Winning consulting engagements is easy when your firm’s expertise centers on a burning, urgent need that your clients are desperate to address.
How do you identify the next, big consulting spend your clients will make? That’s easy to answer.
Let’s say you trip on a crack in the sidewalk and stumble into Reginald Rollydolly, CEO of Biertaysters, Inc. Holy cow! You’ve always wanted to work with Biertaysters.
Not only would they be a great client, they’re pretty typical of the industry your consulting firm serves.
If you could deduce the urgent, burning needs that will soak up Biertaysters’ consulting budgets the next couple of years, you could confidently position your consulting firm for growth.
After all, you know that sustaining and expanding a consulting firm is much easier when you’re Fishing Where the Fish Are; i.e., you’re offering a solution to a problem (or aspiration) prospects are painfully aware of and urgently want to solve. (For reference, see this book.)
You want to know your target industry’s emerging issues, strategic thrusts, and nascent challenges, right?
Wouldn’t it be amazing to have a crystal ball?
Sure. But it’s not needed.
You’re overcomplicating this.
My dad used to tell a story about the most accurate weatherman on TV back in the 1850s, or whenever it was my dad was a kid.
When the weatherman was pressed for his secret to forecasting he admitted, “I look outside the window, and whatever it looks like today is what I predict for tomorrow.”
In reality, that “persistence forecasting” technique is only about 35% accurate, especially in predicting precipitation.
On the other hand, the weatherman’s approach applies beautifully to your consulting business.
The Persistence Forecasting Effect in Consulting
- A business that has previously invested in addressing an issue is more likely than other prospects to seek consulting help on that same issue.
- A business that has previously engaged a consultant to work on an issue is very likely to hire a consultant in the future to address the issue again.
Net: if you want to know who will buy your consulting firm’s services, find out who has spent big dollars in the past to address the challenge your consulting firm is known for solving.
Similarly, if you want to know the next big consulting spend in your target market, assess what your target market has paid handsomely for over the past year or two.
Why?
The same reason that residents of Seattle perpetually need raingear, denizens of Buffalo need new snow shovels and homeowners in Venice need water pumps.
If you find Biertayster has spent $1 million on process improvement, I’ll bet you Biertayster is likely to spend another $1 million on the same thing over the next five years.
Who buys forecasting software? Those who bought it in the past.
Who wants consulting help with forecasting? Those who spend money on forecasting software and systems.
Persistence forecasting will suggest, with perhaps 35% accuracy, who to pursue and what to offer.
And that’s plenty accurate enough.
As consultants, we don’t have to precisely predict our prospects’ weather; we just need to offer umbrellas to the 35% of prospects who seem to always need them.
So, if you want to know the next big project your consulting firm could win, simply answer one question:
What challenge(s) do your clients have that they’ve already paid to solve?
Does your experience mirror what we’ve seen: clients ask for help on the same issues repeatedly?
Text and images are © 2026 David A. Fields, all rights reserved.
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