Episode 141: Beyond the bandwagon: How to carve a unique path to success, with Graeme Freeman

We’re all told that ‘land and expand’ is the only way to grow a consultancy. But what if we told you that you could grow a successful firm by doing the opposite, by providing fractional support to clients that will never need a huge team to help them deliver their goals. Today’s guest has proven that it can be done, and in this episode we dive into how you can grow a substantial advisory business doing just that. Graeme Freeman is Co-founder of Freeman Clarke, the largest & most experienced team of fractional IT leaders for the mid-market. Having run IT services businesses, built commercial software products, and been a corporate CIO and non-executive director, Graeme had deep experience in IT. But stepping out into his own portfolio career, he saw the opportunity for something more. After considering various options and ideas, it was the chance meeting with Steve Clarke that led to launching Freeman Clarke. And the rest, as they say, is history. By focusing on a niche market, fostering genuine client relationships, and taking a hands-on approach to delivery, Freeman Clarke has carved their own path to success that’s helped the business to scale, on both sides of the pond. In this episode, Graeme and Nick dive in to the unorthodox path that Freeman Clarke has taken, and share many of the foundations that have led to their success, including: - Why Freeman Clarke focuses on the mid-market and the benefits to working with clients of this size. - How Freeman Clarke have built their marketing machine and the long term view they take that’s helped them turn trickles of leads into a volcano of new business. - And how Freeman Clarke have been able to grow their business so successfully, by being laser focused on client satisfaction and staying true to their core service proposition. This interview is a fantastic reminder that there’s always ways to do things differently in consulting and that there’s often hidden benefits from taking the path less travelled. We hope you enjoy the show! Reach out to Graeme: https://www.linkedin.com/in/freemangraeme?lipi=urn%3Ali%3Apage%3Ad_flagship3_profile_view_base_contact_details%3BKM8CblTiSZubazXv%2Bl36sw%3D%3D Books, magazines, and websites mentioned in the show: The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro Edward de Bono's series of books on thinking

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As a management consultant myself I’ve always been lucky to have mentors who have guided me through my career. When I was in house I regularly had quality time with Senior Partners that helped me rapidly accelerate my career and has continued to help since I’ve gone out on my own. While I had this great resource and knowledge bank to draw on I know many friends in Consulting aren’t as lucky with some only speaking with senior partners on a monthly or quarterly basis. That’s why I created this podcast. I wanted to help people like you who want to accelerate their careers in consulting by interviewing leaders in the field to share the advice, tips and strategies that they used to get to the top so that you can to so that you can too. In each Episode I’ll be interviewing a senior figure in the industry so that you can learn from them. We’ll be going deep in to their background, how they succeeded and what their advice would be for you. This podcast is brought to you by Create Engage the Digital Marketing agency for the disruptive Management Consultancy. Digital Marketing has moved forward, but most consulting firms haven’t. Many Consulting firms still see their corporate blog as their sole Digital Marketing channel and find themselves frustrated when these blogs yield little if any results. To help those of you who want to harness the power of Digital Marketing to grow your Consulting Business but don’t have the knowledge, capacity or in-house capability to do so I launched Create Engage, the first Digital Marketing agency for the Management Consulting Industry. If you’d like to find out more about how Create Engage can help you use Digital Marketing to take your business to the next level then drop me an email at Nick@CreateEngage.co.uk or go to our website www.createengage.co.uk where you can download our free case study that breaks down down the Digital Marketing strategies used by one successful Consulting firm to help them grow over 400% in just 3 years and gives you the secrets they used, so that you can apply them in your own firm.