Why do so many consultants have a strong conversation, a clear opportunity, and still lose the work?

In this first episode of the Niche Consulting Growth Podcast, Michelle Sera breaks down one of the most important ideas in the NCG framework: the wedge.

You’ll hear why prospects hesitate after a good diagnostic conversation, the four risks sitting underneath that hesitation, and how a well-designed wedge makes it easier for clients to say yes without forcing you into oversized, unclear projects too early.

This episode is especially useful if you’re tired of watching promising opportunities stall out, or if you’ve ever landed a project only to realize the scope was fuzzy, the problem wasn’t fully defined, or trust had not been built deeply enough yet.

In this episode:

• What the wedge actually is, and what it is not
• Why client hesitation is a major driver of feast-or-famine consulting
• The 4 risks behind hesitation: cost, problem, scope, and relationship risk
• How the wedge reduces risk and builds trust quickly
• The 3 phases of a wedge engagement
• A simple pricing recommendation for structuring your wedge

Key takeaways:

A wedge is a structured, chargeable, assessment-oriented initial project designed to bridge the gap between early trust and a client’s confidence to move forward.

Rather than asking a prospect to make a massive leap into a large engagement, the wedge gives them a smaller, lower-risk way to experience your thinking, your process, and your value.

When designed well, it helps overcome four common forms of hesitation

Timestamps

• 00:00 – Welcome to the Niche Consulting Growth Podcast
• 00:18 – What the wedge is and why it matters
• 02:54 – Risk 1: cost risk
• 03:19 – Risk 2: problem risk
• 04:24 – Risk 3: scope risk
• 05:31 – Risk 4: relationship risk
• 06:36 – The 3 phases of executing the wedge
• 07:41 – How to think about wedge pricing
• 08:28 – Final recap: why the wedge helps move consultants out of feast or famine
• 09:12 – Beta mention: a faster way to create your wedge

Mentioned in this episode

• The wedge
• Diagnostic conversations
• Feast-or-famine consulting
• Niche Consulting Growth
• Chris Spurvey

Next step

If you want help building a consulting business that becomes easier to buy from, more trusted in the market, and less dependent on random opportunities, schedule a conversation.

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Follow the Niche Consulting Growth Podcast for short episodes on positioning, trust, demand-building, and the strategic work that helps consultants become the obvious choice.