Explore every episode of the podcast The Consultant's Way Podcast
| Title | Pub. Date | Duration | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Season 2, Episode 44: From Cost Center to Growth Engine | 25 Aug 2025 | 00:30:51 | |
About The Consultant's Way Podcast The Consultant's Way podcast is your go-to resource for navigating the complexities of the consulting and professional services world. We bring you insightful conversations with industry thought leaders and executives from top Professional Services organizations, sharing their expertise on how to: • Build high-performing consulting and professional services teams • Differentiate your offerings and increase organizational growth • Deliver exceptional client value and drive impactful outcomes
Brought to you by: • McMann & Ransford: A strategy consulting firm with over 30 years of experience helping leading B2B organizations escape commoditization and achieve sustainable growth. Learn more: https://mcmannransford.com/ • The Consultant's Way: Your one-stop shop for training and enabling consultants and professional services teams to deliver exceptional client value. Learn more: https://www.consultantsway.com/
Connect with us: • LinkedIn: ○ Dean McMann - https://www.linkedin.com/in/deanmcmann/ ○ Anthony Paluska - https://www.linkedin.com/in/anthony-paluska-5081804b • Email: podcast@consultantsway.com
Interested in being a guest? We're always looking for insightful guests to share their expertise. Reach out to us via email or LinkedIn if you'd like to be considered for a future episode. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- What if professional services is not just the cost of doing business, but the engine driving real outcomes? Osama Atta joins Dean McMann and Anthony Paluska to talk about what he calls the PS 2.0 mindset. In his words, professional services is no longer just there to make the software work. It is the bridge between promise and proof. Osama unpacks how his team at Altrio productized their services, shortened time to value, and started speaking the language of the business: revenue, ROI, and strategic impact. He shares how they reframed PS from a necessary evil to a strategic asset, and how that transformation started with better internal storytelling, stronger partnerships with sales, and clear data to back it all up. If you are trying to build a more scalable, profitable, and visible PS team, this conversation is packed with takeaways. You will hear how they aligned with sales, priced and packaged their services, created internal boundaries to avoid burnout, and tracked value instead of hours. This one is practical, insightful, and refreshingly honest. | |||
| Season 2 Episode 43: Why Boutique Firms Are Winning | 18 Aug 2025 | 00:40:56 | |
About The Consultant's Way Podcast The Consultant's Way podcast is your go-to resource for navigating the complexities of the consulting and professional services world. We bring you insightful conversations with industry thought leaders and executives from top Professional Services organizations, sharing their expertise on how to: • Build high-performing consulting and professional services teams • Differentiate your offerings and increase organizational growth • Deliver exceptional client value and drive impactful outcomes
Brought to you by: • McMann & Ransford: A strategy consulting firm with over 30 years of experience helping leading B2B organizations escape commoditization and achieve sustainable growth. Learn more: https://mcmannransford.com/ • The Consultant's Way: Your one-stop shop for training and enabling consultants and professional services teams to deliver exceptional client value. Learn more: https://www.consultantsway.com/
Connect with us: • LinkedIn: ○ Dean McMann - https://www.linkedin.com/in/deanmcmann/ ○ Anthony Paluska - https://www.linkedin.com/in/anthony-paluska-5081804b • Email: podcast@consultantsway.com
Interested in being a guest? We're always looking for insightful guests to share their expertise. Reach out to us via email or LinkedIn if you'd like to be considered for a future episode. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- How do boutique consulting firms end up outpacing their embedded PS counterparts? Ben Edwards might have the answer, and the receipts. In this episode, Ben shares what he is seeing across the consulting and embedded services landscape, from shifting team structures to exploding demand for thought leadership and commercial fluency. He talks about the rise of the diamond-shaped team, the erosion of traditional consulting pyramids, and what it means for training, quality, and long-term sustainability. We also get into what is fueling the boom in boutique firms, how private equity is changing the game, and why go-to-market strategies are evolving fast. Ben outlines the shift from black book sales to scalable content machines, the rise of specialists with narrow niches and big reach, and how pure-play firms are out-marketing their embedded competition. If you are running a services organization, embedded or independent, this is a reality check you need to hear. | |||
| Season 2, Episode 34: Why AI is Changing PS Delivery for Good | 30 Jun 2025 | 00:40:44 | |
About The Consultant's Way Podcast The Consultant's Way podcast is your go-to resource for navigating the complexities of the consulting and professional services world. We bring you insightful conversations with industry thought leaders and executives from top Professional Services organizations, sharing their expertise on how to: • Build high-performing consulting and professional services teams • Differentiate your offerings and increase organizational growth • Deliver exceptional client value and drive impactful outcomes
Brought to you by: • McMann & Ransford: A strategy consulting firm with over 30 years of experience helping leading B2B organizations escape commoditization and achieve sustainable growth. Learn more: https://mcmannransford.com/ • The Consultant's Way: Your one-stop shop for training and enabling consultants and professional services teams to deliver exceptional client value. Learn more: https://www.consultantsway.com/
Connect with us: • LinkedIn: ○ Dean McMann - https://www.linkedin.com/in/deanmcmann/ ○ Anthony Paluska - https://www.linkedin.com/in/anthony-paluska-5081804b • Email: podcast@consultantsway.com
Interested in being a guest? We're always looking for insightful guests to share their expertise. Reach out to us via email or LinkedIn if you'd like to be considered for a future episode. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- AI is fundamentally reshaping how professional services teams deliver work, scale operations, and define value. In this episode, Dean and Anthony sit down with Sri Ganesan, Co-Founder and CEO of Rocketlane, to unpack what that means for PS teams today and where it is all headed. Sri shares why many PS organizations are missing the bigger opportunity with AI. While teams are focused on automating admin tasks, the real efficiency gains come from rethinking how the work itself gets done. Forward-thinking teams are embedding AI into delivery, not just back-office processes, changing everything from project scope to skills to pricing models. The conversation explores how the perception of value is shifting for both teams and customers. Deep technical knowledge is no longer the only currency. AI is taking on more of the heavy lifting, while human consultants will win by interpreting information, building relationships, and guiding customers to success in real time. Sri also explains how this evolution will reshape team structures and customer expectations. Services will become more modular, timelines will shrink, and outcome-based pricing will replace traditional hours and materials models. He offers real examples of organizations already making this shift and the cultural mindset it takes to get there. For PS leaders wondering where to start, Sri lays out how to experiment with AI without falling behind, how to build curiosity and adaptability into your team, and why clinging to outdated models may actually create more risk than change itself. This is a must-listen for anyone building, leading, or evolving a professional services function in today’s market. | |||
| Season 2, Episode 33: From Consulting to Capital | 26 Jun 2025 | 00:43:14 | |
About The Consultant's Way Podcast The Consultant's Way podcast is your go-to resource for navigating the complexities of the consulting and professional services world. We bring you insightful conversations with industry thought leaders and executives from top Professional Services organizations, sharing their expertise on how to: • Build high-performing consulting and professional services teams • Differentiate your offerings and increase organizational growth • Deliver exceptional client value and drive impactful outcomes
Brought to you by: • McMann & Ransford: A strategy consulting firm with over 30 years of experience helping leading B2B organizations escape commoditization and achieve sustainable growth. Learn more: https://mcmannransford.com/ • The Consultant's Way: Your one-stop shop for training and enabling consultants and professional services teams to deliver exceptional client value. Learn more: https://www.consultantsway.com/
Connect with us: • LinkedIn: ○ Dean McMann - https://www.linkedin.com/in/deanmcmann/ ○ Anthony Paluska - https://www.linkedin.com/in/anthony-paluska-5081804b • Email: podcast@consultantsway.com
Interested in being a guest? We're always looking for insightful guests to share their expertise. Reach out to us via email or LinkedIn if you'd like to be considered for a future episode. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- In this episode, Dean and Anthony sit down with Jeffrey Fidelman, CEO and founder of Fidelman & Co, a fundraising partner to early-stage startups and emerging fund managers. Jeffrey shares the gritty truth about transitioning from corporate leader to founder and what it really takes to build something from scratch. Spoiler: it’s not just about having a strong resume. He reflects on his own journey from investment banking to launching a boutique consulting firm—and how that evolved into a scalable business with a productized offering. Along the way, Jeffrey outlines the common traps executives fall into when they try to freelance their way into entrepreneurship, and what separates the consultants who burn out from those who build something lasting. If you’re exploring life beyond the corporate walls, wondering how to monetize your experience, or thinking about raising capital for a service business, Jeffrey doesn’t sugarcoat it. He offers insight into what investors actually want, why network reliance isn’t a strategy, and how to tell if you’re building a business or just temporarily unemployed with a logo. From building repeatable systems to thinking like a scientist in your go-to-market experiments, Jeffrey’s take is refreshingly practical. The advice hits even harder if you’re in the consulting world and debating whether to stay solo or build something bigger. It’s the kind of conversation that pulls back the curtain on fundraising myths, shines a light on the risks you don’t see coming, and reminds you that “doing it right” is still a winning strategy. | |||
| Season 2, Episode 32: Stop Delivering Projects, Start Delivering Value | 23 Jun 2025 | 00:34:59 | |
About The Consultant's Way Podcast The Consultant's Way podcast is your go-to resource for navigating the complexities of the consulting and professional services world. We bring you insightful conversations with industry thought leaders and executives from top Professional Services organizations, sharing their expertise on how to: • Build high-performing consulting and professional services teams • Differentiate your offerings and increase organizational growth • Deliver exceptional client value and drive impactful outcomes Brought to you by: • McMann & Ransford: A strategy consulting firm with over 30 years of experience helping leading B2B organizations escape commoditization and achieve sustainable growth. Learn more: https://mcmannransford.com/ • The Consultant's Way: Your one-stop shop for training and enabling consultants and professional services teams to deliver exceptional client value. Learn more: https://www.consultantsway.com/ Connect with us: • LinkedIn: ○ Dean McMann - https://www.linkedin.com/in/deanmcmann/ ○ Anthony Paluska - https://www.linkedin.com/in/anthony-paluska-5081804b • Email: podcast@consultantsway.com Interested in being a guest? We're always looking for insightful guests to share their expertise. Reach out to us via email or LinkedIn if you'd like to be considered for a future episode. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Canon’s print business isn’t what it used to be, and Kevin Roman is here to explain why that’s a good thing. As Director of Professional Services and Software Solutions, Kevin shares how his team at Canon USA is evolving from hardware-focused projects to outcome-driven partnerships. We dig into how they are blurring the lines between project delivery and customer success, building a model centered on long-term value and measurable impact. Kevin talks about shifting from install-and-exit to value-for-life, how service contracts and software subscriptions are reshaping the business, and why training customers’ sales teams might be the secret to driving adoption. He also gives a candid look at the realities of aligning executives and delivery teams to make it happen. Spoiler alert: metrics matter, but customer advocacy might matter more. If you’re trying to position professional services at the heart of long-term customer outcomes—and convince the rest of your organization to follow—Kevin’s story delivers real-world insights without sugar-coating the challenges. | |||
| Season 2, Episode 31: Why Discovery Matters More Than Delivery | 19 Jun 2025 | 00:30:26 | |
About The Consultant's Way Podcast The Consultant's Way podcast is your go-to resource for navigating the complexities of the consulting and professional services world. We bring you insightful conversations with industry thought leaders and executives from top Professional Services organizations, sharing their expertise on how to: • Build high-performing consulting and professional services teams • Differentiate your offerings and increase organizational growth • Deliver exceptional client value and drive impactful outcomes Brought to you by: • McMann & Ransford: A strategy consulting firm with over 30 years of experience helping leading B2B organizations escape commoditization and achieve sustainable growth. Learn more: https://mcmannransford.com/ • The Consultant's Way: Your one-stop shop for training and enabling consultants and professional services teams to deliver exceptional client value. Learn more: https://www.consultantsway.com/ Connect with us: • LinkedIn: ○ Dean McMann - https://www.linkedin.com/in/deanmcmann/ ○ Anthony Paluska - https://www.linkedin.com/in/anthony-paluska-5081804b • Email: podcast@consultantsway.com Interested in being a guest? We're always looking for insightful guests to share their expertise. Reach out to us via email or LinkedIn if you'd like to be considered for a future episode. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Paul Milana joins The Consultant’s Way to talk about the evolution from implementer to trusted advisor. A self-proclaimed data geek turned professional services leader, Paul shares how curiosity, communication, and a little trial and error shaped his career and his team. He dives into the discovery process and why it’s more than a sales step. For Paul, it’s a moment to listen, decode client dialects, build trust, and surface the real problems no spreadsheet can reveal. He talks about designing discovery sessions that are as useful to the client as they are to the vendor and how a great discovery lays the foundation for a lasting partnership. Paul also shares how he turned a scrappy integrations team into a full-fledged professional services organization and what it takes to turn a doer into an advisor. If you've ever felt like you’re doing more than implementing—you’re interpreting, connecting, guiding—this one will resonate. | |||
| Season 2, Episode 30: The Growth Paradox in Professional Services | 16 Jun 2025 | 00:35:53 | |
About The Consultant's Way Podcast The Consultant's Way podcast is your go-to resource for navigating the complexities of the consulting and professional services world. We bring you insightful conversations with industry thought leaders and executives from top Professional Services organizations, sharing their expertise on how to: • Build high-performing consulting and professional services teams • Differentiate your offerings and increase organizational growth • Deliver exceptional client value and drive impactful outcomes Brought to you by: • McMann & Ransford: A strategy consulting firm with over 30 years of experience helping leading B2B organizations escape commoditization and achieve sustainable growth. Learn more: https://mcmannransford.com/ • The Consultant's Way: Your one-stop shop for training and enabling consultants and professional services teams to deliver exceptional client value. Learn more: https://www.consultantsway.com/ Connect with us: • LinkedIn: ○ Dean McMann - https://www.linkedin.com/in/deanmcmann/ ○ Anthony Paluska - https://www.linkedin.com/in/anthony-paluska-5081804b • Email: podcast@consultantsway.com Interested in being a guest? We're always looking for insightful guests to share their expertise. Reach out to us via email or LinkedIn if you'd like to be considered for a future episode. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- In this episode of The Consultant’s Way, we sit down with Justin Manduke, VP of Professional Services at AuditBoard, to explore what he calls the growth paradox. With experience leading post-sale teams at companies like Medallia, Blend, and Afresh, Justin brings a sharp perspective on why professional services teams often chase maturity too early—and how that can quietly derail growth. Many PS leaders feel pressure to act like a fully mature organization long before they’ve earned it. They jump into optimizing for margins, building partner networks, and tracking detailed KPIs when they haven’t yet mastered the basics of delivering value consistently. Justin explains why those efforts, while well-intentioned, can become roadblocks rather than milestones. We also talk about the difference between delivering well and scaling well, the risks of outsourcing before you’re ready, and the mistake of assuming that what worked at one growth stage will work at another. Justin lays out what PS leaders should focus on in each phase of growth and how to build credibility across the company by aligning your strategy with the real goals of the business. This conversation is for any PS leader who’s been told to "get more efficient" without being given a map, or who feels stuck between short-term demands and long-term goals. Justin offers a way forward, with smart, practical guidance based on years in the trenches. | |||
| Season 2, Episode 29: From Siloed Teams to Seamless Journeys | 12 Jun 2025 | 00:29:42 | |
About The Consultant's Way Podcast The Consultant's Way podcast is your go-to resource for navigating the complexities of the consulting and professional services world. We bring you insightful conversations with industry thought leaders and executives from top Professional Services organizations, sharing their expertise on how to: • Build high-performing consulting and professional services teams • Differentiate your offerings and increase organizational growth • Deliver exceptional client value and drive impactful outcomes Brought to you by: • McMann & Ransford: A strategy consulting firm with over 30 years of experience helping leading B2B organizations escape commoditization and achieve sustainable growth. Learn more: https://mcmannransford.com/ • The Consultant's Way: Your one-stop shop for training and enabling consultants and professional services teams to deliver exceptional client value. Learn more: https://www.consultantsway.com/ Connect with us: • LinkedIn: ○ Dean McMann - https://www.linkedin.com/in/deanmcmann/ ○ Anthony Paluska - https://www.linkedin.com/in/anthony-paluska-5081804b • Email: podcast@consultantsway.com Interested in being a guest? We're always looking for insightful guests to share their expertise. Reach out to us via email or LinkedIn if you'd like to be considered for a future episode. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- In this episode of The Consultant’s Way Podcast, we sit down with Kevin Keene, a veteran in professional services and technology leadership. With over 15 years of experience, Kevin shares hard-earned insights on the evolving role of professional services in SaaS organizations. He unpacks how PS can be more than just a delivery arm—becoming a strategic partner in customer success, upsells, and long-term value. We explore the importance of strong internal and external handoffs, cross-functional alignment, and building teams that can actually support the strategy leadership claims to want. Kevin breaks down the now-famous three-legged stool analogy, reminding us that sales, services, and support must be balanced to keep the customer relationship steady. He also offers practical advice for PS leaders trying to stay out of the silo, communicate impact to the C-suite, and make a compelling case for investing in team development. If you’ve ever felt like your PS team is doing too much with too little or you're struggling to convince leadership that services is more than just a line item, Kevin’s perspective is a must-hear. This conversation is smart, candid, and filled with real-world examples any leader can learn from—plus a few baseball takes that will hit home if you’ve ever rooted for a team that breaks your heart.
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| Season 2, Episode 28: Rethink the Team, Rebuild the Trust | 09 Jun 2025 | 00:41:29 | |
About The Consultant's Way Podcast The Consultant's Way podcast is your go-to resource for navigating the complexities of the consulting and professional services world. We bring you insightful conversations with industry thought leaders and executives from top Professional Services organizations, sharing their expertise on how to: • Build high-performing consulting and professional services teams • Differentiate your offerings and increase organizational growth • Deliver exceptional client value and drive impactful outcomes Brought to you by: • McMann & Ransford: A strategy consulting firm with over 30 years of experience helping leading B2B organizations escape commoditization and achieve sustainable growth. Learn more: https://mcmannransford.com/ • The Consultant's Way: Your one-stop shop for training and enabling consultants and professional services teams to deliver exceptional client value. Learn more: https://www.consultantsway.com/ Connect with us: • LinkedIn: ○ Dean McMann - https://www.linkedin.com/in/deanmcmann/ ○ Anthony Paluska - https://www.linkedin.com/in/anthony-paluska-5081804b • Email: podcast@consultantsway.com Interested in being a guest? We're always looking for insightful guests to share their expertise. Reach out to us via email or LinkedIn if you'd like to be considered for a future episode. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- In this episode, Blake Jensen, Senior Director of Professional Services at SOCi, joins us to unpack the tension between AI hype and real-world application in professional services. While AI dominates headlines and boardroom agendas, Blake argues most teams are not behind—they are simply sorting signal from noise. He shares how his team approaches AI adoption with discipline, focusing on use cases that genuinely improve client delivery and internal workflows. From automating kickoff prep to evaluating tools with an eye on data integrity, Blake offers a grounded look at what’s working and what is not. The conversation explores the limits of AI in consulting, where the true value still lies in emotional intelligence, strategic thinking, and human connection. Blake is optimistic about the future but clear that consultants will need to evolve. As information becomes more accessible, it will be how people think, connect, and lead that drives differentiation. We also step back to look at broader shifts in SaaS and PS models. Blake, Dean, and Anthony discuss how evolving expectations, changing client relationships, and AI-fueled disruption are reshaping what it means to deliver value. This episode offers honest insight, practical takeaways, and a few good laughs. Whether you are experimenting with AI or trying to define your PS team’s next chapter, there is something here for you. | |||
| Season 2, Episode 27: How Culture Shapes Consulting Success | 05 Jun 2025 | 00:31:23 | |
About The Consultant's Way Podcast The Consultant's Way podcast is your go-to resource for navigating the complexities of the consulting and professional services world. We bring you insightful conversations with industry thought leaders and executives from top Professional Services organizations, sharing their expertise on how to: • Build high-performing consulting and professional services teams • Differentiate your offerings and increase organizational growth • Deliver exceptional client value and drive impactful outcomes Brought to you by: • McMann & Ransford: A strategy consulting firm with over 30 years of experience helping leading B2B organizations escape commoditization and achieve sustainable growth. Learn more: https://mcmannransford.com/ • The Consultant's Way: Your one-stop shop for training and enabling consultants and professional services teams to deliver exceptional client value. Learn more: https://www.consultantsway.com/ Connect with us: • LinkedIn: ○ Dean McMann - https://www.linkedin.com/in/deanmcmann/ ○ Anthony Paluska - https://www.linkedin.com/in/anthony-paluska-5081804b • Email: podcast@consultantsway.com Interested in being a guest? We're always looking for insightful guests to share their expertise. Reach out to us via email or LinkedIn if you'd like to be considered for a future episode. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- In this episode of The Consultant’s Way, we sit down with Munish Khanna, VP of Professional Services at Tavant, who brings more than 20 years of experience building consulting and engineering teams that not only function but thrive. From leading a 5,000-person team at TCS to shaping engineering at Cisco, Munish shares practical insight on how to build team structures that scale, motivate, and deliver consistent value. We dive into how to define roles that adapt over time, how to foster psychological safety across global teams, and how to balance business outcomes with real human needs. Munish also shares his take on how AI can enable better staffing decisions, resource development, and team performance—provided your organization has the right data foundation. Culture comes up often, and for good reason. Munish explains why effective leadership starts with caring deeply about the growth and wellbeing of your team, and how that attitude can shape the success of an entire organization. He talks openly about what it takes to create a culture people want to be part of, and what happens when values get compromised for performance. Whether you’re leading a team or trying to build one from scratch, this conversation offers real-world takeaways on how to build and grow teams that work. | |||
| Season 2, Episode 26: From Vendor to Valued Partner | 02 Jun 2025 | 00:38:46 | |
About The Consultant's Way Podcast The Consultant's Way podcast is your go-to resource for navigating the complexities of the consulting and professional services world. We bring you insightful conversations with industry thought leaders and executives from top Professional Services organizations, sharing their expertise on how to: • Build high-performing consulting and professional services teams • Differentiate your offerings and increase organizational growth • Deliver exceptional client value and drive impactful outcomes Brought to you by: • McMann & Ransford: A strategy consulting firm with over 30 years of experience helping leading B2B organizations escape commoditization and achieve sustainable growth. Learn more: https://mcmannransford.com/ • The Consultant's Way: Your one-stop shop for training and enabling consultants and professional services teams to deliver exceptional client value. Learn more: https://www.consultantsway.com/ Connect with us: • LinkedIn: ○ Dean McMann - https://www.linkedin.com/in/deanmcmann/ ○ Anthony Paluska - https://www.linkedin.com/in/anthony-paluska-5081804b • Email: podcast@consultantsway.com Interested in being a guest? We're always looking for insightful guests to share their expertise. Reach out to us via email or LinkedIn if you'd like to be considered for a future episode. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- In this episode of The Consultant’s Way, we’re joined by Taylor Barnes, VP of Professional Services at Park Place Technologies, for a conversation that hits at the heart of what separates vendors from true consulting partners. Taylor shares what it means to move beyond transactional services and into strategic advisory roles. He breaks down the shift from simply fulfilling a Statement of Work to helping clients see the bigger picture. That could mean turning a basic relocation project into an opportunity for site readiness planning, data sanitization, or future-proofing compliance strategies. Clients often approach providers with a narrow view of what they need. It’s on us to guide them toward what will truly create value—without overcomplicating or overstepping the initial ask. The conversation also explores the fine line between consultative selling and overpromising. Taylor cautions against saying yes to every part of an RFP when your team may not have the capabilities or delivery model to back it up. Being self-aware and honest about what you can do builds more trust than chasing short-term wins that lead to long-term issues. Taylor also emphasizes delivery excellence. He explains how proactive communication shapes the relationship and sets the tone for long-term success. Surprises will happen. The key difference is who raises them first and how they are handled. One of his go-to coaching tips: pretend the work is already done, and you are writing the case study. That mindset improves how you qualify deals, scope the work, and engage clients throughout the journey. From sales to delivery, this episode is filled with practical tactics, real-world examples, and a few philosophical nuggets. If you are looking to elevate your professional services team from task-taker to trusted partner, this one is for you. It is about becoming the kind of consulting team clients remember—for all the right reasons. | |||
| Season 2, Episode 25: Transformation Is Never One and Done | 29 May 2025 | 00:32:37 | |
About The Consultant's Way Podcast The Consultant's Way podcast is your go-to resource for navigating the complexities of the consulting and professional services world. We bring you insightful conversations with industry thought leaders and executives from top Professional Services organizations, sharing their expertise on how to: • Build high-performing consulting and professional services teams • Differentiate your offerings and increase organizational growth • Deliver exceptional client value and drive impactful outcomes Brought to you by: • McMann & Ransford: A strategy consulting firm with over 30 years of experience helping leading B2B organizations escape commoditization and achieve sustainable growth. Learn more: https://mcmannransford.com/ • The Consultant's Way: Your one-stop shop for training and enabling consultants and professional services teams to deliver exceptional client value. Learn more: https://www.consultantsway.com/ Connect with us: • LinkedIn: ○ Dean McMann - https://www.linkedin.com/in/deanmcmann/ ○ Anthony Paluska - https://www.linkedin.com/in/anthony-paluska-5081804b • Email: podcast@consultantsway.com Interested in being a guest? We're always looking for insightful guests to share their expertise. Reach out to us via email or LinkedIn if you'd like to be considered for a future episode. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- In this episode of The Consultant’s Way, Thomas Gebhart joins Anthony and Dean for a rich discussion on what it really takes to lead successful transformations inside professional services organizations. Drawing from decades of experience across FinTech, healthcare, SaaS, and embedded PS teams, Thomas explains why change is so difficult even when everyone agrees it’s needed. The conversation kicks off with the forces pushing PS teams toward more consultative and outcomes-driven models—and why many organizations fail to fully evolve despite making the decision to transform. Thomas shares insights on the cultural resistance from within, especially among top performers whose roles are evolving, and how leaders can address this head-on. He dives into the challenges of executing transformation when there’s no “burning platform,” the importance of executive alignment, and the traps of trying to do too much too fast. From skill mapping and sales integration to project discipline and team buy-in, Thomas shares what’s worked, what hasn’t, and how to avoid common pitfalls. Whether you're in the middle of a major transformation or just beginning to question your organization’s next move, this episode delivers practical wisdom with real-world stories—plus a few candid warnings for leaders who think alignment is a one-time box to check. | |||
| Season 2, Episode 42: Stop Throwing PS Over the Fence | 11 Aug 2025 | 00:28:58 | |
About The Consultant's Way Podcast The Consultant's Way podcast is your go-to resource for navigating the complexities of the consulting and professional services world. We bring you insightful conversations with industry thought leaders and executives from top Professional Services organizations, sharing their expertise on how to: • Build high-performing consulting and professional services teams • Differentiate your offerings and increase organizational growth • Deliver exceptional client value and drive impactful outcomes Brought to you by: • McMann & Ransford: A strategy consulting firm with over 30 years of experience helping leading B2B organizations escape commoditization and achieve sustainable growth. Learn more: https://mcmannransford.com/ • The Consultant's Way: Your one-stop shop for training and enabling consultants and professional services teams to deliver exceptional client value. Learn more: https://www.consultantsway.com/ Connect with us: • LinkedIn: ○ Dean McMann - https://www.linkedin.com/in/deanmcmann/ ○ Anthony Paluska - https://www.linkedin.com/in/anthony-paluska-5081804b • Email: podcast@consultantsway.com Interested in being a guest? We're always looking for insightful guests to share their expertise. Reach out to us via email or LinkedIn if you'd like to be considered for a future episode. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sales and professional services may work for the same company, but often, it feels like they live on different planets. In this episode, Margarita Ginsberg joins Dean McMann and Anthony Paluska to unpack the tension and the opportunitybetween these two critical teams. Margarita shares real talk on what happens when PS gets looped in too late, how trust erodes when customers get hit with surprise services fees, and why too many sales cycles treat consulting like an afterthought. She breaks down different models for integrating PS into the sales process, including partner-led delivery, PS sales teams, and expert matchmaking. Most importantly, she reminds us that PS professionals can’t sit back and wait to be invited… they have to own the relationship, lean into the chaos, and make it work. Oh, and there’s also a horse. Yes, a real horse. You’ll want to stay for that story. Whether you're a PS leader, a sales exec, or just tired of cleaning up messes you didn’t make, this episode is a gut check on collaboration, role clarity, and the real job of driving outcomes for your clients. | |||
| Season 2, Episode 24: Turning PS Into a Competitive Edge | 26 May 2025 | 00:35:57 | |
About The Consultant's Way Podcast The Consultant's Way podcast is your go-to resource for navigating the complexities of the consulting and professional services world. We bring you insightful conversations with industry thought leaders and executives from top Professional Services organizations, sharing their expertise on how to: • Build high-performing consulting and professional services teams • Differentiate your offerings and increase organizational growth • Deliver exceptional client value and drive impactful outcomes Brought to you by: • McMann & Ransford: A strategy consulting firm with over 30 years of experience helping leading B2B organizations escape commoditization and achieve sustainable growth. Learn more: https://mcmannransford.com/ • The Consultant's Way: Your one-stop shop for training and enabling consultants and professional services teams to deliver exceptional client value. Learn more: https://www.consultantsway.com/ Connect with us: • LinkedIn: ○ Dean McMann - https://www.linkedin.com/in/deanmcmann/ ○ Anthony Paluska - https://www.linkedin.com/in/anthony-paluska-5081804b • Email: podcast@consultantsway.com Interested in being a guest? We're always looking for insightful guests to share their expertise. Reach out to us via email or LinkedIn if you'd like to be considered for a future episode. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ What happens when a professional services team stops seeing itself as an implementation machine and starts acting like a long-term strategic partner? In this episode, Edgar Amaya, VP of Professional Services and Customer Experience at Accruent, shares how his team is rewriting the role of services inside a fast-moving software organization. Edgar walks us through his transition from Customer Success to leading PS, and what surprised him most when stepping back into the world of delivery. Spoiler: a lot has changed. From pushing beyond project completion to owning post-go-live value, Edgar explains why being “just the delivery team” is no longer enough, and how PS can (and should) play a central role in client loyalty, revenue retention, and long-term strategic growth. He opens up about the internal shifts needed to make this happen, from transforming how his team thinks about consultative work to building stronger partnerships with sales. Whether you’re figuring out how to evolve your own PS org or trying to align advisory offerings with what the market actually needs, Edgar’s perspective will hit home. He talks real challenges, real mindset shifts, and real outcomes—and how giving your team the space to think can drive innovation you didn’t see coming. This episode is especially relevant for PS leaders navigating change, tech execs rethinking service models, or anyone trying to transform their team from a “doers” mindset to true business problem solvers. | |||
| Season 2, Episode 23: Stealing Hats and Solving Problems | 22 May 2025 | 00:35:40 | |
About The Consultant's Way Podcast The Consultant's Way podcast is your go-to resource for navigating the complexities of the consulting and professional services world. We bring you insightful conversations with industry thought leaders and executives from top Professional Services organizations, sharing their expertise on how to: • Build high-performing consulting and professional services teams • Differentiate your offerings and increase organizational growth • Deliver exceptional client value and drive impactful outcomes Brought to you by: • McMann & Ransford: A strategy consulting firm with over 30 years of experience helping leading B2B organizations escape commoditization and achieve sustainable growth. Learn more: https://mcmannransford.com/ • The Consultant's Way: Your one-stop shop for training and enabling consultants and professional services teams to deliver exceptional client value. Learn more: https://www.consultantsway.com/ Connect with us: • LinkedIn: ○ Dean McMann - https://www.linkedin.com/in/deanmcmann/ ○ Anthony Paluska - https://www.linkedin.com/in/anthony-paluska-5081804b • Email: podcast@consultantsway.com Interested in being a guest? We're always looking for insightful guests to share their expertise. Reach out to us via email or LinkedIn if you'd like to be considered for a future episode. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- In this episode, Dean McMann and Anthony Paluska sit down with Anand Pallapalayam, VP of Enterprise Data Protection at LPL Financial, for a conversation that blends technical leadership, service philosophy, and human-centered consulting. With over a decade of experience in professional services before stepping into his current enterprise role, Anand shares lessons learned from both sides of the client/vendor relationship—and why viewing everyone as a customer fundamentally changes the way you work. Anand challenges the “get in, get out” mindset that still dominates some professional services cultures, arguing instead for a more thoughtful, outcome-driven approach. He shares how his teams have leaned into design discovery workshops to break down complex client needs, and how “agree to disagree” is sometimes the best place to start when trying to shift enterprise thinking. Throughout the conversation, Anand keeps it real with stories of early training missteps, leadership lessons, and how small moments of humility and humanity can forge deep client loyalty. This episode is packed with sharp insights for anyone balancing the tension between standardized solutions and tailored services, especially in technical and security-heavy environments. Whether you're leading a PS team, trying to evolve how your organization sees services, or just someone who wants to keep learning (and keep your ego in check while doing it), this one’s worth the listen. Anand’s style is equal parts service-minded, hands-on, and people-first—a reminder that deep technical knowledge means very little if you can’t connect with the humans across the table. | |||
| Season 2, Episode 22: Why Mentorship Is the Real ROI | 19 May 2025 | 00:36:38 | |
About The Consultant's Way Podcast The Consultant's Way podcast is your go-to resource for navigating the complexities of the consulting and professional services world. We bring you insightful conversations with industry thought leaders and executives from top Professional Services organizations, sharing their expertise on how to: • Build high-performing consulting and professional services teams • Differentiate your offerings and increase organizational growth • Deliver exceptional client value and drive impactful outcomes Brought to you by: • McMann & Ransford: A strategy consulting firm with over 30 years of experience helping leading B2B organizations escape commoditization and achieve sustainable growth. Learn more: https://mcmannransford.com/ • The Consultant's Way: Your one-stop shop for training and enabling consultants and professional services teams to deliver exceptional client value. Learn more: https://www.consultantsway.com/ Connect with us: • LinkedIn: ○ Dean McMann - https://www.linkedin.com/in/deanmcmann/ ○ Anthony Paluska - https://www.linkedin.com/in/anthony-paluska-5081804b • Email: podcast@consultantsway.com Interested in being a guest? We're always looking for insightful guests to share their expertise. Reach out to us via email or LinkedIn if you'd like to be considered for a future episode. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- In this episode of The Consultant’s Way podcast, Dean McMann and Anthony Paluska sit down with Mike Vazquez, Director of Professional Services at Avanti, to explore the power of mentorship in consulting. Mike shares his journey from startup environments to leading large professional services teams, emphasizing the critical role that mentorship has played in his own career development and the success of those he leads. Mike discusses his approach to onboarding, coaching, and mentoring, breaking it down into distinct phases. He highlights the importance of not just technical training, but also developing the consulting skills that truly differentiate top performers. From guiding new hires through their first few months to helping more seasoned professionals navigate complex client interactions, Mike shares how he structures support to ensure long-term career growth. The conversation also touches on the challenges of managing burnout, especially in remote work settings, and the importance of building strong, lasting relationships with clients and colleagues. Mike’s insights into balancing immediate project needs with long-term career planning provide valuable guidance for anyone looking to make a lasting impact in the consulting world. Listen in for practical advice on creating mentorship frameworks, balancing technical and consulting skills, and the small habits that drive big career gains. | |||
| Season 2, Episode 21: Why We Still Undervalue Services | 15 May 2025 | 00:43:32 | |
About The Consultant's Way Podcast | |||
| Season 2, Episode 20: Beyond the SOW | 12 May 2025 | 00:30:09 | |
About The Consultant's Way Podcast The Consultant's Way podcast is your go-to resource for navigating the complexities of the consulting and professional services world. We bring you insightful conversations with industry thought leaders and executives from top Professional Services organizations, sharing their expertise on how to: • Build high-performing consulting and professional services teams • Differentiate your offerings and increase organizational growth • Deliver exceptional client value and drive impactful outcomes Brought to you by: • McMann & Ransford: A strategy consulting firm with over 30 years of experience helping leading B2B organizations escape commoditization and achieve sustainable growth. Learn more: https://mcmannransford.com/ • The Consultant's Way: Your one-stop shop for training and enabling consultants and professional services teams to deliver exceptional client value. Learn more: https://www.consultantsway.com/ Connect with us: • LinkedIn: ○ Dean McMann - https://www.linkedin.com/in/deanmcmann/ ○ Anthony Paluska - https://www.linkedin.com/in/anthony-paluska-5081804b • Email: podcast@consultantsway.com Interested in being a guest? We're always looking for insightful guests to share their expertise. Reach out to us via email or LinkedIn if you'd like to be considered for a future episode. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- In this episode, Anthony Paluska and Dean McMann sit down with Debbie O'Meara, a 20-year veteran in the software industry, to discuss the critical role of professional services in delivering client outcomes. Debbie’s extensive experience spans companies like Contract Logix, PennyMac, Qvidian, and Upland, where she has overseen everything from onboarding and education to high-stakes project management. The conversation dives into the often-overlooked but crucial handoff between sales and professional services. Debbie emphasizes that one of the biggest gaps is the disconnect between what was promised during the sales process and what is actually implemented. She shares insights on the importance of capturing customer goals early, ensuring these are clearly communicated to delivery teams, and maintaining alignment throughout the customer journey. Debbie recalls a project where the initial handoff missed critical context, leading to major challenges when the implementation team met the client for the first time, underscoring the need for better internal communication. Dean and Anthony also explore the importance of outcome-focused project management. Debbie argues that project managers should be more than just task managers – they should act as trusted advisors, guiding clients toward meaningful outcomes rather than just checking boxes on a statement of work (SOW). This mindset shift, she explains, not only leads to more satisfied clients but also strengthens long-term customer relationships. The discussion wraps up with practical advice for services leaders, including the need to "replan" at the start of every project to account for evolving client needs, capture critical context, and avoid common pitfalls. Debbie’s insights underscore the need for a more holistic approach to professional services, one that prioritizes long-term client success over short-term deliverables. Listen in to learn how shifting from task-based to outcome-based project management can transform your client relationships and set your services | |||
| Special Episode: 2025 TSIA Conference Insights | 07 May 2025 | 00:36:14 | |
In this special episode of The Consultant’s Way Podcast, Anthony Paluska sits down with Jackie McMann to break down key insights from the recent TSIA Interact conference. With the tech services industry evolving at breakneck speed, they cover the hottest topics shaping the future of professional services, including the rapid rise of AI, the critical role of data, and the ongoing struggle to align sales and delivery teams. Jackie shares her observations on how AI is transforming the way services are delivered, highlighting both the opportunities and challenges it brings to PS leaders. From reducing manual tasks to enabling data-driven decision-making, AI is changing the game, but only for those willing to invest in the right tools and skills. They also dive into the importance of data hygiene, a recurring theme at the conference. As more companies rely on data to drive strategy and customer insights, keeping that data clean, accurate, and actionable has never been more critical. Jackie emphasizes that while it might not be the most glamorous topic, it’s a foundational piece for scaling any successful services business. Finally, they discuss the often-misunderstood relationship between sales and professional services. As companies continue to push for rapid growth, the need for alignment between these teams has never been greater. Jackie offers practical advice for breaking down silos, improving collaboration, and ensuring that services teams are positioned as strategic partners rather than just post-sale support. Whether you attended TSIA Interact or are simply looking to stay ahead in the fast-paced world of tech services, this episode is packed with actionable insights for PS leaders at every level. Listen now to get a front-row seat to the conversations shaping the future of professional services. | |||
| Season 2, Episode 18: Measuring What Really Matters in Services | 05 May 2025 | 00:25:34 | |
About The Consultant's Way Podcast The Consultant's Way podcast is your go-to resource for navigating the complexities of the consulting and professional services world. We bring you insightful conversations with industry thought leaders and executives from top Professional Services organizations, sharing their expertise on how to: • Build high-performing consulting and professional services teams • Differentiate your offerings and increase organizational growth • Deliver exceptional client value and drive impactful outcomes Brought to you by: • McMann & Ransford: A strategy consulting firm with over 30 years of experience helping leading B2B organizations escape commoditization and achieve sustainable growth. Learn more: https://mcmannransford.com/ • The Consultant's Way: Your one-stop shop for training and enabling consultants and professional services teams to deliver exceptional client value. Learn more: https://www.consultantsway.com/ Connect with us: • LinkedIn: ○ Dean McMann - https://www.linkedin.com/in/deanmcmann/ ○ Anthony Paluska - https://www.linkedin.com/in/anthony-paluska-5081804b • Email: podcast@consultantsway.com Interested in being a guest? We're always looking for insightful guests to share their expertise. Reach out to us via email or LinkedIn if you'd like to be considered for a future episode. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ What does “quality” actually mean in consulting and professional services? In this episode, Dean McMann and Anthony Paluska sit down with Dr. Jose Bronet to dig into that exact question—and why most firms aren’t measuring the right things to answer it. While delivery metrics like timelines and budgets may be easy to track, they rarely reflect what really matters to clients: trust, clarity, and outcomes. Drawing from his work leading global customer experience efforts, Jose shares a refreshingly practical framework: five questions every services leader should be asking to evaluate quality through the client’s eyes. The conversation dives into why intent matters, how to tell if your team is aligned with client goals, and what it means to deliver excellence beyond a scope of work. They also explore the unique challenge of remote consulting, where "showing up" looks different but matters just as much, and the subtle ways teams either build or erode credibility with stakeholders. Spoiler: just doing what’s asked isn’t enough. This episode is a must-listen for anyone leading or supporting service teams, especially if you’re rethinking how to improve consistency, loyalty, or client outcomes in today’s hybrid, high-stakes environment. Whether you run a PS organization or are just trying to help your team have more impact, you’ll walk away with a more human, more rigorous way to define—and deliver—quality. | |||
| Season 2, Episode 17: Thriving Through Growth and Turbulence in Consulting | 28 Apr 2025 | 00:26:17 | |
About The Consultant's Way Podcast The Consultant's Way podcast is your go-to resource for navigating the complexities of the consulting and professional services world. We bring you insightful conversations with industry thought leaders and executives from top Professional Services organizations, sharing their expertise on how to: • Build high-performing consulting and professional services teams • Differentiate your offerings and increase organizational growth • Deliver exceptional client value and drive impactful outcomes Brought to you by: • McMann & Ransford: A strategy consulting firm with over 30 years of experience helping leading B2B organizations escape commoditization and achieve sustainable growth. Learn more: https://mcmannransford.com/ • The Consultant's Way: Your one-stop shop for training and enabling consultants and professional services teams to deliver exceptional client value. Learn more: https://www.consultantsway.com/ Connect with us: • LinkedIn: ○ Dean McMann - https://www.linkedin.com/in/deanmcmann/ ○ Anthony Paluska - https://www.linkedin.com/in/anthony-paluska-5081804b • Email: podcast@consultantsway.com Interested in being a guest? We're always looking for insightful guests to share their expertise. Reach out to us via email or LinkedIn if you'd like to be considered for a future episode. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- In this episode of The Consultant’s Way, Chris Holmgren joins Dean and Anthony to share real-world lessons from leading professional services teams through growth, change, and disruption. Drawing on his experiences managing large digital event teams before, during, and after the pandemic, Chris discusses how adaptability, communication, and proactive leadership were critical to success. Chris highlights the importance of recognizing team strengths early, scaling thoughtfully—not just adding headcount—and preserving institutional knowledge through periods of rapid change. He emphasizes the need for strong internal and client-facing communication, proactive transparency with leadership, and creating scalable systems that balance personal leadership with structured data insights. Through stories of scaling teams up and down under extreme pressure, Chris offers practical takeaways about building trust, empowering team members, and maintaining motivation even when workloads are high. He also shares a humorous moment where a last-minute national ad campaign required an "all hands on deck" scramble—reinforcing that even with strong plans, agility always wins. Key themes include: putting the right people in the right roles, the power of communication at every level, fostering adaptability, and designing systems that help leaders stay close to the business without micromanaging. Whether navigating hypergrowth or a strategic contraction, Chris’s insights offer valuable lessons for PS leaders managing in an unpredictable world. | |||
| Season 2, Episode 16: Talk Outcomes, Not Output | 21 Apr 2025 | 00:31:56 | |
About The Consultant's Way Podcast The Consultant's Way podcast is your go-to resource for navigating the complexities of the consulting and professional services world. We bring you insightful conversations with industry thought leaders and executives from top Professional Services organizations, sharing their expertise on how to: • Build high-performing consulting and professional services teams • Differentiate your offerings and increase organizational growth • Deliver exceptional client value and drive impactful outcomes Brought to you by: • McMann & Ransford: A strategy consulting firm with over 30 years of experience helping leading B2B organizations escape commoditization and achieve sustainable growth. Learn more: https://mcmannransford.com/ • The Consultant's Way: Your one-stop shop for training and enabling consultants and professional services teams to deliver exceptional client value. Learn more: https://www.consultantsway.com/ Connect with us: • LinkedIn: ○ Dean McMann - https://www.linkedin.com/in/deanmcmann/ ○ Anthony Paluska - https://www.linkedin.com/in/anthony-paluska-5081804b • Email: podcast@consultantsway.com Interested in being a guest? We're always looking for insightful guests to share their expertise. Reach out to us via email or LinkedIn if you'd like to be considered for a future episode. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- In this episode of The Consultant’s Way, Mitchell Palsson joins Dean and Anthony to explore a critical blind spot in professional services: the lack of business acumen across many consulting teams—and the impact it has on client value, internal credibility, and career development. Mitchell, a PS operations leader turned chief of staff, shares how his own path revealed the disconnect between technical consulting excellence and true business understanding. While consultants are often deeply knowledgeable about their product or platform, they frequently struggle to connect that knowledge to client outcomes—or communicate effectively with executives inside and outside the business. He argues that this isn’t a skills gap—it’s a development gap. Many organizations have deprioritized investment in their people, leaving consultants to figure out business basics like revenue recognition, margin, and customer lifetime value on their own. And when consultants don’t understand how the business works, they can’t articulate their impact, defend the value of services, or build long-term relationships with clients. Throughout the conversation, Mitchell offers a call to action for PS leaders: invest in your people beyond the technical. Help them connect their work to what matters to the business and the customer. Track more than project dates—track how your work drives revenue, retention, and stickiness. And train your teams to speak the language of both clients and executives. Whether you're leading a PS org, building your own business acumen, or trying to turn technical SMEs into trusted advisors, this episode delivers a thoughtful, experience-based look at how to bridge the gap between delivery and impact. | |||
| Season 2, Episode 15: The Professional Services Identity Crisis | 14 Apr 2025 | 00:35:33 | |
About The Consultant's Way Podcast The Consultant's Way podcast is your go-to resource for navigating the complexities of the consulting and professional services world. We bring you insightful conversations with industry thought leaders and executives from top Professional Services organizations, sharing their expertise on how to: • Build high-performing consulting and professional services teams • Differentiate your offerings and increase organizational growth • Deliver exceptional client value and drive impactful outcomes Brought to you by: • McMann & Ransford: A strategy consulting firm with over 30 years of experience helping leading B2B organizations escape commoditization and achieve sustainable growth. Learn more: https://mcmannransford.com/ • The Consultant's Way: Your one-stop shop for training and enabling consultants and professional services teams to deliver exceptional client value. Learn more: https://www.consultantsway.com/ Connect with us: • LinkedIn: ○ Dean McMann - https://www.linkedin.com/in/deanmcmann/ ○ Anthony Paluska - https://www.linkedin.com/in/anthony-paluska-5081804b • Email: podcast@consultantsway.com Interested in being a guest? We're always looking for insightful guests to share their expertise. Reach out to us via email or LinkedIn if you'd like to be considered for a future episode. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- In this episode of The Consultant’s Way, Ghazal Moore joins Dean and Anthony to tackle a long-standing and deeply entrenched challenge in SaaS: the identity crisis of professional services. Are they meant to be a revenue-generating business unit? A loss leader? An afterthought bundled into product deals? The answer, for many organizations, is murky—and the consequences of that ambiguity are real. Ghazal draws from her 20+ years of experience across consulting, SaaS, and operations to explain how misalignment between executive leadership, sales, customer success, and professional services creates ongoing confusion, shifting priorities, and internal friction. That misalignment doesn't just frustrate employees—it impacts retention, weakens customer outcomes, and erodes the perceived value of services. She contrasts organizations that intentionally operate PS as a loss leader—with aligned KPIs and clear expectations—against those that fall into it by accident, stuck between revenue goals and a culture of “just give it away.” The result? Overworked teams, underperforming financials, and a slow bleed of talent. But the episode doesn’t stop at diagnosis—it offers a path forward. Ghazal shares a practical three-part framework focused on:
She emphasizes the importance of treating sales as a customer, tracking time spent on non-billable but valuable work, and giving professional services teams the tools and autonomy to control their own destiny—even within complex SaaS ecosystems. Whether you’re leading a PS team in a fast-growing tech company, trying to make your case for investment, or just tired of being everyone’s favorite fire drill, this conversation offers grounded, strategic advice you can act on today. | |||
| Season 2 Episode 41: Values, Margins, and Hard Truths | 04 Aug 2025 | 00:31:26 | |
About The Consultant's Way Podcast The Consultant's Way podcast is your go-to resource for navigating the complexities of the consulting and professional services world. We bring you insightful conversations with industry thought leaders and executives from top Professional Services organizations, sharing their expertise on how to: • Build high-performing consulting and professional services teams • Differentiate your offerings and increase organizational growth • Deliver exceptional client value and drive impactful outcomes Brought to you by: • McMann & Ransford: A strategy consulting firm with over 30 years of experience helping leading B2B organizations escape commoditization and achieve sustainable growth. Learn more: https://mcmannransford.com/ • The Consultant's Way: Your one-stop shop for training and enabling consultants and professional services teams to deliver exceptional client value. Learn more: https://www.consultantsway.com/ Connect with us: • LinkedIn: ○ Dean McMann - https://www.linkedin.com/in/deanmcmann/ ○ Anthony Paluska - https://www.linkedin.com/in/anthony-paluska-5081804b • Email: podcast@consultantsway.com Interested in being a guest? We're always looking for insightful guests to share their expertise. Reach out to us via email or LinkedIn if you'd like to be considered for a future episode. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------What do you do when your values collide with your company’s behavior? Or when your team needs to grow but some want everything to stay the same? In this episode, Eric Dubiner joins Dean McMann and Anthony Paluska to talk about the hard parts of leadership. They explore how to navigate change, face ethical dilemmas, and learn to speak finance without losing yourself. Eric shares how he has helped teams shift from being task-takers to true consulting partners while maintaining trust along the way. He explains why financial fluency is essential for professional services leaders, how to deliver tough messages to both teams and clients, and why doing the right thing sometimes means walking away without a backup plan. This conversation is honest, gritty, and packed with lessons from someone who has been through it and stayed grounded. | |||
| Season 2, Episode 14: Keeping the Lights On Isn't Enough | 07 Apr 2025 | 00:58:36 | |
About The Consultant's Way Podcast The Consultant's Way podcast is your go-to resource for navigating the complexities of the consulting and professional services world. We bring you insightful conversations with industry thought leaders and executives from top Professional Services organizations, sharing their expertise on how to: • Build high-performing consulting and professional services teams • Differentiate your offerings and increase organizational growth • Deliver exceptional client value and drive impactful outcomes Brought to you by: • McMann & Ransford: A strategy consulting firm with over 30 years of experience helping leading B2B organizations escape commoditization and achieve sustainable growth. Learn more: https://mcmannransford.com/ • The Consultant's Way: Your one-stop shop for training and enabling consultants and professional services teams to deliver exceptional client value. Learn more: https://www.consultantsway.com/ Connect with us: • LinkedIn: ○ Dean McMann - https://www.linkedin.com/in/deanmcmann/ ○ Anthony Paluska - https://www.linkedin.com/in/anthony-paluska-5081804b • Email: podcast@consultantsway.com Interested in being a guest? We're always looking for insightful guests to share their expertise. Reach out to us via email or LinkedIn if you'd like to be considered for a future episode. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- In this episode of The Consultant’s Way Podcast, Dean and Anthony sit down with Bo DiMuccio, head of the Professional Services practice at TSIA and one of the most respected voices in the industry. Together, they unpack the findings of TSIA’s 2025 State of Professional Services report—and the reality check is as eye-opening as it is insightful. Bo shares why, despite ongoing disruption, embedded professional services organizations still look strikingly similar to how they did five years ago—and why that's both a strength and a warning sign. The conversation dives deep into the paradox of PS leaders trying to “keep the lights on” while also transforming their operating models to support subscription revenue, AI integration, and scalable delivery. They explore why strategies around AI and recurring service models are gaining attention, but implementation is lagging, with only 3% of PS leaders rating their AI maturity as high. Bo also highlights the top four challenges PS leaders are grappling with today, which split evenly between operational efficiency and long-term transformation. Throughout the episode, Bo calls out a critical problem: too many PS leaders are operating without a documented strategy, leading to misalignment, unrealistic financial expectations, and missed opportunities. He explains how lacking a clear mission often forces PS teams into reactive mode, distorting their business models and creating friction with executive stakeholders. Whether you're trying to build a scalable PS function, make sense of AI’s role, or just stop being the “tail” in a product-led org, this episode is packed with data, experience, and practical advice to help PS leaders take control of their future. | |||
| Season 2, Episode 13: Smart Staffing for Agile Consulting Teams | 31 Mar 2025 | 00:32:18 | |
About The Consultant's Way Podcast The Consultant's Way podcast is your go-to resource for navigating the complexities of the consulting and professional services world. We bring you insightful conversations with industry thought leaders and executives from top Professional Services organizations, sharing their expertise on how to: • Build high-performing consulting and professional services teams • Differentiate your offerings and increase organizational growth • Deliver exceptional client value and drive impactful outcomes Brought to you by: • McMann & Ransford: A strategy consulting firm with over 30 years of experience helping leading B2B organizations escape commoditization and achieve sustainable growth. Learn more: https://mcmannransford.com/ • The Consultant's Way: Your one-stop shop for training and enabling consultants and professional services teams to deliver exceptional client value. Learn more: https://www.consultantsway.com/ Connect with us: • LinkedIn: ○ Dean McMann - https://www.linkedin.com/in/deanmcmann/ ○ Anthony Paluska - https://www.linkedin.com/in/anthony-paluska-5081804b • Email: podcast@consultantsway.com Interested in being a guest? We're always looking for insightful guests to share their expertise. Reach out to us via email or LinkedIn if you'd like to be considered for a future episode. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- In this episode of The Consultant’s Way Podcast, Dean McMann and Anthony Paluska sit down with seasoned professional services leader Brian Silverman to talk about one of the most overlooked—and most critical—aspects of running a high-performing PS organization: strategic workforce planning. Brian unpacks the real-world implications of getting staffing wrong: delayed revenue, client dissatisfaction, burnout, and missed growth opportunities. He explains why the “just-in-time” staffing mindset doesn’t work in consulting, and why so many PS orgs fall into the trap of reacting to demand instead of planning for it. From building a proactive hiring model to embracing college recruiting as a long-term strategy, Brian offers practical advice for leaders who want to create a staffing strategy that scales. The conversation covers the balancing act between utilization metrics and talent development, the risks of holding onto underperformers, and how having a strong “next person up” bench can transform a practice. Brian also shares insights on leveraging third-party partners effectively—without damaging client trust or team morale. Whether you’re managing a team of 10 or 1,000, this episode will challenge you to rethink how you’re developing talent, planning headcount, and preparing your firm for what’s next. | |||
| Season 2, Episode 12: How Market Shifts and AI Are Reshaping Consulting | 24 Mar 2025 | 00:25:23 | |
About The Consultant's Way Podcast In this episode of The Consultant’s Way Podcast, hosts Dean McMann and Anthony Paluska discuss key events shaping consulting and professional services. They start by analyzing the new administration’s efforts to cut government spending, including the cancellation of 22 consulting contracts totaling $45 million. While these cuts mainly affect firms specializing in government contracts, they signal a broader shift toward scrutinizing consulting expenditures. The hosts debate the long-term impact, acknowledging that while some realignment is necessary, the ripple effects could disrupt Washington, D.C.'s economy and lead to job losses. They also note some consulting firms may still find opportunities advising on these very cost-cutting initiatives. The conversation shifts to the trend of professional services teams in SaaS and product companies expanding beyond implementation. Many organizations now push PS teams toward strategic, consultative roles, increasing their value and making software offerings “stickier” with clients. The hosts question whether this is an industry-wide movement or a trend among firms already inclined toward this shift. They express interest in gathering data to determine if this transformation is a corporate mandate or an organic evolution led by ambitious PS leaders. Next, they discuss research from Future CIO on barriers to enterprise software adoption. Findings reveal that internal misalignment on desired outcomes, uncertainty about vendor capabilities, and disagreement on key features are major hurdles. The hosts note these challenges highlight the need for tech providers to go beyond selling software and instead help clients clarify business objectives before making a purchase. Finally, they explore the latest AI developments, specifically DeepSeek’s cost-effective AI model. SAP’s CEO recently praised this innovation, suggesting it could democratize AI access for mid-sized tech firms previously unable to compete with giants like Google and Meta. The hosts agree this shift could level the playing field and accelerate AI adoption across industries. They close by emphasizing the need to stay ahead of these changes and invite listeners to share topics for future discussions. | |||
| Season 2, Episode 11: Winning in SaaS by Shifting from Land Grab to Growth | 17 Mar 2025 | 00:28:18 | |
About The Consultant's Way Podcast Bob explains that many SaaS firms still operate under outdated acquisition-focused models, failing to see they are running three distinct businesses—customer acquisition, upsell and expansion, and renewals. Companies that master all three are thriving in today’s tighter buying climate. This shift demands a new mindset, new talent, and a stronger emphasis on consultative selling over pure tech deployment. A major theme is positioning. Bob stresses that companies must shift from feature-driven messaging to problem-driven storytelling. Buyers are overwhelmed with tech options and need a compelling reason to act. The most successful firms sell a big, high-stakes problem rather than just a product, carving out a unique and defensible position—what he calls “owning a corner of the room.” The conversation also touches on AI as both a disruptor and opportunity. While AI is transforming businesses, Bob argues that simply adding “AI” to a product won’t drive real differentiation. Instead, companies need a clear, specialized AI narrative tied to solving critical business problems. The episode closes with a call for professional services leaders to take charge of this transformation. Those who embrace a consultative, problem-solving approach will become the key differentiators in their markets. | |||
| Season 2, Episode 10: Helping Clients Uncover What They Really Need | 10 Mar 2025 | 00:22:25 | |
About The Consultant's Way Podcast Dan emphasizes the critical role consultants play as "corporate therapists," uncovering real issues beneath surface-level concerns. He illustrates this with an example from the food and beverage industry, where clients may believe recipe errors are the problem, but the real issue lies in outdated systems and infrastructure. His approach involves deeply understanding the business, stakeholders, and underlying causes before crafting a solution, ensuring clients feel involved rather than being handed a pre-packaged answer. The conversation also explores the challenges of shifting organizations from product-based selling to solution-driven consulting. Dan recounts times when executives resisted this evolution, preferring to sell straightforward products over complex solutions requiring consulting and professional services. He discusses navigating internal resistance by selectively adopting leadership guidance while demonstrating the value of a holistic, outcome-driven sales approach. A major theme of the discussion is trust. Dan highlights that successful consulting isn’t just about having the right technical solution—it’s about fostering strong relationships. Clients buy from people they trust, and trust is built by understanding their needs, providing early value in conversations, and making them feel like co-creators of the solution. Dean and Anthony praise Dan’s ability to craft his own messaging and solutions, noting how he’s thrived even in organizations that failed to provide structured marketing or positioning support. The episode closes with a key takeaway: success in consulting is rooted in relationships, trust, and a problem-solving mindset. | |||
| Season 2, Episode 9: How Remote Consulting Is Changing Client Relationships | 03 Mar 2025 | 00:23:40 | |
About The Consultant's Way Podcast The conversation explores the growing trend of remote professional services and the challenges it presents, particularly in fostering client relationships and mentoring junior consultants. Prashant notes that while remote work increases efficiency, it also makes it harder to build personal connections and learn from in-person interactions. He emphasizes the value of on-site engagements, where informal moments—like sharing a meal—allow for deeper client relationships extending beyond a single project. As professional services teams move from implementation to more strategic, outcome-based consulting, Prashant stresses the importance of soft skills training. He believes consultants must learn to communicate solutions effectively, navigate client concerns without creating resistance, and develop a consultative mindset rather than just solving technical problems. He also touches on imposter syndrome, sharing how he overcame self-doubt by asking clarifying questions, seeking mentorship, and continually learning from industry experts. The episode highlights the broader theme of career growth, particularly for those transitioning from technical to leadership roles. Prashant shares his experience leading a managed services initiative, where he had to navigate uncertainty, align leadership expectations, and push through resistance from different teams. He advocates for a mindset of trial and learning, believing failing and iterating are essential parts of growth. The hosts commend Prashant’s journey as a technical professional who embraced consulting and an individual who successfully adapted to a new culture and business environment. They close by emphasizing that consulting remains an | |||
| Season 2, Episode 8: Navigating Change in Professional Services in 2025 | 24 Feb 2025 | 00:19:28 | |
About The Consultant's Way Podcast | |||
| Season 2, Episode 7: The Shift from Time-Based Billing to Value-Driven Services | 17 Feb 2025 | 00:28:00 | |
About The Consultant's Way Podcast Alex shares insights on the Service Points Model, shifting from traditional time-based billing to a value-driven, consumption-based system that enhances customer engagement and efficiency. He outlines the challenges of traditional SaaS service models, where ongoing client changes get bogged down in lengthy approval processes. Unifyr’s points-based system allows customers to pre-purchase service points, streamlining transactions and shifting the focus from hours worked to value delivered. This approach reduces admin overhead, improves forecasting, and enhances staffing visibility. The discussion explores the benefits of bundling service points into tiered support packages, integrating technical account management, training, and ongoing customer enablement. By embedding service support into contracts, Unifyr has boosted client retention and reduced churn. Alex compares this model to a subscription service, where customers who actively use their points see greater success and deeper engagement. Dean and Anthony dig into how this shift makes professional services more strategic, driving customer adoption, success, and revenue growth. Alex explains how PS teams work with customer success managers to proactively reduce low adoption risks, ensuring clients maximize value. The episode wraps with Alex’s advice for firms hesitant to move away from traditional billing. He emphasizes constant innovation, breaking free from outdated pricing models, and overcoming fear of change. With an engaging and insightful discussion, this episode offers a fresh perspective on making professional services more scalable, predictable, and customer-aligned. | |||
| Season 2, Episode 6: Transforming Professional Services into a Strategic Asset | 10 Feb 2025 | 00:27:04 | |
About The Consultant's Way Podcast | |||
| Season 2, Episode 5: Balancing Consulting Skills, Pricing Models, and Client Expectations | 03 Feb 2025 | 00:27:39 | |
About The Consultant's Way Podcast The Consultant's Way podcast is your go-to resource for navigating the complexities of the consulting and professional services world. We bring you insightful conversations with industry thought leaders and executives from top Professional Services organizations, sharing their expertise on how to: • Build high-performing consulting and professional services teams • Differentiate your offerings and increase organizational growth • Deliver exceptional client value and drive impactful outcomes Brought to you by: • McMann & Ransford: A strategy consulting firm with over 30 years of experience helping leading B2B organizations escape commoditization and achieve sustainable growth. Learn more: https://mcmannransford.com/ • The Consultant's Way: Your one-stop shop for training and enabling consultants and professional services teams to deliver exceptional client value. Learn more: https://www.consultantsway.com/ Connect with us: • LinkedIn: ○ Dean McMann - https://www.linkedin.com/in/deanmcmann/ ○ Anthony Paluska - https://www.linkedin.com/in/anthony-paluska-5081804b • Email: podcast@consultantsway.com Interested in being a guest? We're always looking for insightful guests to share their expertise. Reach out to us via email or LinkedIn if you'd like to be considered for a future episode. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- In this episode of The Consultant’s Way Podcast, hosts Dean McMann and Anthony Paluska sit down with Neil Parekh, a seasoned professional services leader, to discuss the evolving landscape of consulting, the shift from traditional billing models, and the importance of balancing technical expertise with consulting skills. Neil shares insights from his career in IT and professional services, noting that buyer expectations have dramatically shifted over the years. Clients are more informed than ever about technology and business solutions, meaning the old-school approach of staffing projects with junior consultants while a senior leader parachutes in no longer works. Instead, firms must focus on delivering real value, strategic advice, and tangible business outcomes. One of the biggest changes in professional services is the transition from time-and-materials (T&M) billing to fixed-fee and outcome-based models. Neil explains that while T&M was once the gold standard, today’s clients expect clearer pricing, predictable costs, and guaranteed results. However, this shift creates challenges for firms that must rethink how they price, sell, and staff projects while ensuring profitability. Fixed-fee engagements demand better planning, stronger consulting skills, and a disciplined approach to execution—qualities that many organizations are still developing. The discussion also touches on how consulting teams must evolve, particularly in developing the soft skills needed to engage clients effectively. Many technical experts struggle with client-facing interactions, and Neil emphasizes the need for training, mentoring, and structured learning to help them grow into trusted advisors. With hybrid and remote work limiting traditional mentorship opportunities, firms must be more intentional about developing consulting skills in a digital-first environment. The episode closes with a conversation about external pressures on professional services firms, particularly from private equity and inv | |||
| Season 2 Episode 40: The Customer-First Playbook | 28 Jul 2025 | 00:37:05 | |
About The Consultant's Way Podcast The Consultant's Way podcast is your go-to resource for navigating the complexities of the consulting and professional services world. We bring you insightful conversations with industry thought leaders and executives from top Professional Services organizations, sharing their expertise on how to: • Build high-performing consulting and professional services teams • Differentiate your offerings and increase organizational growth • Deliver exceptional client value and drive impactful outcomes
Brought to you by: • McMann & Ransford: A strategy consulting firm with over 30 years of experience helping leading B2B organizations escape commoditization and achieve sustainable growth. Learn more: https://mcmannransford.com/ • The Consultant's Way: Your one-stop shop for training and enabling consultants and professional services teams to deliver exceptional client value. Learn more: https://www.consultantsway.com/
Connect with us: • LinkedIn: ○ Dean McMann - https://www.linkedin.com/in/deanmcmann/ ○ Anthony Paluska - https://www.linkedin.com/in/anthony-paluska-5081804b • Email: podcast@consultantsway.com
Interested in being a guest? We're always looking for insightful guests to share their expertise. Reach out to us via email or LinkedIn if you'd like to be considered for a future episode. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- What happens when you stop saying “no” and start asking, “what else can we do for our customers?” Elie Mansour has built his career and his team around that question.
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| Season 2, Episode 4: Escaping the Implementation Trap for SaaS Success | 27 Jan 2025 | 00:30:01 | |
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| Season 2, Episode 3: Mastering the Art of Selling Professional Services | 20 Jan 2025 | 00:29:17 | |
Dean McMann and Anthony Paluska of The Consultant's Way Podcast explore the nuances of selling professional services, emphasizing the importance of engaging early in the decision-making process. They introduce a framework highlighting three pivotal questions executives consider when purchasing: whether to act, how to act, and with whom to act. To avoid being relegated to a mere vendor, they stress the need to focus on the "whether" and "how" stages, where the most value can be demonstrated, rather than competing solely on price during vendor selection. The hosts underline the importance of building relationships by letting ideas carry the conversation and relaxing in meetings to foster genuine dialogue. Professional services, they note, are not product sales and should avoid the pitfalls of over-preparing or leading with case studies. Instead, success lies in showcasing expertise through insightful questions and tailored guidance that align with the client’s needs. McMann and Paluska also discuss the challenges of integrating professional services into broader sales efforts, emphasizing the value of team selling. They note that collaboration between consultants and sales teams is essential to manage client expectations effectively and reduce risks. This requires preparation, empathy, and a unified approach to delivering solutions. The ability to navigate between technical and strategic conversations further enhances credibility and helps address challenges in complex sales environments. Key attributes of successful professional services sellers include being content-rich, conceptual, and genuinely interested in client outcomes. They advocate for developing consultative skills alongside traditional sales practices, which can be trained and honed over time. Additionally, McMann argues that selling more services is a moral imperative—essential for creating lasting value for clients. The episode concludes with practical advice for handling challenging meetings, interrupting constructively, and managing pricing conversations. By meeting clients where they are, sellers can reframe discussions to focus on partnership and mutual success. These strategies, McMann and Paluska assert, are vital for thriving in the professional services marketplace. | |||
| Episode 2: The SaaS Paradox - Why More Services Isn't Always Better | 13 Jan 2025 | 00:27:07 | |
This episode of "The Consultant's Way Podcast" features Bill Henry, a seasoned executive who shares insights from his journey from consulting to running global product and software companies. Henry discusses the fundamental differences between pure professional services and product-attached services, particularly in the SaaS world, where too much services revenue can actually decrease company valuation. The conversation explores the challenges of software implementation in the SaaS era, with Henry noting that many customers only realize a fraction of their software's value due to inadequate implementation processes. He emphasizes that while customer success teams are important, they don't fully address the need for tailored solutions that professional services provide. A significant portion of the discussion focuses on Henry's international business experience, particularly in Europe. He highlights the misconception of treating Europe as a single market, explaining how different countries have distinct business cultures, decision-making processes, and market dynamics. For instance, he shares how SAP's dominance in Europe created unique challenges compared to the U.S. market. Henry provides valuable insights into cross-cultural communication, describing how phrases like "quite okay" in Belgium versus "great" in America carry very different meanings. He also contrasts American and European approaches to problem-solving, noting that Europeans tend to take a more holistic, process-focused approach compared to the American tendency to attribute problems to individuals. The discussion concludes with Henry sharing experiences about international contract negotiations, particularly in Asian markets, where signing a contract might be viewed as just an early milestone rather than the end of negotiations. He emphasizes the importance of understanding cultural nuances in communication, such as how "yes" might mean "I heard you, but I still disagree" in some Asian cultures, and how asking the right questions becomes crucial in cross-cultural business interactions. | |||
| Episode 1: The Profit Pivot: Redefining Professional Services Success | 06 Jan 2025 | 00:29:27 | |
In this episode of The Consultant's Way Podcast, hosts Dean McMann and Anthony Paluska interview Brian Freeman, Vice President of Professional Services at Zywave, a SaaS InsurTech company. With 25 years of experience, including 12 years in Big Four consulting and 10 years in SaaS professional services, Freeman discusses the shifting landscape of professional services organizations. Freeman explains how the industry has moved from a hypergrowth mindset to focusing on profitable growth over the past two years. This transition has placed greater emphasis on professional services organizations as key contributors to driving profitable growth. He emphasizes the importance of viewing professional services as a "business inside a business," with its own products, marketing, pricing, and delivery mechanisms. The conversation delves into the challenges of achieving profitability, including the need for executive alignment, particularly with the CEO and CFO. Freeman stresses the importance of measuring both leading indicators (like services bookings) and lagging indicators (like margins) to track progress. He advocates for breaking down profitability metrics by different offers and project levels, while acknowledging that imperfect data shouldn't prevent organizations from taking action and testing hypotheses. Freeman also discusses the evolution of professional services teams from being primarily implementation-focused to developing more comprehensive business development and sales capabilities. He emphasizes the importance of quantifying opportunity costs when making strategic decisions about which services to offer and how to price them. The episode concludes with three key takeaways: the critical nature of executive alignment on both high-level strategy and detailed execution, the importance of establishing and tracking leading and lagging indicators, and the need for professional services leaders to identify and address knowledge gaps by leveraging internal resources and external networks. The hosts note that this conversation only scratches the surface of the complex journey toward professional services profitability in the SaaS industry. | |||
| Episode 17: Beyond the Project - The Value of PSaaS for Clients and Consultants | 30 Dec 2024 | 00:30:39 | |
In this episode of The Consultant’s Way Podcast, hosts Dean McMann and Anthony Paluska discuss the increasingly relevant concept of Professional Services as a Service (PSaaS). As organizations aim to adopt subscription-based models inspired by SaaS (Software as a Service), the hosts explore its implications, opportunities, and challenges for professional services teams. Dean and Anthony dive into why organizations pursue this shift, noting that the primary drivers are financial: predictable revenue, simplified reporting, and improved valuations. However, the transition is far more complex than it seems, involving significant changes across business models, sales processes, and resource management. A key theme is the tension between project-based work and PSaaS models. While project-based consulting offers defined scopes and resource plans, the PSaaS model creates longer-term, flexible relationships, often akin to retainers. Clients benefit from ongoing access to expertise, but it requires careful resource management to avoid conflicts between existing project commitments and PSaaS obligations. The conversation highlights the role of customer success teams in this new model. As PSaaS becomes tied to software subscriptions, customer success teams are often pulled into problem-solving roles traditionally handled by professional services, creating confusion and lost opportunities. Clear escalation processes and rules of engagement are critical to avoiding overlap and ensuring client satisfaction. Dean and Anthony also emphasize the importance of talent and resource allocation in a PSaaS environment. Managing interchangeable talent and balancing high-demand resources becomes increasingly difficult, particularly when running both PSaaS and project-based businesses simultaneously. The hosts share examples of organizations attempting this transition. While clients are often receptive to the model and its value proposition, internal challenges—such as execution issues and lack of clarity—frequently derail success. They stress that PSaaS is not merely a pricing strategy but a business model transformation requiring holistic changes across sales, delivery, and support functions. This episode provides a thoughtful exploration of PSaaS, encouraging leaders to view it as an opportunity for innovation while acknowledging its complexities and organizational impacts.
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| Episode 16: From Chaos to Clarity - Creating Presentations That Resonate | 23 Dec 2024 | 00:26:00 | |
In this episode of The Consultant’s Way Podcast, Dean McMann and Anthony Paluska tackle one of the most persistent challenges for consultants: creating clear, compelling presentations. They explore why consultants often struggle to organize their wealth of knowledge into a concise, impactful message and share actionable strategies to address this. Dean and Anthony emphasize the importance of clarity and purpose when building presentations. They suggest starting with two critical questions: why are we doing this presentation? and what takeaways do we want the audience to have? Defining these elements upfront sets the framework for everything that follows. The hosts introduce a practical process called the message-back storyboard. It begins with brainstorming all possible ideas—essentially “dumping” everything onto the table—and then grouping and refining them to identify key themes and eliminate non-essential details. This approach avoids rework, ensures a clear flow of ideas, and sharpens the presentation's structure. A major theme in the episode is balancing detail and clarity. Dean and Anthony caution against overwhelming audiences with unnecessary details. Instead, consultants should focus on presenting key messages upfront, supported by visuals or appendices for deeper exploration. They discuss the importance of engaging the audience by leaving room for questions, rather than delivering everything at once. The episode also highlights the role of visuals in storytelling. While charts, graphs, and diagrams can be powerful tools, they can easily distract if not used thoughtfully. The hosts recommend sticking to familiar, client-relevant visuals and ensuring every visual element enhances rather than muddles the story. Throughout the conversation, Dean and Anthony provide examples of real-world presentation challenges and share tips for handling executive-level audiences, where brevity, clarity, and structured communication are crucial. They conclude with a call to action for listeners to experiment with this structured approach, promising it will significantly enhance the impact of their presentations. This episode offers a simple yet powerful toolkit for consultants to organize ideas, craft clear narratives, and deliver presentations that resonate with clients. | |||
| Episode 15: The Latest Trends at the Intersection of SaaS and Consulting | 16 Dec 2024 | 00:24:15 | |
In the latest episode of The Consultant’s Way, Dean McMann and Anthony Paluska tackle the evolving landscape of consulting and professional services through a mix of insightful analysis and engaging conversation. From surprising generational trends to major shifts in the industry, this episode offers a fresh perspective on the challenges and opportunities shaping the future of consulting. The discussion kicks off with a look at the growing trend of consultants publicly documenting their dismissals through social media videos. While Anthony questions the motivations behind these vulnerable moments, Dean provides a contrasting take, exploring how community connection and generational openness may be driving this phenomenon. The episode then dives into the growing dissatisfaction with large consulting firms. With client surveys showing declining satisfaction and reduced trust in major players like McKinsey, Dean and Anthony examine why boutique firms—offering niche expertise and senior-level involvement—are increasingly winning favor. The duo also discusses how AI tools are enabling smaller firms to compete by streamlining research and analysis, leveling the playing field in an industry traditionally dominated by big names. Another major theme is the shifting role of professional services within SaaS companies. As the market becomes saturated, professional services teams are moving beyond software implementation to become critical drivers of customer success and profitability. Dean and Anthony explore this transformation and its implications for the future of SaaS businesses. The conversation takes a serious turn with a look at the social media response to the tragic shooting of a healthcare executive. The hosts reflect on the anti-capitalist sentiments expressed online, questioning what this means for corporate responsibility and public perception of leadership roles. This episode is a compelling mix of industry insights, cultural trends, and thought-provoking questions about the future of consulting. Whether you're a seasoned consultant, a professional services leader, or simply curious about the intersection of business and society, this conversation is sure to keep you engaged and leave you with fresh perspectives. | |||
| Episode 14: Unlocking Consulting Potential Through Executive Rapport | 09 Dec 2024 | 00:26:21 | |
In this episode of The Consultant’s Way Podcast, Dean McMann and Anthony Paluska delve into the critical importance of executive relationships in consulting and professional services. They argue that success in consulting hinges on building trust and being genuinely helpful to executives, who are often the key decision-makers. These relationships, they emphasize, are long-term investments that require time, attention, and a sincere interest in the executive’s goals and challenges. | |||
| Episode 13: Trust and Connection in the Age of AI-Driven Consulting | 02 Dec 2024 | 00:20:04 | |
In this episode of The Consultant’s Way Podcast, hosts Dean McMann and Anthony Paluska interview Sara Lyons, a seasoned consultant with over 20 years of experience, to discuss the evolving consulting landscape and the impact of artificial intelligence (AI). Lyons emphasizes that while AI is automating many technical and repetitive tasks, the need for consultants to develop human-centric skills, such as emotional intelligence and storytelling, has never been greater. | |||
| Episode 12: A People-First Strategy for Building Better Professional Services | 25 Nov 2024 | 00:30:05 | |
In this episode of The Consultant's Way Podcast, Charles Rattray, a veteran leader in professional services (PS), discusses the importance of shifting from a deliverable-focused approach to a people-centric strategy in PS organizations. Hosted by Dean McMann and Anthony Paluska, the conversation delves into how organizations can better engage their teams and build lasting client relationships in a rapidly evolving industry. | |||
| Season 2, Episode 39: What PS Teams Must Change to Keep Up | 21 Jul 2025 | 00:28:26 | |
About The Consultant's Way Podcast The Consultant's Way podcast is your go-to resource for navigating the complexities of the consulting and professional services world. We bring you insightful conversations with industry thought leaders and executives from top Professional Services organizations, sharing their expertise on how to: • Build high-performing consulting and professional services teams • Differentiate your offerings and increase organizational growth • Deliver exceptional client value and drive impactful outcomes
Brought to you by: • McMann & Ransford: A strategy consulting firm with over 30 years of experience helping leading B2B organizations escape commoditization and achieve sustainable growth. Learn more: https://mcmannransford.com/ • The Consultant's Way: Your one-stop shop for training and enabling consultants and professional services teams to deliver exceptional client value. Learn more: https://www.consultantsway.com/
Connect with us: • LinkedIn: ○ Dean McMann - https://www.linkedin.com/in/deanmcmann/ ○ Anthony Paluska - https://www.linkedin.com/in/anthony-paluska-5081804b • Email: podcast@consultantsway.com
Interested in being a guest? We're always looking for insightful guests to share their expertise. Reach out to us via email or LinkedIn if you'd like to be considered for a future episode. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- In this episode of The Consultant’s Way Podcast, Dean McMann and Anthony Paluska sit down with Jim DeCristofaro, VP of Professional Services at Aptitude Software, to talk about the growing pressure on consulting teams to evolve—and fast. | |||
| Episode 11: Layoffs, AI Shifts, and Global Tensions Impact the Consulting Industry | 21 Nov 2024 | 00:14:23 | |
In this episode of "The Consultant’s Way Podcast," hosts Dean McMann and Anthony Paluska discuss major shifts in the consulting industry. They open by highlighting the recent wave of layoffs across the Big Four firms, with 9,000 consultants let go and additional reductions in consulting budgets, particularly in Australia. This signals an unexpected talent influx, especially at the junior level, as younger consultants with a few years of experience now enter the job market in higher numbers than usual. The hosts suggest this may be partly due to overhiring during the previous years and waning demand in certain sectors, while others, like AI strategy consulting, continue to grow. | |||
| Episode 10: Future-Proofing Consulting Talent Through Strategic Recruitment | 13 Nov 2024 | 00:29:51 | |
In this episode of "The Consultant's Way Podcast," Dean McMann and Anthony Paluska speak with Alex Destino of Good Harbor Group, who shares insights on trends in professional services (PS) recruiting. Destino notes that the demand for consulting talent fluctuates with the economy, creating both opportunities and challenges. A key issue is the looming retirement of experienced professionals, which leaves a skills gap that’s difficult to fill given the shortage of younger, equally trained talent. He observes that younger professionals often seek remote work, which limits their exposure to client interactions traditionally essential for skill development in consulting. | |||
| Episode 9: The Evolving Role of Professional Services in SaaS | 05 Nov 2024 | 00:30:40 | |
In this episode of The Consultant's Way Podcast, hosts Dean McMann and Anthony Paluska speak with Tristan Humbles, Global Head of Professional Services (PS) at Natterbox. Tristan shares insights into the changing landscape of professional services, particularly in the context of SaaS and telecom sectors. | |||
| Episode 8: Blending Technology with Advisory for Consulting Success | 28 Oct 2024 | 00:36:00 | |
In this The Consultant’s Way Podcast episode, Dean McMann and Anthony Paluska interview Brent Wesler, VP of Strategic Technology at PIF Technologies. Wesler provides insights into his company’s approach to document-based workflow automation, emphasizing that while he operates in a highly technical role, his focus is on guiding clients through transformational changes, blending technology with consultative advisory. | |||