Growing a consultancy business is always a challenge.

It came as a lovely and welcome surprise to win the High Growth Indie award in 2022. Humber HR People is coming up to our fourth birthday, so it is particularly significant for us to be recognised as we kick into the exciting next phase of our growth.

I can’t write any blog about growing our consultancy business without recognising the work of our close-knit dedicated team.  They go above and beyond week after week for our clients. One of the reasons we have retained the same clients for the past four years is because they tear every business as if it were their own; look for solutions, not problems, and keep our advice simple whilst avoiding risk. This was led by my business partner, HR Director and Head of Consultancy, Kellie Calvert. Without her leadership, mentoring, commerciality, in-depth technical knowledge, and wealth of common sense. We wouldn’t be able to deliver the quality of service that we do.

A solid commercial plan is essential to growing a consultancy business

The growth of our business is also down to a solid commercial plan – both sales and marketing.  Our Office Manager Sarah and external partners both have a role in supporting this. We have learnt that activity and tasks that support growing a client base must be consistent, we can’t leave them and then pick them up again a few weeks later. They must be consistent, small, daily actions. Those include being visible online, being intentional about positioning our brand, running value-added events for clients, networking and developing strategic partnerships. We dedicate around 30% of our staff costs to this activity, together with a healthy marketing budget. To grow, we must invest.

The single biggest thing that drives growth is your team

Even with all these things in place it still can be a slog. Delivering consistently best-in-class service is tough, as we all know HR can be like that in any organisation! So, the single biggest thing I think that drives growth is your team. Having a cohesive team that can champion the cause, people that you know are always going to do the right thing even when nobody is looking and have each other’s backs. That’s the key. And the good news, if you are considering growing an HR Consultancy, is that most HR professionals know the value of great people.

Thanks again to HRI for supporting Humber HR People – we can’t wait to join the conference in 2023.

Author: Kate Van der Sluis