Playbook · B2B consultancy
Pipeline plan for a B2B consultancy
Seven moves for consultants whose pipeline is currently 'whoever calls after a LinkedIn post'.
- 7 ranked plays
- 30-day sequence
- Costs and tools included
Pipeline plan for a B2B consultancy: what should you actually do?
Seven moves for consultants whose pipeline is currently 'whoever calls after a LinkedIn post'. There are 7 ranked plays here, starting with A point of view, not a services page, sequenced over 4 weeks, each with the tools it needs, the hours it takes and what it costs. Written for 2026 and free to read in full.
Last updated 3 August 2026
| Play | Effort | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| A point of view, not a services page | Half a day | £0 |
| Direct outreach referencing a specific, recent event | 2 hours a week | £0–£80 a month |
| A short diagnostic instead of a proposal | 1 day to build the offer | £0 |
| Publish the frameworks you already use with clients | 1 day | £0 |
| Ask past clients for a specific, named introduction | 2 hours | £0 |
| Speak at the conferences and events your buyers attend | 1 day of prep per talk | £0–£500 for travel |
| A short, opinionated newsletter to past clients and prospects | 2 hours a month | £0 |
Independent consultants and small firms usually get their first few clients through their network, then hit a wall the moment that network is exhausted. The work is often excellent; the problem is that nobody outside the immediate circle knows it exists, and there's no system generating new introductions.
This plan assumes one to five consultants, a clear specialism (not 'strategy' or 'transformation'), and a willingness to publish real opinions in public. It's built around the fact that consulting is sold on trust before it's sold on capability, so almost everything here is about demonstrating judgement, not describing services.
- — A specific, nameable area of expertise — not general management consulting
- — At least one client result you can describe with a number
- — Time to write or record one piece of original thinking a week
- — A day rate or project fee already set — don't build pipeline before pricing
If your value proposition is 'we're flexible and can help with anything', fix positioning before running this plan — every play below depends on prospects knowing exactly what problem you solve.
The moves
Ranked, highest return first.
Work down the list. Each one names the first step so there's nothing to plan.
- 01
A point of view, not a services page
Buyers of consulting hire for judgement. A page listing 'strategy, operations, change management' proves nothing; a specific, arguable opinion proves you've actually thought about the problem.
First step: Rewrite your homepage or LinkedIn About section around one strong opinion about how your niche should approach its biggest problem.
- Tools
- Your site or LinkedIn profile
- Effort
- Half a day
- Cost
- £0
- 02
Direct outreach referencing a specific, recent event
Generic outreach to executives gets deleted in seconds. Outreach tied to something that just happened to them — a funding round, a leadership change, a new regulation — gets read.
First step: Set up alerts for trigger events in your niche. When one hits, send a short note within 48 hours connecting the event to a problem you solve.
- Tools
- Google Alerts, LinkedIn Sales Navigator, or Crunchbase
- Effort
- 2 hours a week
- Cost
- £0–£80 a month
- 03
A short diagnostic instead of a proposal
Executives won't commit to a six-figure engagement from a cold conversation, but they will pay for a two-week diagnostic that de-risks the bigger decision.
First step: Package a fixed-price, two-week diagnostic (£3,000–£8,000 depending on seniority) with a clear deliverable, and offer it as the entry point instead of the full engagement.
- Tools
- A one-page proposal template
- Effort
- 1 day to build the offer
- Cost
- £0
- 04
Publish the frameworks you already use with clients
Consultants worry that publishing their methodology gives it away for free. In practice, the framework is worth little without someone to apply it — publishing it builds trust and still gets you hired.
First step: Take one internal framework or checklist you use in every engagement and write it up as a detailed LinkedIn article or PDF.
- Tools
- LinkedIn, Google Docs
- Effort
- 1 day
- Cost
- £0
- 05
Ask past clients for a specific, named introduction
'Let me know if you hear of anyone' produces nothing. 'Do you know [specific role] at [specific type of company]?' produces an actual name within the week.
First step: List every past client. For each, name one specific type of person you want introducing to, and ask directly.
- Tools
- Your inbox
- Effort
- 2 hours
- Cost
- £0
- 06
Speak at the conferences and events your buyers attend
A 20-minute talk with a genuinely useful framework does more for pipeline than a year of cold outreach, because it arrives with credibility already attached.
First step: List the five events your ideal clients actually attend. Pitch a talk based on the framework you published, not a sales pitch in disguise.
- Tools
- Email, a one-page speaker pitch
- Effort
- 1 day of prep per talk
- Cost
- £0–£500 for travel
- 07
A short, opinionated newsletter to past clients and prospects
Most consultants go quiet between engagements. A monthly note keeps you top of mind for the moment a budget opens up, without asking for anything.
First step: Write one short, opinionated email a month about a live problem in your niche. Send it to every past client and warm prospect.
- Tools
- Beehiiv or Substack (free tier up to a few thousand subscribers)
- Effort
- 2 hours a month
- Cost
- £0
Sequence
What to do first, week by week.
Fix positioning
Rewrite the homepage or LinkedIn profile around one opinion, package the diagnostic offer, and set up trigger-event alerts.
Reach out directly
Send 20 event-triggered outreach messages, ask five past clients for named introductions, and pitch two conference talks.
Publish thinking
Write up one framework as an article, send the first monthly newsletter, and follow up on any outreach replies.
Review
Count meetings booked by source. Keep whichever produced conversations, drop whichever produced silence.
Avoid
Where this usually goes wrong.
Leading with a services list
A page or pitch that lists everything you could theoretically do reads as generic and gets forgotten instantly. Lead with the specific problem and opinion instead.
Pricing the diagnostic too cheaply
A free or £500 diagnostic gets treated as free and deprioritised by the client. Price it to signal seriousness — it should feel like a real commitment, just a smaller one than the full engagement.
Going quiet between engagements
Consultants who only communicate when they need work look like they need work. The monthly newsletter exists specifically to break that pattern.
Questions
Common questions.
How do I price a diagnostic engagement?
Price it high enough to signal seriousness but low enough to be an easy yes compared with the full project — typically 5–15% of what the full engagement would cost.
Won't publishing my framework let clients do it themselves?
Rarely. Most buyers know the framework alone won't get them the result — they're paying for judgement, experience applying it to their specific situation, and someone to be accountable for the outcome.
How often should I post or publish to stay visible?
Once a week is enough to stay top of mind without it becoming a second job. Consistency over 3–6 months matters more than frequency in any single week.
What's a good reply rate for trigger-based outreach?
Expect 10–20% reply rates when the outreach is genuinely tied to a recent, specific event — several times higher than generic cold outreach to the same audience.
Should I use a CRM as a solo consultant?
A spreadsheet is fine under 50 active relationships. Beyond that, a lightweight CRM like Folk or Attio prevents good introductions and follow-ups falling through the cracks.
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