Expertise

If you run a boutique professional services firm, you’ve likely felt the ground shift under your feet: slower inbound, elongated cycles, clients insourcing, price pressure from AI, and teams stretched thin. The symptoms are familiar; the diagnosis varies. This post offers a practical, founder-friendly playbook, rooted in Greg Alexander’s The Boutique and fresh insights from fellow C54 founders, to stabilize revenue, rebuild momentum, and emerge stronger.

In The Boutique by Greg Alexander, Chapter 3, “The Competitors,” introduces a critical insight: 30% of the time, boutique professional service (pro-serv) firms compete with their client’s internal resources. This was a revelation when I first read the book several years ago, and it remains a foundational truth for boutique firms providing marketing, IT, HR, accounting, or other professional services to small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs).