 11 book drafts never before available and not available anywhere else

• Case interview materials for Felix, Rafik, Samantha, and Sanjeev, case interview exhibits, case interview solutions

• The evolution of corporate strategy

• The business case toolkit

• Implementation and operation toolkit

• Corporate strategy toolkit

• Strategy maps

• And more 

Enroll as a Strategy Control Room Advanced Member

We have just released Executive Update 3 of the Corporate Strategy for Asset/Wealth Management Study in the Strategy Control Room, Advanced Level.

The ENTIRE study is now released.

***

Every so often, we release a study that is so powerful, so fundamental, that if you take the time to read it multiple times and really understand what it was teaching and how it was teaching it, it will teach you a primary/core skill that will change your ability to operate as a seasoned professional with a deeply analytical mind.

This is one of those studies.

The study focuses on asset management within financial services, an area that is becoming increasingly important worldwide as income levels rise. In this study, we are going to analyze an asset manager that is growing at a slower rate than competitors in one of the most dynamic markets in the world. And because it is growing at a slower rate, it's ultimately losing market share.

In this study, we will present a way to analyze the distribution of a financial services product, which, with a few tweaks and changes, could be applied to the distribution of any financial services product, even though our primary focus here is on investment products for wealth management.

This is a study that we encourage everyone to read. Take the time to work through it. Think about how you could apply this thinking to your own sector, which may not be in financial services. It teaches a fundamental skill: how to analyze a market across all key elements, all the way from asset management to distribution and administration. Whether or not you are in financial services or asset management, you are in an industry that produces something that you distribute.

The study is particularly interesting because it takes a very complicated subject and analyzes it in a sophisticated yet simple way to draw out very important analyses. It uses highly sophisticated frameworks developed for the client, and it pulls it apart in a way we have not yet applied in other studies.

This is one of those anchor studies like our study on Competition, the LAB Study, the Power Sector study, and the Tech M&A study. These are anchor studies because they teach foundational skills that we want our clients to master.

In this study, we tackle something incredibly sophisticated in an area where many people tend to be a little bit afraid. While most people are afraid of math and finance, when you analyze finances within the financial services sector, people tend to get even more intimidated. However, this is a topic that has become more important globally as the middle class has risen in most countries and the number of millionaires has increased.

So, this is a foundational study that we will be referring to for years to come. It teaches something so fundamental that every member should work through it. It teaches a skill of how to analyze a complex sector in a way that is easy to follow, even if you do not have a background in the sector.

Corporate Strategy for Asset/Wealth Management consists of 3 executive updates. The ENTIRE study is now released.

HOW TO FIND THE CORPORATE STRATEGY FOR ASSET/WEALTH MANAGEMENT:

1. Log in to The Strategy Control Room, Advanced Level, membership area.
2. See the "FULL ENGAGEMENTS" dropdown. 
3. Select "Corporate Strategy for Asset/Wealth Management."
4. The Corporate Strategy for Asset/Wealth Management consists of 197 slides for Executive Update 1, 107 slides for Executive Update 2, and 73 slides for Executive Update 3.

If you are The Strategy Control Room, Advanced Level, member, here is the direct link to these particular update.

If you joined an Advanced Level of the Strategy Control Room today, you would find the most powerful strategy, problem-solving, consulting, and results-oriented leadership reading library in the world. The resources include:

• Michael's explanation slides for selected programs on StrategyTraining.com

• 12 full engagements

• Change Management Influence & Persuasion Center of Excellence 

• Detailed Business Case Methodology Center of Excellence 

• Encyclopedia of Strategy Analyses Center of Excellence 

• Corporate Training Center of Excellence

• One-Week Immersion: Consulting Onboarding / Consulting Mastery Center of Excellence

• 31 proposals

• Flipcharts

• Layout guides

• 17 strategy and problem-solving books which we do not make available anywhere else

• 2 brand new strategy and problem-solving books just released and not available anywhere else

• 11 book drafts never before available and not available anywhere else

• Case interview materials for Felix, Rafik, Samantha, and Sanjeev, case interview exhibits, case interview solutions

• The evolution of corporate strategy

• The business case toolkit

• Implementation and operation toolkit

• Corporate strategy toolkit

• Strategy maps

• And more 

Enroll as a Strategy Control Room Advanced (SCRA) Member

And if you are not yet an Insider or Legacy member and want to gain access to video and audio advanced programs on StrategyTraining.com we invite you to explore membership options (scroll down). We recommend starting with Insider or Legacy membership as a base membership and adding the Strategy Control Room (Advanced Level) as an add-on when the time is right for you.

Take this opportunity to invest in yourself and your future. StrategyTraining.com resources can be transformative for your career, yet it's up to you to make time to study the resources and focus on quick integration. If you have any questions or need further assistance, please don't hesitate to reach out to us at team@firmsconsulting.com.

One Uncomfortable Truth: 

You’ve Been Thinking About Strategy All Wrong.

"The greatest mistake executives make is assuming they are in a competitive game. The best companies don’t compete. They change the game entirely." 

We have just released five new episodes of The Bill Matassoni Show, Season 3 and they challenge some of the most fundamental assumptions about business, marketing, and strategy.

Bill spent decades shaping the brands of McKinsey and BCG. Not by refining their marketing, but by redefining their position in the market. In these episodes, he dissects what truly drives influence, market power, and sustainable growth.

What’s inside:

• Market-making vs. competing – The firms and leaders who dominate industries are not the ones playing the game better. They are the ones who create new spaces where competition becomes irrelevant.

• How to sell the intangible – Whether it is consulting, financial services, AI, or high-end luxury, most leaders struggle to articulate the real value of what they offer. Bill explains how to sell trust, exclusivity, and access, not just products.

• The McKinsey advantage – Most assume McKinsey’s success is built on expertise. Bill breaks down how they control market perception and how this applies to any business.

• The strategy no one talks about – Growth is often framed as market share gains, but Bill argues that expanding the definition of your market is the more effective, and overlooked, approach.

• The power of narrative – Decisions are rarely rational. The firms that win know how to control the story that executives, investors, and markets believe.

These are the real strategic moves used by the most dominant firms.

For Insiders and Legacy members, the episodes are now available to watch.

For non-members, this is the kind of thinking that changes careers and companies. Join to access the full series (and the prior 2 seasons of this program).

[Watch Now] | [Join StrategyTraining.com]

Most leaders will keep thinking about strategy the way they always have.
Those who watch these episodes will not.

In this latest season, Bill Matassoni goes beyond theory, delivering an unparalleled deep dive into the principles that have defined his career and reshaped industries.

He begins with a day of intensive introspection, distilling the essence of his most profound insights. Then, in a rare and candid series of discussions, Bill brings together his closest colleagues and confidants, leaders who have shaped strategy at the highest levels, to unpack the strategies that redefine markets and create enduring competitive advantage.

Bill’s approach is about fundamental repositioning. Drawing on decades of experience, from tackling some of the most complex healthcare compliance challenges to revolutionizing how the world’s top consulting firms market themselves, he reveals how market leaders create dominance, not by competing, but by reshaping the playing field entirely.

This season is designed for business leaders who are ready to challenge conventional wisdom and rethink their approach to value creation, growth, and strategic positioning.

We invite you to engage with this extraordinary season, one that pushes the boundaries of what strategy and marketing can achieve.

It is time to reframe how you see the world and how the world sees you.

Join us as Bill and his closest advisors share insights that will change the way you lead.

The Bill Matassoni Show Season 3 (Insiders & Legacy Members)

More of What Doesn’t Make You Happy ... 
Will Not Make You Happy

We just released five episodes of a new Insider program (18-part program)...

Workbook: This program also comes with a downloadable workbook. You will see it as a downloadable document on the program page, the way you can access workbooks for Innovators vs. Summarizers, Overcome the Fear of Failure, and Non-Traditional Way to Build a Media Asset. The team is finalizing the workbook now and will be posting it next week. I highly recommend you download and print the workbook and use it as you work through the program. You will get even more value out of the program this way. Our workbooks also go deeper into certain areas covered in the program, so you can do deeper work if you go through an accompanying workbook.

Now let me share more details about the program.

Close your eyes for a moment. Imagine the spotlight is on you.

Finally.

The promotion you’ve worked years for, the recognition you’ve long craved, is within reach. Your peers envy you. Your family beams with pride.

And yet, something feels off.

This isn’t what you thought it would feel like.

Something you can’t quite name is biting at the edges of your mind.

A whisper, almost imperceptible, asking:

Is this what I really want?

You’re not alone.

Behind the polished veneers of corporate leaders, behind the titles, the applause, and the corner offices, is a different story. It’s a story of battles fought in silence, of sacrifices no one sees, and of choices that seemed obvious, until they weren’t.

I’ve seen it happen many times: leaders who climbed many rungs of the ladder only to discover it was leaning against the wrong wall. Careers that looked flawless from the outside but were unraveling on the inside.

What’s at stake?

It’s your time.
It’s your freedom.
It’s your happiness.
It's the amount of wealth you will create.
It's the legacy you can leave.

Sometimes, what looks like a golden opportunity is a trap in disguise. And sometimes, the thing everyone tells you to chase is exactly what will hold you back, not only personally but also professionally.

I’ve worked with leaders who faced difficult choices. People who seemed to have it all figured out, only to hit a moment of reckoning at the time they thought they would feel at the top of the world.

In this program we share some case studies. 

One is the story of a client who is a partner in private equity who built a billion-dollar portfolio but refused every management role he was offered. Why? The reason might shock you.

We also share another case study of a broker who outsold everyone in his region and his uncommon path to the top. 

These stories are mirrors. Each one reflects the kind of decision that many leaders, many ambitious professionals, will eventually face.

Here’s the question:

When that moment comes for you, will you be ready?

It does not start with getting answers. It starts with asking the questions that matter. Questions that, if you don’t confront them now, could derail your career.

- What if the promotion isn’t the prize you think it is?
- What if the path you’re on isn’t leading where you hope?
- And what if the answer you need isn’t the one you’ve been chasing?

In this program we will guide you on how to think about these questions so you can answer them in a thoughtful and informed way.

The answers aren’t obvious. That’s why we created this program to help leaders like you step back, take a hard look at their careers and ambitions, and uncover what most people miss until it’s too late.

But I’ll warn you, as with all StrategyTraining.com programs, this program isn’t for everyone.

It’s for those ready to ask the hard questions. To confront the unspoken truths about career, success, and what it really means to create wealth, generate value and leave a legacy.

Here are some time stamps as you work through the program to help you not miss important points: 

• Only when you answer this question will you know if pursuing a promotion makes sense for you (00:40, Ep 1)

• Setting up his firm's very first set of investments in a particular asset class (02:20, Ep 1)

• Analyzing 2-5 million deals to understand the economics, the mechanics, and how value is created (03:00, Ep 1)

• No management responsibilities at the private equity firm, by choice (08:00, Ep 1)

• What it looks like to have deep technical mastery of the field (10:30, Ep 1)

• 6 reasons this client is burnishing his legacy, credentials and recognition while having a balanced life with his spouse and children (10:00, Ep 1)

• Questions you need to ask yourself when it comes to promotions (13:30, Ep 1) 

• Getting what matters to you (15:30, Ep 1)

• Putting yourself into a place where you can create the most value for your organization (16:40, Ep 1)

• Why you want a promotion and when promotion leads to 9 elements you want to maximize for (18:00, Ep 1)

• How you determine if you want to be in management (00:50, Ep 2)

• An unusual way to become a top person in your field (03:00, Ep 2)

• Structuring a business in a way where you create the most value with the least amount of set-up costs (04:30, Ep 2)

• How this #1 performing person in his field structures his days and manages his business (05:40, Ep 2)

• When going to the levels of greater control within your organization does not make sense (08:00, Ep 2)

• When clients pursue promotions for the wrong reasons (10:55, Ep 2)

• Michael getting promoted to Partner in his 20s (00:45, Ep 3)

• Getting moved to management positions quickly (00:55, Ep 3)

• 3 reasons Michael was given management roles (01:30, Ep 3)

• What must be proved before you are given a management role (02:14, Ep 3)

• Growing a book of business (02:30, Ep 3)

• Tasks pulling away from clients and building a book of business (03:06, Ep 3)

• The highest-paid partner at the firm (03:50, Ep 3)

• What led to Michael's growth in compensation (04:15. Ep 3)

• Steps required to get yourself on the map within a major organization (06:30, Ep 3)

• You cannot lead without this (08:15, Ep 3)

• Two part action step number 1 (00:50, Ep 4)

• Seven rough things people are pursuing (03:40, Ep 4)

• Critical questions to ask (04:20, Ep 4)

• A common story we see with clients (06:50, Ep 4)

• H1B visa challenges (08:20, Ep 4)

• What often happens when clients gets a green card (08:50, Ep 4)

• What people often maximize for (10:50, Ep 4)

• What immigrant clients often do that really hurts them (12:30, Ep 4)

• Ask yourself this critical question (14:51, Ep 4)

• 7 things (18:00, Ep 4)

• When promotions lead to success and highest compensation (00:20, Ep 5)

• If you can get this, you may not need a promotion (01:00, Ep 5)

• Section 47 (03:34, Ep 5)

• Control of the entire process breakdown example (04:04, Ep 5)

• Coordinating and synchronizing across the entire company versus the management consulting practice setup (08:19, Ep 5)

• Contrasting types of businesses and what is required to create the most value (12:00, Ep 5)

• When being promoted results in you creating less wealth (15:20, Ep 5)

• Proving you can create value (16:40, Ep 5)

---

Enrollment is now open for new Insider and Legacy members. Don’t let another transformative program pass you by. The insights we share are unique, powerful, timely, and battle-tested. As one of the long-term Insiders said in a recent conversation with me:

"The content is getting better every time... The thing with all the content here is that we kind of have to go through them. When you are put into that situation, you kind of like, okay, I picked up this concept from here. I review it because each person's situation is different. But I know where to find them, and I always get results when I apply what I’ve learned."

If you're an Insider or Legacy member, this program is now available in your account on StrategyTraining.com.

Not a member yet? Enroll here: www.strategytraining.com (scroll to membership options and select Insider or Legacy level to immediately access this program).

If you have any questions, feel free to reach out at team@firmsconsulting.com.

Thank you for being a part of the StrategyTraining.com community.

Access New Insider Program

Developing a Financial Services Strategy Proposal

We have just released Developing a Financial Services Strategy Proposal (109 SLIDES). It is accessible within the Strategy Control Room, Advanced Level.
 

***

This winning proposal template/example is unique. The goal was to impress the private equity firm which had purchased the retailer, and serve as their advisor rather than working for the retailer, which was planning an expansion into financial services. The proposal, which is detailed and research-intensive, was meant to help the PE executives who sat on the retailer's board understand that what they were proposing could be repeated across the continent. 

While our primary focus is on retail banking integration, the frameworks and methodologies presented here can be adapted to analyze any retail-based service integration strategy. We will outline how to grow financial services to 50% of revenue across a consumer base of the client.

The objective is to grow the business while increasing returns and managing risk sustainably and present it in a structured, approachable manner that any business leader can understand and apply.

This will serve as an anchor study alongside other transformational business cases within our knowledge management system, which, based on a lot of requests, was made accessible to our clients via the Strategy Control Room Advanced.

The study shows how to analyze market opportunities, manage risks, and scale operations while maintaining sustainable growth, which is fundamental to any major business transformation.

This proposal breaks down the process into manageable, actionable steps. It's designed to be valuable not just for those in financial services but for anyone interested in understanding how to successfully integrate new service lines into existing business models.

HOW TO FIND DEVELOPING A FINANCIAL SERVICES STRATEGY PROPOSAL:

1. Log in to The Strategy Control Room, Advanced Level, membership area.
2. See the "PROPOSALS" dropdown. 
3. Select "Developing a Financial Services Strategy Proposal."
4. The Developing a Financial Services Strategy Proposal consists of 109 slides.

If you are The Strategy Control Room, Advanced Level, member, here is the direct link to this particular update.

If you joined an Advanced Level of the Strategy Control Room today, you would find the most powerful strategy, problem-solving, consulting, and results-oriented leadership reading library in the world. The resources include:

• Michael's explanation slides for selected programs on StrategyTraining.com

• 12 full engagements

• Change Management Influence & Persuasion Center of Excellence 

• Detailed Business Case Methodology Center of Excellence 

• Encyclopedia of Strategy Analyses Center of Excellence 

• Corporate Training Center of Excellence

• One-Week Immersion: Consulting Onboarding / Consulting Mastery Center of Excellence

• 32 proposals

• Flipcharts

• Layout guides

• 17 strategy and problem-solving books which we do not make available anywhere else

• 2 brand new strategy and problem-solving books just released and not available anywhere else

• 11 book drafts never before available and not available anywhere else

• Case interview materials for Felix, Rafik, Samantha, and Sanjeev, case interview exhibits, case interview solutions

• The evolution of corporate strategy

• The business case toolkit

• Implementation and operation toolkit

• Corporate strategy toolkit

• Strategy maps

• And more 

Enroll as a Strategy Control Room Advanced Member

And if you are not yet an Insider or Legacy member and want to gain access to video and audio advanced programs on StrategyTraining.com we invite you to explore membership options (scroll down). We recommend to start with Insider or Legacy membership as a base membership and add the Strategy Control Room (Advanced Level) as an add-on when the time is right for you.

Take this opportunity to invest in yourself and your future. StrategyTraining.com resources can be transformative for your career, but it's up to you to make time to study the resources and focus on quick integration. If you have any questions or need further assistance, please don't hesitate to reach out to us at team@firmsconsulting.com.

The One Thing That Will Change Your Life Completely

As someone who immigrated 3 times in my life, I am part of a group that I call professional immigrants. Meaning, I am really good at navigating the steps needed to pick up my life and move to another country where I don't know anyone, and build a professional career and life there.

I can also call myself a professional immigrant because I am considered to be highly skilled and highly educated. I worked at top consulting companies in the world, where I received accelerated promotions. I was a corporate finance director at a top-3 Canadian bank where I managed a portfolio of over 1 billion dollars and received an accelerated promotion and an award. Myself, Michael, and our incredible team run a very influential business that moves forward strategy thinking and management consulting profession around the world. Very few people can say that when they speak to competitors, they can see their books on the competitor's bookshelf and where a competitor is telling you how much your books or book helped them in their business. This happened to me multiple times.

What makes professional immigrants exceptional leaders

We are often highly trained and highly motivated, and highly educated professionals who leave behind everything, to take huge risks to have a better life, bigger opportunities, and earn more for ourselves and our families. We make the journey alone. We are not kids following our parents who protect us. We have no protection. We were not born in the countries we end up calling our homes. We often are from poorer countries. We leave behind our families, often not seeing them for a decade or more. At the time of writing, I have seen my parents and brothers only twice in over 20 years and my sister 3 times in over 20 years.

We leave our friends. We leave all the comforts of home: our language, our reputations, our friends, sometimes our credentials, our food, our culture, and our safety net. We have dependents, our extended families, before we have children. Some of us decide not to have children or have only one while we would love to have more, because the level of responsibility we already have for our extended family makes it very hard for us to add another dependent.

We are often the most hardworking members of our family. Millions of us are stuck in limbo around immigration rules.

My immigration journey

I moved for a better life four times. I first moved to Moscow, which is hard to do without the right residency permit even though I am Russian. That was not a successful trip at all but I kept at it. In fact, it was harder than any of my 3 moves to another country. I then moved to Africa and then to North America. And within North America from Canada to the USA. And I also moved between cities within some of those countries. For example, in the US I lived in Las Vegas, Los Angeles, and San Diego.

I had no relatives in any of those countries, no mentorship or guidance and no support. I had no friends to meet me at the airport and no community on which to rely. When I first immigrated, my pianist diploma was not even recognized and could not even be found in the educational certification database. It was as if I did not have any education, and I had to start from scratch.

Even the paid legal help was often a nightmare, which ended up costing me time and money to fix. Yet, I had to do it because I had to take care of several family members. When I started my journey, there were times when I did not eat lunch to save money and wore older clothing with holes, including shoes. I still remember the burgundy shoes I had in Africa with holes in the sole. No one could see the holes, but I could feel them.

H1B / green card

Quitting is often not any easier. Moving back to our home countries is often a difficult option. Many immigrants study in the West, like me, and often take on expensive student loans. They need to stay and work in the West to pay down these student loans since their employment prospects in their home countries do not pay enough.

In the US, the H1B visa is a lottery. It's a competitive process where most will not get a visa. Those who do get it often need to stay with their employer. Their employer may or may not file a green card application. The green card approval may take up to twenty years. I read that 200,000 Indians will die of natural causes before their green cards are approved.

Think about that. 200,000 talented and generous professionals who are very hardworking and making tremendous sacrifices to care for their immediate and extended family will not live their full lives.

Many cannot buy homes for fear of having a firesale so that they can leave the country within the time limit, should they lose their jobs, to avoid being banned. For this reason, I rented for a long time. By renting and not buying, we give up the primary method to build wealth: equity growth in a home. We have to build wealth with the best option often out of our reach for a very long time. Children may age out of the process. Spouses often cannot work. It's tragic that most H1B holders who lose their jobs did not do so due to poor performance. Technology companies, for example, simply changed their strategies and decided to cut costs in the face of rising interest rates.

Recruitment for professional immigrants

In Canada, I was told I needed professional Canadian work experience to break into professional ranks. Yet, very few wanted to give applicants this experience. I had to get an MBA from a top school, with distinction on the deans’ list, to break into the top bank, and then a major consulting firm. In two separate countries, I had to study again just to break into the professional ranks.

Most professional immigrants cannot afford to study again or have their previous degrees and credentials accredited. As I mentioned earlier, at one point an accreditation body could not find my Russian school in their database. I gave up that process and studied again. I know taxi drivers who were doctors, lawyers, and architects in their home countries who cannot afford the re-certification process. They drive a car to care for their spouse and children, and families in their home countries.

Credit scores are not transferable between countries. Not even between Canada and the US. Even Canadian checks are often not cashable in the USA. I found that out the hard way. Buying a car and home is difficult, especially if you do not know when you will be asked to leave. Travel is very hard. There is always the lingering fear that some administrative error will lock you out or the laws may change while you are traveling. Some professional immigrants, like those on the H1B, are stuck to one employer and often for the same role. They cannot try new things nor can they accept promotions to better, but different, roles. The mind frays when it is not challenged. Often, in our peak years, most immigrants are stuck in the same careers.

A mountain of paperwork

We become knowledge management experts as we have to keep a mountain of paperwork and original documents to support our movement. Our entire lives are archived and indexed in color-coded folders. We keep meticulous notes on all our travels. We keep all passports and even hundreds of pages of utility bills to prove we were where we said we were.

In just about every professional immigrant’s home there is a cupboard filled with legal documentation. This is often more valuable than their retirement accounts. It’s hard to open and keep retirement accounts knowing you could be forced to leave at any time, often selling at the wrong time. Planning is hard. It is based on the renewal of documents and visas.

Supporting extended family

It is not uncommon for children of immigrants to never meet their grandparents in person. I have seen my nephew only once in my life.

Most Western countries have rules, benefits, and perks that are not designed for cultures with extended families. I have seen many colleagues with kids allowed to leave early, while those without kids have to carry the weight. Yet, I also have many dependents, even if I do not have kids. Even bonuses and retrenchments take into consideration if employees have a partner and children. It almost never takes into consideration if you support numerous family members in your home country. Payments into your 401K are tax-deferred or tax-free for a Roth IRA account. Yet, the money I send home monthly often has the highest fees, going up to 30% in some cases. A professional immigrant’s definition of a family is usually much larger than the Western definition.

Anxiety & sacrifices

Lack of certainty causes anxiety. Knowing we have so little control over our ability to care for ourselves and our families has negative health effects. Fear of losing our jobs and having to leave forces us to not rock the boat at work. I would come to work early and leave very late to constantly prove my worth. I would have done it anyway, but the pressure of being an immigrant creates this constant sense of instability in your life. Professional immigrants often see their talented spouses staying at home and missing their peak earnings years. Simple things like getting and keeping a driver's license are difficult.

There is little financial freedom.
There is little future stability.
There is little flexibility.

The professional immigrant experience is a special experience. It is painful, and sometimes tragic, and it's often our families who gain the most from our efforts. We sacrifice parts of ourselves to give them something better. We rent, so our parents can buy a house. We delay children, so our nieces and nephews can afford the experiences we want for our children. I do not think many people in the West can understand this. We are expected to fight so hard on so many tiring fronts.

Taking care of so many people is hard and expensive. In both banking and consulting, I would have had to have been a senior person at the top end of the pay scale to care for my family. And it would have taken years to achieve with little guarantee of it happening. Did I really want to work so hard for so many years hoping to make enough to support my family? And that is not even having a good life. It would have meant working flat out just to stay afloat and maybe get a Sunday off. 

Another path to green card

If you want to explore following an alternative, faster path to green card and would like our support to significantly increase your chances to qualify for EB1A or a similar green card, you can either:

1) Join as a Legacy or Insider member and immediately start working through USA Immigration/Citizenship Best Practices From Our Most Successful Clients program. We recommend not delaying this, given the changes in immigration laws across the world. Start implementing what you learn right away while waiting for the upcoming EB1A Insider program to come out. The insights can also be applied when applying for a similar visa in other countries.

2) If you don't want to be alone while doing the monumental mental work required to figure out a path to meet eligibility requirements, plus navigate all the obstacles along the way, you can apply to work directly with us as part of a 1-year program. In this executive coaching program, we figure out the critical path with you and work together to guide you through the critical path. In other words, we select the criteria we should work on meeting, design a critical path for you to become eligible, and then guide you as you progress through the critical path. 

If you know anything about working with Michael and me, you will know that we often find solutions/ways for you to move forward that you haven't thought about that can give you a real edge in life. Email team@firmsconsulting.com with additional details about your situation and your resume (in any format currently available) to start your application.

Please note that the objective of this executive coaching program is not to explain your achievements or merely compile documents. This is what lawyers do. If we work together, our role would be to help you create and achieve those things that would meet the conditions for the green card. Please note that we are not immigration lawyers and clients must use common sense and consult legal counsel when making decisions.

Learn more about the upcoming Insider program and executive coaching program here (please kindly note that due to some bug on the site that we just noticed and are working on fixing, the page takes longer to load): EB-1A Green Card – An Alien of Extraordinary Ability program.

P.S. Access Insider or Legacy membership materials (our in-depth video/audio training library) on StrategyTraining.com (scroll down to membership options).

P.S.S. Would you like reading materials, too? Access the Strategy Control Room Advanced.

It’s Not About What You Think Your Expertise Is....

It’s About Where Others See You Bring Value

We just released a full new Insider program (a 3-part program)...

Workbook: This program also comes with a downloadable workbook. You will see it as a downloadable document on the program page, the way you can access workbooks for Innovators vs. Summarizers, Overcome the Fear of Failure, and Non-Traditional Way to Build a Media Asset. The team is finalizing the workbook now and will be posting it next week. I highly recommend you download and print the workbook and use it as you work through the program. You will get even more value out of the program this way. Our workbooks also go deeper into certain areas covered in the program, so you can do deeper work if you go through an accompanying workbook.

Now let me share more details about this new 3-part Insider program (the full program was just released for Insiders):

What if you could build a book of business in record time, even if you had no prior relationships? That’s the focus of our latest program.

Let me take you inside a real challenge faced by one of our exceptional Legacy members and long-term clients. Let's call him Mark. Mark had identified a groundbreaking opportunity: a way AI could unlock massive value in private equity. But here’s the reality he faced:

No active relationships: Mark's connections in private equity were 15 years old and dormant.

High risk of idea appropriation: How do you share an insight without giving away the keys to the kingdom?

Proving relevance: Could Mark demonstrate his indispensable value to the execution?

Sound familiar? Whether you’re a seasoned professional or starting fresh in a high-stakes industry, you’ve likely faced similar questions. How do you break through when the odds seem stacked against you? How do you establish yourself as indispensable in a world where people are becoming more and more easily replaceable?

That’s where this program comes in.

We designed it specifically to help leaders like you navigate these challenges.

And emerge stronger, sharper, and positioned for success.

This program, like all our programs, is not about generic advice or recycled ideas. It’s about the battle-tested approach that works, tools that deliver results, and strategies proven by executives who’ve been where you are now.

What You Can Expect to Learn:

- How to turn dormant relationships into powerful business allies.
- The secrets to framing your value so decision-makers can’t say no.
- The tactics to protect your insights while still gaining traction.
- The way you can build a book of business fast and get meetings with C-suite executives even if you have no pre-existing relationships in the industry.

What if you could not only re-establish credibility but position yourself as the authority that top firms seek out? In a case study from Michael's career, you’ll explore a powerful approach to unlock access to C-suite executives with whom you have no prior relationships. This was done in a way that didn't just get Michael elected to become a partner very early in his career but also built the careers of many people within Michael's team and established a very profitable new consulting practice.

This program will take you step-by-step through how to do the same. But here’s the truth:

You will only get results if you listen with a focus on "How do I apply this as soon as possible?"

You need:

Impatience with actions, patience with results.

You won’t just be handed the answers. As with all our programs, you’ll be guided to discover your path and craft your approach. But you need to apply what you will learn to your life and your career to see how powerful this approach is.

Why This Program Matters to You Now:

Opportunities don’t wait. The space you are in is probably highly competitive and it is difficult to get traction. Without a sharp strategy and the right tools, even the best ideas can fail to take off or get appropriated by people who can implement them without you.

But...

With the right approach, you can compete and, possibly, dominate.

This program is for leaders ready to:

- Build a book of business faster than they thought possible.
- Turn insights into tangible value without losing control of their ideas.
- Position themselves as indispensable in the eyes of stakeholders.

We mapped out the path to success for you.

You bring the ambition, and we’ll provide the roadmap.

Here are some time stamps as you work through the program to help you not miss important points:

• How we use our AI system to provide input in decision-making (00:30, Ep 1)

• Dissecting the question (01:30, Ep 1)

• What you should keep in mind when presenting your credentials (04:00, Ep 1)

• Questions to ask when you are evaluating your insight/business idea (04:50, Ep 1)

• Getting clear on where the problem lies (06:00, Ep 1)

• You can't make a decision before you clarify this (09:00, Ep 1)

• How branding yourself works (12:00, Ep 1)

• The biggest mistake people make when selecting a role model (15:50, Ep 1)

• The way PE works (0:30, Ep 2)

• A big shift in PE (02:00, Ep 2)

• The kind of executives PE firms bring in (03:40, Ep 2)

• What will determine if the PE executive wants to include you after you share the idea (05:30, Ep 2)

• Battle-tested model to reach executives in power, even without pre-existing relationships (07:00, Ep 2)

• Dealing with a lack of distribution points for your ideas (14:40, Ep 2)

• Iconic Black Stone story told behind closed doors and a key lesson for you (02:00, Ep 3)

• Crucial criteria when selecting a business partner (09:40, Ep 3)

---

Enrollment is now open for new Insider and Legacy members. Don’t let another program pass you by. The insights we share are unique, powerful, timely, and battle-tested. As one of the long-term Insiders said in a recent conversation with me:

"The content is getting better every time... The thing with all the content here is that we kind of have to go through them. When you are put into that situation, you kind of like, okay, I picked up this concept from here. I review it because each person's situation is different. But I know where to find them, and I always get results when I apply what I’ve learned."

If you're an Insider or Legacy member, this program is now available in your account on StrategyTraining.com.

Not a member yet? Enroll here: www.strategytraining.com (scroll to membership options and select Insider or Legacy level to immediately access this program).

If you have any questions, feel free to reach out at team@firmsconsulting.com.

In a Saturated Market, a Single Compelling Graphic Can...

Be Worth a Thousand Meandering Words.

When it comes to consulting proposals, true mastery lies not merely in pristine logic but in how one’s vision leaps from the page. Even if you aren’t a member of the Strategy Control Room Advanced (SCRA), our internal massive reading library, or Insider or Legacy member with access to our extensive proprietary video and audio training library we spent over 15 years putting together, you can benefit from the insights we’ve applied in putting together sale-worthy consulting proposals.

So, bend an ear, sharpen a quill, and consider these 13 tips on writing sale-worthy consulting proposals to outshine your competition:

1. Focus on the Client's Needs:

Understand the audience for your consulting proposal. Their biggest aches, aspirations, and constraints. While it's important to showcase your consulting firm's capabilities, demonstrate a deep understanding of potential client's business context, and tailor your content to meet their specific needs and expectations. Meeting in person, if possible, can provide deeper insights into potential clients' requirements and help you craft a more targeted proposal. It can enable you to tailor a proposal that resonates with their deepest priorities (which are often biased for each particular senior person on the client's side).

2. Quality Over Quantity:

High proposal volume often leads to lower quality. Endless pages of boilerplate banality are what you often see with consulting proposals that go nowhere. Instead of churning out numerous proposals, focus on creating fewer, well-thought-out proposals. This approach prevents a cut-and-paste mentality and ensures each proposal is designed with care and precision.

3. Involve the Right People:

Avoid having dedicated proposal teams that are disconnected from the operational realities of a project. Instead, rotate team members from ongoing similar studies to work on proposals. When contributors bring firsthand operational insight to the table, the resulting promises become grounded, authentic, and credible. Such frontline wisdom lends a sharper edge, ensuring your proposal stands out from competitors.

4. Differentiate Your Consulting Proposal:

Don’t settle for stale, industry-standard claims. Have a clear point of differentiation and drive it hard. Your consulting proposal should stand out by highlighting unique insights, methodologies, or capabilities that your firm offers. Write in a way so that any discerning reader thinks: This team sees the world differently.

5. Use Proposals as Strategic Tools:

A consulting proposal should serve as more than just a document to win business. It should be a strategic tool that positions your consulting firm as a thought leader and a trusted advisor. Aim for your proposal to become a reference document within the client organization, sparking discussions and guiding decision-making. Render it so robust, so insightful, that it evolves into a treasured reference within the client’s corridors.

6. Elegant Simplicity Amid Complexity: 

Simplicity is the hallmark of refined thinking. Communicate complex ideas in a straightforward manner. Avoid jargon and ensure that the proposal is easy to read and understand. Use clear, concise language to convey your message effectively. Make complexity approachable. Translate complexity into clean lines of reasoning, and sculpt your narrative so a layperson (or a rushed executive) still catches every crucial point.

7. Back-Up Promises with Resources:

Every promise requires a solid underpinning. Ensure that any resources or capabilities promised in the proposal are backed up by actual resources within your firm. Any hinted resource, promised capability, or vaunted tool must have substance behind it. Back your claims with evidence: internal experts ready to mobilize or proprietary analytics proven to deliver. Tangible proof, be it seasoned experts, validated analytics, or prior successes, builds credibility and trust with the client.

8. Clarity of Purpose from the Outset:

Start with a clear, concise statement of the problem and the value your solution provides: Here is the crux of the challenge, and here is the value we pledge to bring. Let no reader wade through a swamp of confusion before grasping the essence of what you are proposing.

9. The “Wow” Factor on Every Page of Your Consulting Proposal: 

As Kevin P. Coyne, former McKinsey worldwide co-head of strategy practice, shared in our in-depth programs likeHow to Solve Big ProblemsandHow to Become a McKinsey Partner (on StrategyTraining.com), you want to ensure there is at least one "WoW" moment for a client on every page or every slide of your proposal. It can be presented in written format or verbally, but it has to be there.  A striking insight, a novel metric, a new angle, something that compels a double-take and plants a seed of excitement.

10. A Story That Flows Like a River:

Structure your consulting proposal as a narrative unfolding in logical segments. From context-setting background to crystal-clear objectives, from approach to timelines and outcomes, each segment should follow naturally, ensuring your reader never loses the thread. Make it easy for potential clients to follow along.

11. Visual Engagement:

Words can only carry so much weight before the eyes need a break. Deploy clean visuals, concise slides, and crisp charts to help potential clients quickly grasp complex concepts and data. In a saturated market, a single compelling graphic can be worth a thousand meandering words. One of the huge benefits of using theSCRAis you have access to full studies, proposals, and centers of excellence to find compelling graphics to showcase an insight that can make you stand out.

12. Proof of Value. Not Platitudes:

Support your recommendations with evidence (market research, case studies, pilot results). Case studies whisper of past victories. Market research offers rich context. Pilot results bestow tangible credibility. Quantify potential returns where possible. The more solid your proof, the firmer your foundation in the client’s mind.

13. Promise a Tomorrow Worth Pursuing:

Present a forward-thinking view. Extend your vision beyond current pain points. Show how your consulting proposal anticipates shifting markets, guiding the client toward sustainable, long-term success. Inspire them not only to solve today’s problems but proactively prepare to handle tomorrow's problems and seize tomorrow’s opportunities.

By incorporating these insights, you can design consulting proposals that are not only compelling and persuasive but also strategically aligned with the client's needs and your firm's objectives. These principles are emphasized in Firmsconsulting's and StrategyTraining.com resources, such as our books (SCRA) and training programs, which aim to equip consultants and leaders with the skills needed to excel in consulting proposal writing and client attraction and retention.

Even if you never "step inside" the Strategy Control Room (Advanced) library, these principles and insights can refine how you approach writing proposals for internal initiatives or client-facing projects. By balancing strategic vision with practical steps, you can inspire confidence among stakeholders and ensure your efforts are grounded in measurable outcomes.

Speaking of consulting proposals, we have just released our new proposal, “Project to Better Serve Customers (Pilot, 28 Slides),” now available in the Strategy Control Room, Advanced Level. This document details a forward-looking approach designed to address Company 1’s core business challenges, including declining market share, stagnant revenue growth, and underperforming profit margins.

What’s Inside the New Proposal:

The project unfolds in two key phases to ensure a methodical, results-driven approach:

• Phase 1: High-Level Design & Business Case – Establish a strategic foundation, clarify objectives, and validate the potential ROI.

• Phase 2: Detailed Design & Implementation – Translate strategy into action, refine organizational structures, and set up processes that improve customer satisfaction and retention.

Core Objectives:

• Deep Market Insight: Gain a more nuanced understanding of evolving market dynamics to inform better decision-making.

• Enhanced Customer Segmentation: Develop precise customer segments, ensuring targeted solutions and messaging.

• Dedicated Customer Service Center: Create a centralized hub focused on delivering exceptional, value-added support and building long-term customer relationships.

We invite you to explore this proposal and other proposals within the SCRA and apply these lessons to your own work. 

HOW TO FIND "PROJECT TO BETTER SERVE CUTOMERS. PILOT" PROPOSAL:

1. Log in to The Strategy Control Room, Advanced Level, membership area.
2. See the "PROPOSALS" dropdown. 
3. Select "33 Project to Better Serve Customers. Pilot (28 SLIDES)."
4. The "Project to Better Serve Customers. Pilot" consists of 28 slides for the three documents.

If you are The Strategy Control Room, Advanced Level, member, here is the direct link to this particular update.

If you joined an Advanced Level of the Strategy Control Room today, you would find the most powerful strategy, problem-solving, consulting, and results-oriented leadership reading library in the world. The resources include:

• Michael's explanation slides for selected programs on StrategyTraining.com

• 12 full engagements

• Change Management Influence & Persuasion Center of Excellence 

• Detailed Business Case Methodology Center of Excellence 

• Encyclopedia of Strategy Analyses Center of Excellence 

• Corporate Training Center of Excellence

• One-Week Immersion: Consulting Onboarding / Consulting Mastery Center of Excellence

• 33 proposals

• Flipcharts

• Layout guides

• 17 strategy and problem-solving books which we do not make available anywhere else

• 2 brand new strategy and problem-solving books just released and not available anywhere else

• 11 book drafts never before available and not available anywhere else

• Case interview materials for Felix, Rafik, Samantha, and Sanjeev, case interview exhibits, case interview solutions

• The evolution of corporate strategy

• The business case toolkit

• Implementation and operation toolkit

• Corporate strategy toolkit

• Strategy maps

• And more 

Enroll as a Strategy Control Room Advanced Member

And if you are not yet an Insider or Legacy member and want to gain access to video and audio advanced programs on StrategyTraining.com we invite you to explore membership options (scroll down). We recommend to start with Insider or Legacy membership as a base membership and add the Strategy Control Room (Advanced Level) as an add-on when the time is right for you.

Take this opportunity to invest in yourself and your future. StrategyTraining.com resources can be transformative for your career, but it's up to you to make time to study the resources and focus on quick integration. If you have any questions or need further assistance, please don't hesitate to reach out to us at team@firmsconsulting.com.

Set a Bold Goal and Join Us...

For a Transformative Year

Happy New Year!

This year, we will do something different for Insiders and Legacy members. Yes, we are going to be releasing powerful programs for both Insider and Legacy levels. Major updates and exciting changes are coming to both and we will share more soon. We also will be releasing very powerful materials as part of the Strategy Control Room Advanced. In addition, we will also be doing something completely new for Insiders and Legacy members: a big one-year program together called "The Annual."

The program is designed to help you achieve a goal you set at the beginning of the program. It's the one goal that can lead to a significant - trajectory-altering - improvement in your life/career.

This will be a new format for an Insider program, which we will figure out together as the program progresses. The current plan is for the program to have key modules to be completed as you progress toward the goal you set for the year, support resources, and LIVE calls where you can submit your written questions, all designed to help you:

Build your dreams with people you trust.

The current plan is that at the end of each important module, we will get together on a LIVE call where you can submit your written questions related to the module or the step on the critical path as you pursue your goal. 

The world is changing rapidly, and we have to either change with it or get left behind. We do not want any of our Insiders, Legacy members, or clients to be left behind.

For a long time, we were about building the skill set that only a consulting partner from a major firm would have. Now, it is time to transcend to the next level. Skills development will remain important, and we will continue teaching our clients and members key skills, but we will go beyond that. We will focus on building your dream.

That dream could be:

- being the best advisor for your clients you can be
- going on your own and building your own business
- progressing to executive ranks within your organization
- becoming a respected expert in your field
- or just being a happy father/mother, husband/wife, son/daughter, employee, and friend, staying relevant and effective in a fast-changing world

What is happening with technology and AI development is both scary and exciting. Many people will be left behind if they don't adapt to the new reality. We are not going back to business as usual.

We are here to support you through this transition: helping you adapt to this new world so that you remain relevant, and helping you have a systematic and effective way of pursuing your goals, regardless of changes in technology. We will help you set a bold goal and work with you as you build your dream.

For the last set of our Results Clinics in 2025, one of our amazing executive coaching clients asked if his wife could fully enroll in the program as well. While we are basically full for all current executive coaching groups, as we keep each group very small so we can work in depth with each client on every call, we found space for our client’s wife, who is increadible, by the way. These kinds of emails particularly touch my heart because they show that what we do is highly relevant and valuable. This is a level of trust that is extremely rare in work relationships. Only when you trust someone at an incredibly high level would you bring your significant other into the executive coaching program you are a part of.

StrategyTraining.com and FIRMSconsulting.com were always about being a place where people can transform the trajectory of their lives, regardless of where they are in their careers. If someone finds us at the beginning of their career, when they cannot even afford our monthly Premium membership (which is only $167 and gives access to very powerful programs, with Insider access unlocked when 7th consecutive month begins), they can use all the free resources we have out there to get to the point where they can afford a monthly Premium membership or even immediate access to Insider through annual membership, and our other products and services.

Once someone becomes a Premium member, they will have access to tremendous resources that, if diligently applied, can allow them to increase their compensation far above the level of affording to upgrade to Legacy at which point they can start getting a tailored reply from us to their question on a regular basis. And that upgrade can then provide support, insights, and navigation to help get to a place where members can easily afford to work with us personally as part of our executive coaching programs.

At every level and every step of someone’s career or life, we are a place where members and clients can build their dreams with people they trust. This is what 2025 will be about.

If you want to be a part of this, if you want to have a trusted advisor, make 2025 a year where you stay relevant, transcend to the next level, and remain in a position to continue being relevant as the world changes at an unprecedented rate.

If you are ready to build your dream, make sure you access Insider or Legacy now so you don't miss the goal-setting part of the program and so you can be with us from the beginning of The Annual 2025 program.

If you also want to work with us personally, seats are limited. We have now basically run out of seats for our current executive coaching groups, but we are open to adding one or two more small groups for 2025, if there is a good fit for both sides. To inquire and apply, email team@firmsconsulting.com.

I’m looking forward to 2025 and what we will do together, what we can achieve together. I hope you will use these first few days of 2025 to get a little rest, take a break, and reset so we can hit the ground running with The Annual together.

Happy holidays and the warmest wishes to you and your family.

Enroll in Insider or Legacy membership at StrategyTraining.com so you don’t miss the beginning of The Annual.

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