One of the best pieces of advice I’ve ever received in professional services:
“Your website is your shop window. Treat it as such.”
Unfortunately, most professional services firms treat their website like an annual checkup. They refresh it reactively—usually when the copyright date at the bottom feels embarrassingly out of date.
In professional services, we pride ourselves on solving complex problems with smart people. But when it comes to adopting artificial intelligence, the constraint is rarely the technology; it’s us. Research shows that people resist, and sometimes even sabotage, AI initiatives. CIO.com, reported in the Pivot 5 newsletter, released a study revealing that 31% of workers (including 41% of Millennials and Gen Zs) are actively undermining their company’s generative AI rollout.
For years, I wore my firm’s manual processes like a badge of honor. “We do things the old-fashioned way,” I’d tell clients. “Personal touch. Human expertise. No shortcuts.”
Most boutique firm owners believe revenue growth comes from hiring a “rainmaker.” The truth? One star seller won’t save you. What scales is a repeatable system, not a heroic individual — and today, AI can help build it faster and smarter.
As CEOs of professional services firms, we often tell our clients, “What got you here won’t get you to the next level.” We say it with conviction because we’ve seen it play out at companies of all kinds.
In a world where clients expect more for less and demand proof before promises, value-based contracting is no longer optional. It’s a strategic imperative. And yet, many professional services firms still treat it like a trend. They slap on vague outcomes or performance bonuses as an afterthought, rather than embedding value at the core of their engagement model.
In the world of professional services, consulting, legal, creative, and advisory, delivering real value has never been more critical. Clients today are under pressure to deliver results, not just rack up invoices or slide decks. They’re demanding faster outcomes, deeper insights, and partnerships that help them move forward, not just stand still with a binder full of strategy.
In January 2020, we started Collective 54 to deliver better outcomes for founders of boutique professional services firms. We had experienced the operational grind, strategic ambiguity, and struggles that often define this knowledge sector. Our goal was to help Collective 54 members make more money, make scaling easier, and make an exit achievable.
I’ve long believed in the transformative power of habits. Small, recurring actions have an extraordinary ability to compound, producing significant value over time.
We’ve been around for nineteen years. Three and a half years ago, we chose to reinvent ourselves. Part of that process is to increase new clients who need something a bit different from the past. It’s important to grow with our current clients. We also need to bring in new logos from our new offerings. We started a team that focuses on “hunting” new logos about nine months ago. Currently, there are two account executives on this team. We have learned a lot in nine months.