Written for independent consultants trading through their own companies, interim and fractional executives, and boutique consultancies that work with associates.
The short version
- Stress-test your cash plan without your biggest client.It shows how long the business would last if they stopped. Then set a target, for example no client above 40% within a year.
- Track pipeline coverage in your CRM.Divide your weighted pipeline, each deal times its chance of winning, by the period's revenue target. Track win rate and time to signed work.
- Register before you bid for public work.For most public bodies in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, register on the Central Digital Platform. If you helped write the specification, declare it early.
The routes that work for consultancies are referrals, alumni (former colleagues), a narrow niche, published expertise, partnerships with other professional firms, agencies, preferred supplier lists and public frameworks. Which of them works for you is a question for your own records, not a market average.
Measure the pipeline, not just the wins
Track win rate, cost of winning and the time from first conversation to signed work in your own CRM. Pipeline coverage is your weighted pipeline divided by the revenue target for the period. For example, a weighted pipeline of £84,375 against a quarterly target of £28,125 is 3.0x coverage.
If that client stops, most of your income stops with it, and the stress test tells you how long the business would last.
Public sector work
Register, declare conflicts and expect 30-day payment
The Procurement Act 2023 governs procurements started on or after 24 February 2025 by most public bodies in England, Wales and Northern Ireland; devolved Scottish authorities keep their own regime. Suppliers register and share core information on the Central Digital Platform. Authorities must identify and mitigate conflicts of interest. A 30-day payment term for valid, undisputed invoices is implied into most public contracts, with some exclusions, and applies down the public subcontract chain. As of Oct 2026.
Procurement Act 2023 ss.68, 73 and 81 to 83
Every public authority makes the off-payroll determination for your engagement, whatever its size. Routes in include Crown Commercial Service and local frameworks, or subcontracting to a prime supplier. Read the tender documents and the current GOV.UK Procurement Act guidance for each opportunity.
Testimonials and email marketing
- Fake testimonials and reviews, and incentivised ones that are not disclosed, are banned outright from 6 April 2025 under Part 4 of the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024. Keep the evidence behind every case study and quote.
- You can send direct marketing to contacts at companies, with an opt-out. Sole traders and partnerships need consent or the soft opt-in (PECR reg.22), so check which a prospect is before you email.
If you helped a public body write a specification, declare that work early, before you bid. You may need to step back from the bid or neutralise the advantage the earlier work gave you.
Asked in Greymill
First: stress-test your cash plan with that client at zero. It shows how long the business would last if they stopped.
Then: set a target, for example no client above 40% within a year. On a £400,000 year, that is no client above £160,000.
For public work: the Procurement Act 2023 covers most public bodies in England, Wales and Northern Ireland; devolved Scottish authorities have their own rules. Register on the Central Digital Platform first.
Ways in: Crown Commercial Service and local frameworks, or subcontracting to a prime supplier (the main contractor).
The trap: if you help a public body write a specification, declare it early, before you bid. You may need to step back from the bid or cancel out the head start it gave you.
Want me to check your pipeline coverage next?
Ask it about your own business
Paste this into Greymill with your own figures, and Sales & Quotes works it through for your business.
I run a consulting business in the UK. Last year my work came from [sources, with the amount from each client]. My weighted pipeline is [amount] against a quarterly target of [amount]. I want to win more [public sector / framework / private] work in [niche]. Work out my pipeline coverage and client concentration, and give me a plan for the routes most likely to work, including any public sector registration I need first.
More for consulting and advisory in the UK
- My day rate looks healthy, so why does the year not add up?A consultant is paid for the days they bill, not the days they are available, and fixed fees and retainers can quietly turn a good rate into a poor one.Read the lesson
- How much of the money in my consulting company is actually mine to take?In a one-person consulting company part of every invoice belongs to HMRC, and drawing the rest the wrong way can lock cash away for at least a year.Read the lesson
- Is this contract inside IR35, who decides, and what does it do to my take-home?On every engagement through your own company, the client's size, sector and UK connection decide who makes the IR35 call, and a client's SDS can be formally challenged.Read the lesson
- Can I take a success fee for finding investors, or help with a client's visa application?Introducing investors, recommending investments, dealing with HMRC for clients and advising on visas each sit behind a regulatory line, and crossing some of them without permission is an offence.Read the lesson
- The client's contract makes me liable for everything and wants to own my toolkitAdvice contracts hurt consultants in two places: an uncapped or stricter duty than the law implies, and IP clauses that hand over the methods you reuse on every job.Read the lesson
- Placing associates with clients without their IR35 bill coming out of my marginWhen a boutique places associates who work through their own companies, it becomes a link in the off-payroll chain and can end up paying employer NI on their fees.Read the lesson
- Closing my consulting company: strike-off or liquidation, and the claim that arrives afterwardsClosing a consulting company the cheap way can turn retained profit into income, and stopping your PI on the same day can leave a later claim with nothing to answer it.Read the lesson
Open the interactive lesson · Every consulting and advisory lesson · What Greymill knows about the trade
Sources
The primary sources behind this lesson, checked Oct 2026.
- Sch 20 (Winning work: referrals, niche and reviews)
- ss.81 to 83 (Public sector work and the procurement act 2023)
- Procurement Act 2023 ss.68(1) to (5), 73(1) to (6), and exclusions (Public sector work and the procurement act 2023)
- CG67828 consideration requirement; Finance Act 2025 Sch.6 trustee-independence rules (Hard cases: winning work, growth and exit)
- api/lib-statutory-uk.js UK_STATUTORY (Show the maths: rate and utilisation)