Positioned by discipline instead of by problem
"Operations consulting" competes with everyone. "Reducing lead time in low-volume manufacturing" competes with almost nobody and reaches the person who has that problem.
Websites for consultants
A specific problem.A specific engagement.
Custom websites for independent consultants, built for a buyer who needs to believe you have solved their exact problem before.
Hale & Roth is a KustomSite design concept for the boutique law firm category. It is not a client project and the business is fictional.
The moment they land
A decision-maker has a problem they cannot solve internally and a budget that is easier to spend than a headcount. They are looking for evidence that you have done this specific thing, and they are trying to work out what an engagement looks like and roughly what it costs before they can justify a call.
What costs you jobs
4 things a template gets wrong here.
No engagement shapes or prices
A buyer needs to know whether this is a two-week diagnostic or a six-month programme, and roughly what band it is in, before they can get approval to talk.
Case studies that cannot be named
Most consulting work is confidential, which is used as an excuse for having no evidence. An unnamed engagement with the situation, the intervention and the measurable change is still evidence.
No point of view
What you actually think about your field is the strongest differentiator an independent has, and it is also the thing a buyer uses to decide whether you are worth an hour.
What gets built instead
Mechanics, not features.
Positioning by the problem you solve
Narrow enough that the right buyer recognises it immediately, and specific enough that the wrong one moves on.
Named engagement shapes with price bands
Diagnostic, programme, retained advisory. Duration, what is delivered, and the band. It is what lets a buyer start an internal conversation.
Anonymised engagements with real numbers
Sector, size, situation, what you did, and what changed. Confidentiality removes the name, not the substance.
Writing that takes a position
Not a blog for its own sake — a small number of pieces that say something arguable about your field.
Fair questions
The reasons not to.
“All my work comes from my network”
Network introductions still check you out, and a site positioned on a specific problem lets your network describe you accurately to somebody else — which is how referrals actually travel.
“Publishing prices does not work for consulting”
Bands by engagement shape do. Nobody gets budget approval to have a conversation with somebody whose fees are entirely unknown.
“Narrowing my positioning will reduce my market”
It reduces the number of people who see you and increases the number who need you specifically. For an independent with finite attention, that is the right trade.
Asked often
Before you ask.
How specific should my positioning be?
Specific enough that the right buyer recognises their own problem in one sentence. A discipline competes with everyone; a named problem competes with almost nobody.
Can I show case studies if the work is confidential?
Yes — anonymised, with the sector, the size, the situation, what you did and what measurably changed. Confidentiality removes the client name, not the evidence.
Should I publish fees?
Bands by engagement shape — diagnostic, programme, retained. A buyer needs a rough number to get approval for a conversation, and complete opacity stops that conversation happening.
Start it.
4 parts, and the trade is already answered when you arrive from here. Nothing is charged and nothing starts until you say so.
Build a brief for consultant