Consultants Now Need Sales Skills
Specialized consulting firms increasingly expect strategists and operations experts to contribute to business development. The trend shows that firms want consultants who can help identify client needs and build relationships, not just deliver projects. A four-step framework for business development in recruitment highlights the need for practical, client-facing communication skills even in technical roles.
Boutique and mid-market consulting firms are expanding their enterprise strategy and operations teams, focusing on execution-oriented roles. Unlike the mass hiring of previous years, 2025 and 2026 are characterized by "purposeful hiring" for specialists in areas like supply chain optimization, cost-cutting, and tech transformation. Firms such as Alvarez & Marsal are known for a hands-on, practitioner-led approach, embedding their consultants directly into client operations to drive performance improvement. This model requires operations consultants to not only devise strategy but also manage its implementation, bridging the gap between analysis and tangible results. At a boutique firm, an operations consultant's responsibilities extend beyond project delivery, often including contributions to business development. Due to flatter hierarchies, consultants gain earlier exposure to senior clients and are expected to help build and maintain those relationships, a core component of firm growth. Job descriptions for strategy and operations roles at firms like Slalom and Teneo now explicitly list "strong client relationship skills" and the ability to "build and create strategy opportunities" as key requirements. This demonstrates the shift where technical expertise in process mapping or financial analysis must be paired with commercial acumen. The day-to-day experience reflects this blend; a consultant might spend the morning analyzing a client's supply chain data and the afternoon presenting a business case for a follow-on project to a new stakeholder. This contrasts with larger firms where business development is often handled by a separate, more senior team. For those transitioning into these roles, it is critical to frame operational experience in terms of its business impact. Emphasize instances of leading initiatives, managing stakeholders, and linking process improvements to measurable financial outcomes like improved margins or revenue growth.
