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Paid consulting work can be a great asset to your accounting firm, but only if you can keep the momentum going.

This can bring in more money and deepen your relationship with your customers.

But just as quickly, that work can dry up. If this is the case, the extra revenue this generates evaporates and your deeper relationships with customers may fade.

You need consulting work to build a consistent source of income. So how can you achieve this?

A Structured Plan for Winning Consulting Work

To achieve consistent consultative work, you need to develop a structured game plan. It should be a solution that you and your teams can rely on, time and time again.

With such a plan in place, you can test approaches and see what works. You can also measure the return on time invested because pitching this work becomes much more routine.

It’s a good idea to incorporate paid consulting into your client work from your first meeting. For many customers, this can seem quite instinctive. You know how businesses work and can quickly discover their pressure points and ambitions. From there, you can develop a series of advice-worthy goals and metrics.

But some clients may have an additional level of complexity. How to take your first steps with them? These are the companies we will talk about next.

The “day one” consulting approach for the most complex clients

The more complex your clients are, the harder it is to find all their hidden ambitions and needs – those for which they can benefit from paid advisory appointments.

However, there are some key discussion points, depending on the client’s situation. Let’s look at the three complex businesses you’ll encounter and some of the ways you can approach the consulting requirements. After that, we will provide you with a checklist of key discussion points.

1) Private equity (PE) funded clients

PE-funded companies operate in a different world than their contemporaries. Important goals are set by their investors, who will often have executives serving on their boards. Because of this arrangement, they may have specific metrics to help them narrow down their scope. The private equity firm may also be considering selling your client. For this to be beneficial to everyone, there is perhaps a lot to be done.

The good news is that you can help.

In addition to being motivated by the PE company, the client will also have their own growth initiatives. Their growth can be through organic expansion or through acquisitions, for example.

2) Charities and non-profit organizations

Nothing is more “complicated” than being a charity.

In addition to securing funding, they must demonstrate the impact of their funding to those who provided it. They will also pay close attention to the Charity Commission’s reporting standards.

They may also have nagging concerns about policy changes.

3) High net worth individuals

As your business grows, interesting people will come through your door. These include wealthy people. They may find themselves in the public spotlight, where the results of unpopular or incorrect advice have far-reaching repercussions.

For them, everything is more real. It’s their future, their legacy, their reputation. But they might need a lot of guidance if no one has helped them before.

Of course, none of this will do much good if their investments go bad. Does anyone help them manage their assets?

Your Advisory Checklist for Complex Clients

You may not have all of your consulting work in your calendar straight away – that would be a lot of pressure to put on just one discussion. So you need to check out their calendar, which is what we’ll discuss next.

Make a client’s calendar work for you

A powerful way to connect to a client’s world is through the year ahead. Check in and see what highlights they have – including things they might never have thought to mention.

In the context of these milestones, it could be useful to set deadlines for their ambitions. When would they like to see the efficiency gains start to bear fruit? What about important dates for rentals, investments and mergers and acquisitions? By having clear dates, you can plan together and track results.

But there’s something else we haven’t mentioned that could make all the difference to your business and its customers.

Contribute to conducting reference operations

“Operations” may not seem like a glamorous field, but the results it brings to your business and your client might change your mind.

This is where the real gold lies for your customer. It’s buried in new efficiencies for everything from chain logistics to customer service.

Work with them to explore areas such as:

• Their budget
• Forecast
• Improve processes
• Effectiveness of new technologies
• Performance
• Strategic planning

What’s next? Read our complete guide

Learn how to refine your company’s compliance services, unlock new opportunities, and prepare for any challenge. Get actionable steps from IRIS to expand your reach or refine your strategic advantage. It is the ideal solution to deliver greater value to complex customers in a rapidly changing market.

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