Plan B Business
Cross-vertical

Stop chasing one-off projects.
Build retainer-driven enterprise revenue.

We work with B2B consulting and professional services firms doing $750K-$10M in annual revenue. Long sales cycles, six-figure contracts, and multi-stakeholder buying committees are the norm. Our 12-month engagement gets you to ABM-driven pipeline, MSA-first contracting, and 50%+ retainer revenue.

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Industry Reality

9 patterns we see in >70% of b2b consulting & pro services

85%
frequency

Sales cycles of 6-12 months with no pipeline visibility

Root cause: No defined stages, no MEDDPICC qualification, no champion-economic-technical mapping. Deals 'go dark' for months.

What we do: Deploy MEDDPICC qualification + multi-threaded account plans (champion / economic buyer / technical evaluator). Weekly pipeline reviews with stage-exit criteria. Forecast accuracy lifts from 30% to 75%+.

80%
frequency

Every engagement is a custom SOW - no productized offering

Root cause: Founder-led delivery. Every proposal is a blank page. Scoping eats 30+ hours per deal.

What we do: Build 3 productized service offerings with fixed scope, fixed price, fixed timeline. Custom SOWs only for $250K+ enterprise. Cuts proposal time 70%.

75%
frequency

Contracts are SOW-only, no MSA in place

Root cause: Every project starts from zero on terms. Legal review eats 3-6 weeks per deal.

What we do: Standard MSA template (mutual NDA, IP, indemnity, payment terms baked in). Net-new client signs MSA once. Future SOWs reference MSA - close in days, not weeks.

85%
frequency

Founder-led sales (you close 80%+ of deals)

Root cause: No documented sales process. No SDR or AE function. Founder is the only one who can navigate a six-figure deal.

What we do: Document the sales playbook (discovery questions, demo script, objection responses). Hire and ramp first AE on 70/30 base/variable comp. Founder hours on sales drop from 25 to 8 per week.

70%
frequency

No ABM strategy - inbound lottery + cold outreach to 'anyone'

Root cause: Generic outreach to a 5,000-company TAM. Sub-1% reply rate.

What we do: Tier-1 ABM playbook: 50 named accounts, multi-channel sequencing (LinkedIn + email + warm intro), executive-level personalized outreach. Reply rates lift to 8-15%.

70%
frequency

Average deal size stuck at $25K-$75K

Root cause: Selling to the technical buyer. Never reaching economic buyer who has the bigger budget.

What we do: Buying committee mapping mandatory in every deal. Economic buyer engaged before proposal. Multi-year retainer pricing. Average deal lifts to $150K-$400K.

65%
frequency

Cash flow tied to milestone billing (60-120 day collections)

Root cause: All revenue is project-based with 30/40/30 milestone billing. No recurring revenue.

What we do: Retainer engagements with monthly draws (Net 15). Productized services with 50% upfront. Target 50%+ revenue from recurring retainers within 18 months.

75%
frequency

Consultant utilization below 55% (target: 70-75%)

Root cause: Lumpy project pipeline. Consultants on bench between engagements. Margin destruction.

What we do: Retainer revenue smooths utilization. Internal IP development during bench time (case studies, frameworks). Productized offerings reduce ramp-up per engagement.

60%
frequency

Client concentration (top client = 35%+ of revenue)

Root cause: Won one big logo, built the firm around it. Now hostage to that relationship.

What we do: Diversification mandate: no client over 15% of revenue. ABM targeting lookalike accounts. Practice area diversification (2-3 service lines, not 1).

Benchmarks

The numbers we hit

KPIMarket avgPlan B targetAfter 12 mo
% revenue from retainer engagements10-25%50%+35-55%
Average deal size$25K-$75K$150K-$400K$100K-$300K
Sales cycle length (median)6-12 months3-5 months4-7 months
Forecast accuracy (quarterly)30-50%75%+65-80%
Consultant utilization45-60%70-75%62-72%
Founder hours on sales (weekly)20-30<108-15
Top-client concentration (% revenue)30-50%<15%12-22%
Engagement Model

What working with us looks like

  1. 01

    Month 1: Pipeline + financial deep-dive

    We pull every deal in your pipeline, every closed-won/closed-lost from the last 18 months, your utilization data, and your top 10 client P&Ls. We identify your highest-leverage ICP and the deals that should never be closed.

  2. 02

    Months 2-3: Productized services + MSA framework

    Build the 3 productized service offerings with fixed scope and pricing. Deploy standard MSA template. Rewrite proposal templates. Sales playbook documented. First AE hire begins.

  3. 03

    Months 4-6: ABM engine + multi-threading

    Tier-1 account list defined (50 named accounts). LinkedIn + email + intro sequencing launches. MEDDPICC deployed in CRM. First retainer conversions from existing clients close. Forecast discipline takes hold.

  4. 04

    Months 7-12: Retainer economics + founder freedom

    AE is closing inbound + Tier-2 accounts independently. Retainer mix hits 35-50%. Founder hours on sales drop. Utilization stabilizes at 65-72%. We shift to quarterly cadence.

Common questions from b2b consulting & pro services owners

What size firm is this for?−
Sweet spot: $750K-$10M annual revenue with 3-25 consultants. Below $750K, you typically need founder-led GTM advisory which we offer at a lower tier. Above $10M, you need full-time VP Sales + Director of Operations in-house.
What types of B2B services do you work with?+
Strategy consulting, management consulting, IT/cloud consulting, marketing agencies, recruiting/talent firms, executive search, financial advisory (non-RIA), HR consulting, training/L&D, M&A advisory. We do not work with pure body-shop staffing or commodity outsourcing.
Most of our deals come from referrals. Should we still build outbound?+
Yes. Referrals are unpredictable and don't scale linearly. The firms that grow past $5M always layer in proactive ABM. We don't kill the referral engine - we add a second, controllable growth channel that you own.
How does ABM differ from cold outreach?+
Cold outreach blasts 5,000 contacts hoping for 1% reply. ABM picks 50 named accounts, researches each buying committee (3-5 people per account), and runs coordinated multi-channel sequences over 90 days. Reply rates jump from 1% to 12-15%. Quality of conversations is dramatically different.
What's MEDDPICC and why does it matter?+
MEDDPICC is the dominant enterprise sales qualification framework: Metrics, Economic buyer, Decision criteria, Decision process, Paper process, Identify pain, Champion, Competition. It forces you to validate every deal at every stage. The discipline cuts forecast slip from 50% to under 20%.
We're founder-led sales. Will hiring an AE actually work?+
It works if you do three things: document the playbook before hiring, hire an AE with 5+ years of similar deal-size experience (not a junior), and give them 6 months to ramp. Most founders hire too junior and pull the plug at month 3. We help you avoid both mistakes.
What about state nexus, sales tax on services, and 1099 vs W-2 for consultants?+
Sales tax on professional services varies by state (most states exempt, but some like Hawaii, New Mexico, South Dakota tax services). 1099 vs W-2 classification is increasingly enforced (CA AB-5, federal DOL rules). We connect you with US-licensed CPAs and employment attorneys - we don't provide tax or legal advice.
What entity structures do you work with?+
Most B2B services firms operate as LLCs (single-member or multi-member) or S-Corps. Some larger firms convert to C-Corp for institutional investment. We work across all structures. Entity choice tax planning is on your CPA - we focus on operations and growth.
Who does the work?+
Ligal Frish and Eitan Eshtemaker - the two co-founders. Direct access, no associates. Fee structure: Diagnostic $1,500 one-time, Advisor $3,500/month (most engagements), Partner $8,500+/month (multi-practice firms or fast-scale).

Stop chasing projects. Build a real B2B firm.

30-minute strategy call. We'll diagnose your top 2 levers and tell you if we're a fit. No pitch. No pressure.

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