Unfair Advantage - Blog

Growing a consultancy firm is hard work. We often write about the challenges with clients, staff, sales and operations (and, of course, how to overcome them). But it’s not all hard slog. There are clearly some very rewarding aspects to leading an ambitious professional services company.

In periods of uncertainty, you might find your people at a loose end, without active client work to do. This is a superb opportunity to use their skills for your firm’s future benefit. We look at what to focus your people on, and how to ensure your cost base is flexible.

This has to be one of the toughest things you’ll face in business. But you can get through. We reckon the key to surviving times of uncertainty - crisis even - is persuading clients that you can weather the storm better together. Here are 7 ways to sell to clients who find themselves under stress.

We’ve written before about how to spot difficult clients, and the types you might run into. They’re usually just a tiny proportion of the clients a consultancy attracts, but their influence can be significant. And sometimes you just have to move on. Here are some thoughts about how to do it.

The desire to do great work for our clients can lead to over-servicing. How do you spot it, what does it mean for you, and how can you get the relationship into a more balanced state?

Where do you get inspiration and support? There are a few regular blogs that we think are must-reads for consultants.

So you have chosen some shiny new software for your business. It washes whiter, solves all your problems and has an upgrade available which makes a lovely cup of tea. Plus, it’s modern cloud software with well-designed user interfaces that should make it really easy to get up and running.

When you started your business and ate everything that you killed, profit was a meaningless concept - you took home what you billed. But, as you grow you are likely to find that net profit margins reduce significantly and are stubbornly hard to get back up.

We’re really pleased to announce that Metis’ excellence has been recognised by one of the top online software review platforms: FinancesOnline. Recently, FinancesOnline published a very positive review of our software, discussing in detail the helpful features of our product, and how it can benefit companies of...

Producing great work is the name of the game – but without knowing exactly how long that work is taking, you could be inaccurately billing clients, and ultimately letting profit slip out of your grasp. Unfortunately, it’s also true that most employees aren’t exactly filled with joy at the prospect of completing their...