If the defining factor in your idea of growth is headcount, you may be fooling yourself.
For starters, as AI runs roughshod through the marketplace, the size of your organization is becoming irrelevant..
Then there are the numbers.
I was visiting with a law firm that over the past five years had grown in terms of its attorney count by 25% — from 175 to 220 attorneys. Not bad for a firm in that general size range.
Meanwhile, for more than a decade, gross revenue for the firm had consistently been between $105 and $110 million USD.
When adjusted for inflation, not to mention factoring the hard costs of the increased headcount, it’s difficult to view this as growth in anything more than desks occupied or an increase in available time — the primary inventory of most professional service firms.
Today that firm faces a new market reality: AI is causing a measurable reduction in that revered headcount.
Turns out there are only two ways to measure the growth that really counts: gross revenue and net profit.
But when the discussion turns to revenue growth, things get dicey. New business development — the creation of relationships that generate new revenue — is often a mystery. Efforts to make sales processes fit the professional service model get mixed results. Silver bullets come with promise and fanfare but rarely deliver.
Reframing
The most effective business development I’ve ever seen — BizDev that generates measurable (and sustained) revenue growth is an approach that is indistinguishable from the service you provide.
It is you doing the work you love with the clients you serve.
No awkward pitches. Nothing that feels manipulative. No wondering where to go. None of what feels like a gut-punch when you hear the words “business development.”
It’s about strategic service. Probably one of the things that drew you to your practice in the first place. And it comes with a personal touch that AI cannot deliver.
For example, consider the estate planning lawyer who developed a consistent $1 million + a year practice by hosting complimentary seminars for CPAs and Trust officers, addressing sophisticated planning strategies. These seminars resulted in introductions to clients of the CPAs and Trust officers who would benefit from these strategies.
This approach to growing a business is one of the things that intrigued CEO Monthly Magazine, as highlighted in this very generous article. I am grateful to the editorial team for their interest, and for sharing the idea in this profile.
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I work with select service providers to help them build a robust pipeline of partner level opportunities without having to turn into a sales professional. If reframing BizDev intrigues you and you’d like to schedule a call for more information, shoot me a note at eric@ericfletcherconsulting.com .
About the image: a work session with a group of service providers, rethinking how to grow revenue in 2026.