THE HIdDEN FLAWS IN YoUR CoNSULTANcY'S PIpELINE THAT ARE CoSTINg YoU cLIENTS

Many consultancies unknowingly suffer from hidden flaws in their pipeline. These issues, if left unchecked, can cost you clients and hinder long-term growth. The key to fixing these flaws lies in taking a consultative approach: measuring each stage of your pipeline and using that data to uncover where things are going wrong. If your sales team isn’t hitting targets, chances are there are bottlenecks further up the funnel that need to be addressed. By adopting a data-driven approach, you can optimise your pipeline and achieve greater consultancy growth.

Measure everything

Every consulting firm knows that without solid data, it's impossible to know where your strategy is failing or succeeding. The same goes for your funnel. Using a LAPS dashboard to track leads, appointments, proposals and sales will help you visualise each stage of your funnel. This not only shows how well your marketing and sales teams are performing, but also helps you determine conversion rates between each stage. When aligned with your commercial strategy, these metrics become a powerful tool for driving consistent growth.

Your marketing and sales teams should also map these metrics to your business goals.

What volume of leads do you need?

How many proposals should convert into closed deals?

Once you establish realistic targets, you can reverse-engineer the process to meet those numbers, ensuring your pipeline supports long-term sales growth.

Identify and fix bottlenecks

The LAPS dashboard doesn’t claim to fix your funnel. Instead, it focuses on identifying specific bottlenecks within it. Measuring each stage allows you to find the exact point where potential clients fall off.

For instance, if your conversion rate from lead to appointment is low, your marketing team can focus on refining their follow-up techniques by improving the nurturing process, or trialling alternative CTA’s.

If the issue is between proposal and sale, your sales team might need to revisit the terms of your proposals, making them clearer or easier for the prospective customer to agree to. A simple tweak like adding a signature field could reduce friction and improve conversion rates. This kind of laser-focused intervention allows you to refine your process step by step, rather than overhauling your entire marketing and sales strategy.

Avoid flying blind

One of the most common mistakes we see is trying to fix everything at once or abandoning potentially valuable channels because they didn’t immediately deliver results. This often happens when companies are flying blind - without the data to back up their decisions. For example, a firm might conclude that LinkedIn isn't a viable lead source, when in fact the issue could be as simple as poor lead targeting or an unclear message.

Instead of jumping to conclusions, your teams should use data to drive decisions. By pinpointing the exact problem areas, whether it's lead generation, appointment setting, or closing deals, you can focus on the right fixes. This targeted approach saves time and resources, ensuring that your team isn’t wasting effort on parts of the pipeline that are already working well.

Reverse engineer your success

Once your team understands the bottlenecks in your pipeline, you can begin to reverse engineer your growth. If you know your team needs 20 clients per month, and your lead-to-sale conversion rate is 10%, then you’ll know you need 200 leads in your pipeline. From there, you can drill down into each stage of the pipeline to ensure your marketing and sales professionals are meeting targets at every step.

This approach offers a competitive advantage - instead of making broad changes or relying on guesswork, you can direct your efforts where they’ll have the most impact. With the right data in hand, your consulting firm can confidently grow its client base and build a track record of success.

Make your pipeline work for you

Your pipeline is the backbone of your business, and optimising it requires careful measurement, analysis and action. By using a data-driven approach, you can uncover hidden flaws, fix bottlenecks and focus your efforts where they’re most needed. 

Keen to try out the LAPS Dashboard in your own consultancy? 

Download the LAPS dashboard to realise the full potential of your pipeline to drive measurable growth.