Client Overview
- Type of SME: Boutique strategy consultancy serving high-growth startups and founder-led tech teams
- Business Stage: Profitable but plateaued; founder operating at max capacity
- Market: International B2B, known for sharp insight and founder-led delivery
- Previous Lead Source: Heavily reliant on referrals, long-term relationships, and sporadic LinkedIn content
Role & Duration
Role: Systems Architect & Strategic Growth Partner
Duration: 10-week growth infrastructure sprint
The Challenge
This consultancy was known for its brainpower and results — but behind the scenes, it was a house of cards. The founder was the business: the deal-closer, the client strategist, the project manager, and the growth driver.
While client outcomes were strong, the internal structure wasn’t built to scale:
- Lead flow was inconsistent, driven by referrals, past clients, and the founder’s ad hoc content.
- Sales were unscalable, requiring high-touch involvement from the founder to convey value and close deals.
- Delivery was fully manual, with no standardized onboarding, scope definitions, or repeatable workflows.
- Growth created chaos, not leverage — resulting in team burnout, unclear capacity, and delayed projects.
It wasn’t a marketing issue. It was a systems issue: no engine to translate positioning into pipeline, no operational foundation to grow without over-relying on the founder.
Strategic & Operational Approach
Our goal wasn’t to bolt on another tool or marketing tactic. It was to build a custom growth system that made the business scalable, not just serviceable.
1. Strategic repositioning
We reframed the company’s core offer — from a broad “strategic advisory” model to a premium, outcomes-focused engagement tailored to executive teams navigating scaling complexity.
This narrowed the client profile, elevated perceived value, and created a stronger narrative around transformation — not just insight.
2. Growth engine design
We built a lead generation system tailored to how their clients buy:
- Positioning assets that clarified the firm’s value beyond the founder’s persona
- A lean, conversion-optimized landing page tied to strategic pain points
- An automation layer that pre-qualified leads, nurtured interest, and minimized manual follow-up
No funnels, no heavy content calendar — just a focused system that worked without daily founder input.
3. Offer architecture and SOPs
We streamlined the delivery model with clearly defined tiers, pricing anchors, and scope boundaries — reducing ambiguity and scope creep.
Behind the scenes, we installed:
- Client onboarding automations that eliminated 12+ hours/week of manual work
- SOPs for project setup, delivery reviews, and success tracking
- A repeatable sales script and silent sales assets (ROI calculators, past client wins, pre-call guides)
The result? A business that could sell, onboard, and deliver — without reinventing the wheel every time.
Results & Business Impact
Within 60 days of implementation:
- Qualified leads doubled, without increasing content or ad spend
- First high-ticket retainer closed at 4× the average project rate — with less than half the founder’s usual sales effort
- Founder’s involvement in delivery dropped by 50%, allowing focus on growth, partnerships, and IP development
- Operations team recovered 30+ hours/month, enabling bandwidth to serve more clients without hiring
- Client experience became consistent, unlocking warm referrals and higher-margin upsells
The consultancy went from reactive to repeatable — and from fully founder-dependent to structurally sound.
Why Partnering With MABD Was the Advantage
The founder put it best:
“We’d outgrown our old way of working — but couldn’t see the next move clearly. MABD didn’t throw more tactics at us. He helped us see the business differently — and then built the engine to match.”
“We didn’t need more ideas. We needed structure that fit our voice and sharpened our edge. Now we’re positioned like a strategic partner — and selling like one too.”
This wasn’t a course, a template, or a plug-and-play funnel. This was a bespoke business operating system, engineered around their positioning, buyers, and long-term goals.
If your service business delivers exceptional work — but your backend can’t keep up with your ambition — it’s time to stop patching the holes.
You don’t need another marketing tactic.
You need an engine: one that turns your expertise into scalable, profitable growth.
I don’t sell templates.
I design your infrastructure.
Let’s build the system that makes scaling clear, calm, and inevitable.