The Consultancy Growth Podcast

Summary

Most consultancy founders are told to chase product-market fit. But what if the real key to long-term success is founder-market fit? In this episode, Craig Herd and Clive Griffiths speak with Derry Hughes, founder of Honeycomb Consulting Skills Training, about how he reshaped his business to fit his strengths, his life, and his long-term vision.

Derry shares how he pivoted through three different businesses before focusing on training, where he found both growth and fulfilment. He opens up about the hard lessons learned from running two businesses at once, why focus is everything, and how building the right leadership team helped him scale sustainably, all while raising four children.

If you’re a consultancy founder wondering what’s next or how to build a business that works for you, not against you this episode is for you.

Episode Highlights and Insights

• Founder-Market Fit: The Overlooked Growth Strategy

Derry explains why aligning your business with your personal strengths, interests, and ambitions is the real key to sustainable growth.

• The Power of Focus

Why trying to run two businesses at once nearly derailed Derry—and how narrowing his focus to training unlocked real momentum.

• Pivoting with Purpose

How Derry moved from outsourced operations to recruitment, and ultimately to training consultancy teams, driven by market demand and his own interests.

• Building the Right Leadership Team

The importance of bringing in partners who complement your weaknesses, not mirror your strengths—and how this decision accelerated Honeycomb’s growth.

• Sustainable Growth vs Hypergrowth

Derry shares why he chose to build a business designed for long-term sustainability, rather than chasing rapid scale and exit strategies.

Why Listen

If you’re a consultancy founder asking, Is this the right business for me?, this episode will show you how to align your consultancy with your strengths, ambitions, and life outside the business—so you can scale on your own terms.

Subscribe to The Consultancy Growth Podcast for more conversations with experts who are helping consultancy founders build sustainable, scalable businesses.
Deri Hughes Linkedin
Honeycomb Consulting Skills Training

Summary

Most consultants are told their Value Proposition is everything. But is that really true? In this episode, Craig Herd and Clive Griffiths break down why the usual advice around value propositions often misses the mark—and what actually matters if you want to grow your consultancy.

Craig and Clive explore why many consultancy founders get stuck obsessing over a one-liner, while the real challenge is getting in front of the right clients and having deeper conversations. They discuss the difference between a value proposition and positioning, why your team needs clarity to avoid butchering your message, and how clients often stay with you for different reasons than why they first signed up.

If you’ve ever wrestled with articulating your consultancy’s value—or felt pressured to come up with a “unique” value proposition that sets you apart—this episode is for you.

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Episode Highlights and Insights

• Value Proposition vs Positioning

Craig and Clive discuss why consultants often confuse these two ideas—and why separating them can help clarify what you really offer.

• Why Your Team Needs your Value Prop More Than Your Clients

When associates and consultants are tasked with business development, a clear message becomes critical. Without it, they’ll likely dilute your proposition.

• Why ‘Unique’ Misses The Point

Most consultancies aren’t unique—and that’s okay. What matters more is trust, reliability, and credibility in the eyes of your clients.

• The Role of Your Value Proposition

Think of it as the fishing line—not the entire strategy. It’s there to open the conversation, not close the deal.

• Who You Should Listen To

Craig shares how reviewing client feedback uncovered the real value they deliver—something they hadn’t identified themselves.

• Productise or Expand?

A candid chat on how consultancies can scale—whether through productising services or carefully expanding their offer—without becoming “all things to all people.”

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If you’re a consultancy founder who’s ever felt stuck explaining what you do—or worried your team can’t articulate your value without you—this episode will help you rethink your value proposition and positioning in a more practical way.

Subscribe to The Consultancy Growth Podcast for candid conversations with experts helping consultancy founders build sustainable, scalable businesses.

In this episode of the Consultancy Growth Podcast, I’m joined by Campbell Fraser, telecoms consultant turned founder, turn chairman for an honest conversation about growing, systemising, and successfully exiting his consultancy.

We unpack Campbell’s journey from working solo out of a client’s back office to leading a 40-person team and engineering a £ Multi-Million exit. He shares the unfiltered realities of delegation, firing a misaligned exec team, and why most founders wait too long to remove themselves from the business.

This is a masterclass in scaling up without burning out and in building a consultancy that works without you. If you’re a founder thinking about stepping back, selling, or just building with more freedom in mind, this is your playbook.

0:00 – Introduction to the Consultancy Growth Podcast
01:25 – From solo consultant to launching a full-service consultancy
04:51 – Why the early years were “say yes, figure it out later”
08:43 – How values and vision turned a scrappy team into a real company
12:12 – The first major mistake: hiring the wrong MD
17:48 – Firing your leadership team (and surviving it)
21:06 – Building an EOS-based business with operational maturity
26:14 – Becoming exit-ready: stepping back and making yourself redundant
31:40 – What PE buyers really want to see in a consultancy
36:22 – Dealing with the emotional side of letting go
42:17 – Advice for founders stuck in delivery
47:05 – Post-exit life and what’s next for Campbell Fraser

Host: Craig HerdGuest: Campbell Fraser

Host: Craig Herd
Guest: Mark Peacock
In this episode of the Consultancy Growth Podcast, I’m joined by Mark Peacock. We dig into one of the most overlooked levers in consultancy growth: pricing strategy.

We unpack the common traps consultancies fall into, from undercharging to defaulting to hourly rates, and explore how shifting to a value-based pricing model can change the game. Mark shares why pricing confidence is key, how to better communicate value, and what it takes to move beyond legacy pricing mindsets. We also get into the nitty-gritty of tiered pricing, price anchoring, and the connection between your front-end and back-end offers, plus what to do if you’re ready to start reviewing (and raising) your prices today.

If pricing has ever felt like a guessing game or a subject you’ve avoided, this episode is for you.

00:00 - Introduction
03:12 - Why Pricing Confidence Is the First Step to Charging More
05:55 - Breaking Free from the Classic Consultancy Pricing Trap
8:53 - Rethinking Value: A Fresh Take on Value-Based Pricing
12:07 - How to Build a Customer Value Model That Actually Works
14:51 - The Link Between Positioning and Pricing (and Why It Matters)
18:11 - Tiered Pricing: Giving Clients Options Without Underselling Yourself
21:04 - Price Anchoring: How to Set the Stage for Better Deals
24:02 - Front-End vs. Back-End: Structuring Your Offers for Profit
26:53 - Pricing Is Both Art and Science and Here’s How to Balance It
29:53 - Not Sure Where to Start? How to Begin Your Pricing Review
32:57 - Busting the Biggest Myths About Consultancy Pricing

How do you secure meetings with senior executives without relying on cold emails, expensive paid ads, or personal introductions?

In this episode, Clive Griffiths shares the precise strategy that landed him a meeting with a Times 100 CEO, and how you can apply the same principles to connect with decision-makers at the highest levels.

We discuss:
- Why most outreach methods don't work with the best prospects.
- The "Shock & Awe" approach to cutting through the noise.
- How to turn a gatekeeper into your champion
- The 'lumpy mail' strategy that can unlock major opportunities.
- The critical mistake most people make once they get the meeting.

If you’re looking to build real, high-value relationships with top-tier clients, this episode provides a proven framework you can start using today.

🎧 Listen now and put it into action.