Change is in the air. Professional services companies—consulting firms, accounting/CPA firms, law offices, marketing agencies, software developers—are all looking at their next step. Sure, growth by acquisition or merger is a potential long-term strategy, but in general, most companies need to build their brand, their revenue, and a repeatable process to create sustainable growth.

Strategy is the key.

Change for change’s sake isn’t necessarily bad. Sometimes your gut tells you it’s time for something, but it hasn’t crystallized yet. That instinct is worth exploring—there’s usually something important emerging there. But how do you move from that gut feeling to an actionable strategy?

The answer isn’t in rushing to solutions. It’s in asking the right questions first.

Why Professionals Struggle with Strategic Change

Think about it: attorneys solve legal problems, accountants resolve financial issues, and consultants deliver solutions. We’re all trained to provide answers. That’s what we do.

This answer-oriented mindset is precisely what creates a blind spot when professional services firms need to reinvent themselves or change direction. We may be tempted to jump straight to solutions without thoroughly examining the questions that matter most. It’s a bit like opening Google Maps without entering your destination—you might drive somewhere, but you won’t necessarily end up where you need to go.

Remember the famous quote from Albert Einstein: “We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”

The rush to leverage an early lead in a market that ultimately misses the mark for sustained success is well-illustrated through a little history: both BlackBerry and Nokia were early innovators in the mobile world but wound up not just falling behind but failing spectacularly. Ironically, what did them in was shortsightedness. They could have had a good operating system and a thriving ecosystem for free with any number of then-available PC operating systems. Had they done that, they’d have been able to compete and differentiate themselves on the exact same vectors they had previously been successful with. Instead, both companies wasted enormous resources trying to create and establish new platforms.

The culprit isn’t poor execution—it’s insufficient understanding of market needs and firm capabilities before launch. We’re so busy answering that we forgot to make sure we’re addressing the right question.

Four Questions That Drive Strategic Clarity

If you’re considering a strategic shift for your firm, I’d suggest putting the solutions aside temporarily and focusing on these four question categories:

1. Identity Questions: Who are we at our core? What do we do exceptionally well? What values truly drive our decision-making? Where does our authentic differentiation lie from our clients’ perspective?

These questions force leaders to confront uncomfortable truths. Recently I worked with a consulting firm that focused on team effectiveness but their real value was in creating change resilient teams, working in high-change environments such as technology companies. No wonder their frustration was increasing because they weren’t attracting great clients —they weren’t aligned with who they really were.

2. Market Questions: What emerging needs do our clients have? What keeps them up at night? How are their industries evolving? Where are the gaps between what clients need and what the market currently offers?

Market questions require firms to look beyond their current service definitions. I’ve seen this firsthand – a consulting firm offering an online DIY course program to capture revenue from smaller prospects that “can’t afford” the full consulting offering, resulting in cannibalization of the market that should be buying a consulting package.

More services aren’t always the answer. Aligning the right ones for the Ideal Prospects happens when we ask the right questions.

3. Capability Questions: What skills and resources do we truly possess? What would we need to develop to meet emerging client needs? Which capabilities should we build, acquire, or access through partnerships?

I periodically work with a data consulting firm that supports digital marketing agencies. The consulting firm was consistently suffering from a lack of agency senior account management, putting the burden on them to fill that gap. That wasn’t the right business model for the consulting firm. They needed to shift the size, structure, and experience level of their agency partners.  This saved them significant payroll expenses as well as missed new business opportunities, client execution distractions and delays.

4. Alignment Questions: Which opportunities connect our identity with market needs and leverage our capabilities? Where can we create distinctive value that competitors cannot easily replicate?

These questions narrow the field of possible strategic directions to those with the highest probability of success. They prevent firms from chasing trends that don’t match their DNA or strengths—like an accounting firm that launched cryptocurrency advisory services without having either the risk appetite or technical knowledge to succeed.

Think of these four question categories as the foundation of your strategic house. Skip any one of them, and the whole structure becomes unstable.

From Questions to Strategy: A Real-World Example

Let me share how this questioning approach transformed a small management consulting firm that was facing a drop-off in revenue.

Instead of immediately launching new service lines (their instinct), we analyzed their client history for the past five years, looking at size demographics, product consumption, pricing, and revenue. When we overlaid rankings to determine high or low revenue and margin levels per engagement, we started to see patterns. Defining and scoring their “fit factor” as a client then showed alignment, or misalignment, with great clients that weren’t delivering on revenue and margin, and vice versa.

This analysis revealed that there were too many service offerings with inconsistent pricing and deliverables serving a wide range of clients. While there were large, well-served, and well-aligned clients, there were numerous tiny clients that drove revenue and margin down and sucked up staff time. Focusing on a few, higher-level expandable services that can grow with a profitable baseline client creates higher satisfaction all around. Consistent pricing and offering descriptions made it easier to sell to the right prospects resulting in increased margin.

Does this sound familiar? Many firms find themselves in similar situations— thinking more is better, interpreting that as a market opportunity, but lacking the right analysis to uncover what’s really needed. That’s what strategic clarity can do.

Turning Questions into Revenue (Because That’s the Point, Right?)

Let’s be honest. The ultimate test of any strategy is whether it generates sustainable growth. When professional services firms use strategic questioning effectively, they discover several paths to revenue expansion:

1. Adjacent Service Development – An accounting firm that added CFO advisory services after realizing clients needed ongoing financial guidance, not just historical reporting
2. Cross-Industry Application – A team effectiveness consultancy that focused on their real expertise in market segments that have the need and willingness to pay for their true value
3. Product Offering Realignment – The business consulting firm that shifted away from services catering to the very small end of the market, eating up margin on low revenue, non-growth clients to spend time attracting and servicing high revenue/margin and best-fit clients
4. Strategic Partnerships – A business law firm that partnered with estate planning and elder care attorneys to provide a full range of services for personal and professional needs for their clients, growing revenue and increasing client retention.

The key is ensuring these growth avenues emerge from deep understanding rather than marketplace FOMO (fear of missing out). We’ve all seen firms chase trends or mirror their perceived competition instead of asking whether these new directions align with who they are and what they’re good at.

By grounding strategy in thoughtful questioning, professional services firms can build more resilient businesses that adapt continuously without losing their core identity.

As we navigate increasingly complex business environments, professional services leaders who master the art of asking the right questions—before rushing to answers—will find themselves pivoting with purpose rather than shifting without direction.

And in today’s competitive landscape, strategic clarity might be the most important differentiator of all.