Ahmad Munawar

Founder of the 90 Day Pipeline™ for B2B consultants and professional service providers

Not sure where your next client is coming from? 

Tired of staring at an empty pipeline?

Looking for a better way to win consulting deals?

(keep reading)

I’ve been in your position myself, a couple times. 

First, when I left a huge consulting firm (Ernst & Young) to join a fledgling boutique that could barely pay my salary (took them to 7 figures at lightning speed). 

Second, when I launched my own consulting practice thinking all I had to do was “work my network” and the deals would fall in my lap.

(long story short, the network dried up fast and I struggled to pay the bills -- my wife was thrilled about that). 

Good news is a few years later we are now a multiple 7 figure global consultancy with a team of 15+. 

The point? Trust me when I tell you there’s a better way. 

If you are a B2B consultant (or you lead a firm), and you are… 

❌    Tired of harassing your personal network for leads (no one wants to work with a spammer)

❌    Sick of "begging" for referrals and introductions (everyone knows what “getting coffee” really means)

❌    Looking for a more predictable way to generate new consulting business (and stop losing deals to competitors who are not as good as you)

I’ve got something that’ll put an end to your misery, once and for all. 

It’s called “Power Positioning”

When you harness “Power Positioning” for your business, you will:

✅    Never worry where your next client is coming from because you have a pipeline full of leads waiting to do business with you

✅    Be seen as a recognized leader in your market (so when it comes to you vs the competition, the client feels way more comfortable with you)

✅    Charge the kind of “premium fees” you’ve only ever dreamed of (I’m talking about 4-5 figures hourly, if you want)

In case you think I’m full of it, here’s what a few clients have to say:

“We went from 1 large client to 10 who consistently write checks with our name on them” - Arlen W., Engineering Firm

“Our pipeline had completely dried up, but now it’s fuller than ever. I’m astonished at the results!” Matt R., Branding Agency

“I've tripled my revenue and I have 5 times as many clients as I had before” – Christopher F, Communications Consultant

“We went from zero to $50k/mth on a brand new offer in just 90 days” - Shay Rowbottom, LinkedIn Influencer  

Curious to learn more?

Join my next live workshop here: powerpositioningworkshop.com

Founder & CEO

Most consultants struggle with marketing, lead generation and business development. 

It's not because they're not good at what they do, or they don't have the expertise, or they can't "deliver the goods" for clients. 

But because they haven't taken the time to "master the marketing" of their expertise. 

The proof of this?

I guarantee you have competitors who are not as talented as you, but have more clients and earn more revenue than you do.

Why? Because they mastered the marketing. 

And that sums up the "raison d'etre" for Boutique Growth. 

I wanted to build a company that helped boutique consultancies (anyone from the solo practitioner to the 7 figure firm) win against the big boys & girls. 

Not by playing the same game. But by playing a better game. 

So far, we've helped hundreds of clients across every B2B vertical you can think of on every continent except Antarctica (still working on that one) raise their level of play. 

And we're just getting started.

The question nobody asks out loud:

Why would anyone bother referring me?

You're sitting there publishing on LinkedIn, showing up in your network, trying to make your positioning clear. And there's this little voice asking why anyone would go out of their way to mention your name.

Here's why they do it:

Social capital.

When you're talking to a friend and they mention a problem, and you know someone who might help, you offer that name. Not because you're getting a commission. Because being helpful builds relationships.

Everyone wants to be a connector. To be the person who had the useful suggestion. Who knew the right resource at the right time.

Your job isn't to do work so good that clients become evangelists. That's nice when it happens, but it's rare and you can't control it.

Your job is to make it easy for everyone in your orbit to be helpful when the moment arises. To make your positioning so clear that when someone hears a relevant problem, your name surfaces naturally.

That's not magic. It's just making yourself referable by being clear about what you're referable for.

Read the full newsletter and watch the episode - https://lnkd.in/gxnW-38f

Not sure where your next client is coming from? 

Tired of staring at an empty pipeline?

Looking for a better way to win consulting deals?

(keep reading)

I’ve been in your position myself, a couple times. 

First, when I left a huge consulting firm (Ernst & Young) to join a fledgling boutique that could barely pay my salary (took them to 7 figures at lightning speed). 

Second, when I launched my own consulting practice thinking all I had to do was “work my network” and the deals would fall in my lap.

(long story short, the network dried up fast and I struggled to pay the bills -- my wife was thrilled about that). 

Good news is a few years later we are now a multiple 7 figure global consultancy with a team of 15+. 

The point? Trust me when I tell you there’s a better way. 

If you are a B2B consultant (or you lead a firm), and you are… 

❌    Tired of harassing your personal network for leads (no one wants to work with a spammer)

❌    Sick of "begging" for referrals and introductions (everyone knows what “getting coffee” really means)

❌    Looking for a more predictable way to generate new consulting business (and stop losing deals to competitors who are not as good as you)

I’ve got something that’ll put an end to your misery, once and for all. 

It’s called “Power Positioning”

When you harness “Power Positioning” for your business, you will:

✅    Never worry where your next client is coming from because you have a pipeline full of leads waiting to do business with you

✅    Be seen as a recognized leader in your market (so when it comes to you vs the competition, the client feels way more comfortable with you)

✅    Charge the kind of “premium fees” you’ve only ever dreamed of (I’m talking about 4-5 figures hourly, if you want)

In case you think I’m full of it, here’s what a few clients have to say:

“We went from 1 large client to 10 who consistently write checks with our name on them” - Arlen W., Engineering Firm

“Our pipeline had completely dried up, but now it’s fuller than ever. I’m astonished at the results!” Matt R., Branding Agency

“I've tripled my revenue and I have 5 times as many clients as I had before” – Christopher F, Communications Consultant

“We went from zero to $50k/mth on a brand new offer in just 90 days” - Shay Rowbottom, LinkedIn Influencer  

Curious to learn more?

Everything you need to know is right here: 90daypipeline.com 

P.S. If you're ready to take action, book a complimentary “pipeline call” and we’ll get crystal clear on how you can fill your pipeline in the next 90 days: 90daypipeline.com/talk

I always laugh at outreach messages that begin with: "I love what you're building..."

Some of us aren't building anymore. We've built. 

Sorry if that offends you.

A 10% improvement won't get you hired.

Neither will 5%. Or even 15%.

Clients don't buy incremental. They buy step change.

Think about what it actually takes for a company to hire you:

Pay your fee. Accept potential disruption. Invest their people's time. Take political risk on your success.

All that friction, for a 10% improvement?

Not happening.

The only thing that justifies all of that:

Something fundamentally different from what they've already tried. Something fundamentally different from what other consultants offer.

Not better. Different.

When you position yourself as "like what you've done before, just improved," you've already lost.

You're asking them to bet on marginal gains with non-marginal friction.

We break it down in this week's newsletter and episode of Consulting Mastery - here - https://lnkd.in/gig4tfgW

No one likes being sold to.

Everyone loves to buy.

Read that again.

Respect client agency. Not "give them" agency. They already have it. Whether you like it or not, it's their decision.

You can try to force it. You can back them into a corner. You can pressure them into signing.

But here's what I know after watching hundreds of consulting engagements: You cannot want the outcome more than the client wants it for themselves.

If they're not all in, you're going to have a nightmare engagement. They'll drag their feet. They'll skip meetings. They'll blame you when it doesn't work.

Because they were never really committed. You just convinced them to say yes.

The best sales strategy isn't closing harder. It's qualifying better.

Give them the information they need to make an intelligent decision. Then let them make it.

Some will say yes. Some will say no. Some will say not yet.

All of those are good outcomes if they're honest ones.

Because the clients who choose to work with you—really choose it—are the ones who'll do the work. Show up. Get results. And tell everyone about it.

Stop trying to close deals. Start trying to find partners.

Read the full newsletter and watch the episode on rewiring what selling actually means—https://lnkd.in/gamRw-kn .

You've been posting on LinkedIn for months.

Your friends are politely liking your stuff. Your mom commented once. And you're wondering if anyone actually reads this beyond the vanity metrics.

Then you run into someone at your coworking space. Not a client. Not even in your industry. Just someone who exists in your orbit.

"I love your LinkedIn posts," they say. "I understand what you do now. And I'll think of you anytime I meet someone struggling with those things."

That's not a referral in the traditional sense. That's something potentially more valuable.

It's someone who now carries your positioning in their head. Who encounters dozens of people every week. Who just became a word-of-mouth engine you didn't even know you had.

Most consultants are waiting for past clients to remember them and make introductions. That's a pool of maybe 8-10 people if you're lucky.

Your actual referral network? It's everyone who knows what you do. And most of them have no idea because you've never told them in a way that sticks.

Read the full newsletter and watch the episode - https://lnkd.in/gKBipMSk

Robert Cialdini's research is clear: people need social proof to make decisions.

For consultants, there's a hierarchy to that proof.

At the top: the direct client referral. "This consultant did this specific thing for me, and it worked." That's powerful. It's also rare and completely outside your control.

One level down: the word-of-mouth from someone consuming your content. "I've been following their thinking. You should check them out." Not as strong as a client testimonial, but here's what people miss—it still works.

When your friend recommends something, you take it seriously. Not because they hired that consultant. Because you trust their judgment.

Most consultants are sitting around waiting for the top tier while ignoring the much larger pool of proof available to them. Every person who follows your work. Every acquaintance who's seen you publish. Every connection who could mention your name when the right conversation happens.

You're going to get vetted either way. Even with a glowing referral, your prospect will check you out online, read your content, look for evidence that you know what you're talking about.

So why not build that evidence now? Why not create the conditions where dozens or hundreds of people in your network could provide that second-tier social proof instead of waiting for the handful who can provide the first?

The math is pretty simple.

Read the full newsletter and watch the episode - https://lnkd.in/gxnW-38f

🦃 The Consultant’s Survival Guide to Thanksgiving 🦃

Thanksgiving is supposed to be relaxing.

But if you’re a consultant, it’s the one day a year when every relative becomes an investigative journalist determined to uncover the truth about your mysterious little job.

Here are some tips on how to answer the most common questions:

🦃 #1: “So what do you do again?”

What you're thinking:

I’m a consultant… but that sounds fake. Strategy? Ops? Transformation? Why is my mind suddenly a blank Google Doc?

Everyone else at this table has a job you can stitch on a pillow.

Meanwhile I’m over here saying things that sound like corporate Mad Libs.

What you should say instead:

“Consulting. Business stuff. Pass the potatoes?”

🦃 #2: “How’s business?”

What you're thinking:

OK Carol, let's talk business.  

My only client pays late every time as if it's their policy.  

The proposal that’s been “under review” since Labor Day and is apparently waiting on a Supreme Court ruling.

My “pipeline” is really just a spreadsheet of people who haven’t explicitly rejected me yet.

That LinkedIn post I wrote that attracted 4 likes — two bots, my mom, and a solar panel guy from Gujarat.

What you should say instead:

“Really good! Super busy actually.”

🦃 #3: “Are you still doing that consulting thing?”

What you're thinking:

STILL??

As if consulting is a phase I’m supposed to grow out of like cargo shorts.

This is not a gap year. This is my life.

But sure, let me justify my entire existence over mashed potatoes.

What you should say instead:

“Yep! Going well.”

🦃 #4: “Why don’t you just get a job? More stable.”

What you're thinking:

More stable??

Corporate will lay you off faster than a spreadsheet can say “nonessential.”

But also… I haven’t closed a deal in four months…

No. NO.

Not letting Uncle Jerry be correct about my career.

What you should say instead:

“Maybe someday.”

🦃 #5: “Can’t your clients just use AI for that now?”

What you're thinking:

Okay yes, AI is a thing. Yes, it’s getting better every day.

Yes, I sometimes wake up at 3am wondering if my job is being quietly automated.

But this man asked me last year how to “get Google.”

Now he’s implying a robot can replace me??

When does the football game start anyways?

What you should say instead:

“Mmm. More of a tool.”

If any of this hits a little too close to home… you’re in good company.

Most consultants struggle to explain what they do because they’ve never nailed their positioning — the kind that makes people instantly get it.

Inside the Power Positioning Workshop, that’s exactly what we fix.

And you can still fix it in time for Christmas: 

https://lnkd.in/gTD9WjQN

A consultant gets a message out of nowhere.

"Hey, I just had this opportunity come across my desk and you immediately popped into my mind."
From someone he hasn't talked to in years. He tells the story like it's magic. Like the universe just handed him a lead.

Here's what actually happened:

He didn't pop into their mind. He popped into their feed.

For months, he'd been showing up on LinkedIn. Publishing. Making his positioning clear. Demonstrating his thinking. Not selling, just showing up.

Then someone in his network saw an opportunity. And because he'd been consistently visible, he wasn't a distant memory to dig up. He was right there. Present. Obvious.

We like to think referrals happen because we did great work once. Sometimes they do. But more often, they happen because we're still in the conversation.

The consultant who gets thought of isn't always the one who did the best work five years ago. It's the one whose name came up in someone's feed this morning.

Stop waiting to be remembered. Start making it impossible to be forgotten.

Read the full newsletter and watch the episode - https://lnkd.in/gKBipMSk

The worst three words a client can say to you:

"That's very interesting."

You know what that actually means?

"I can see this could be valuable in theory. I don't feel like I need it right now."

Translation: Nice to have. Not must have.

Therefore: deferred. Maybe next quarter. Maybe next month. Maybe never.

Here's what nobody tells you when you're building your consulting practice:

Most consultants are nice to haves.

Not because their work isn't good.
Not because they lack expertise.
Not because the market is bad.

Because nothing in how they position themselves creates urgency.

And without urgency, you become a luxury purchase that gets cut the moment budgets tighten.

The good news? There's a way to bridge from "interesting" to "necessary."

We break it down in this week's newsletter and episode of Consulting Mastery - here - https://lnkd.in/gig4tfgW

Are you a consultant?

Or are you a contractor with a fancier title?

It's a question most consultants avoid. Not because the answer is complicated. Because it's uncomfortable.

You tell yourself you're building relationships. Creating stability. Avoiding the grind of finding new clients.

But here's what's actually happening.

You show up week after week. You become part of the organization. Random stuff gets thrown at you. You stop scoping projects and start filling time.

That's not consulting. That's employment without benefits.

A consultant walks in with a start date and an end date. Accomplishes something specific. Delivers transformation. Leaves.

A contractor hangs out.

One builds a reputation that compounds. The other builds dependency that eventually gets cut.
And it always gets cut.

Which one are you building?

For more, check out this week's instalment of Consulting Mastery: https://lnkd.in/g42RCv5W

Every consultant wants to be seen as an expert.

Here's the problem:

Experts are a dime a dozen.

How do you evaluate one expert against another? Credentials? Testimonials? Years of experience?

It's nearly impossible to differentiate.

So clients default to price. Or convenience. Or whoever their friend recommended.

None of which helps you.

The shift that changes everything:

Don't position yourself as merely an expert. Position yourself as the person who sees patterns others can't.

Someone who's seen THIS specific problem repeat itself 10, 20, 30 times.

Someone who can spot what's about to go wrong before it happens.

That's not expertise. That's pattern recognition earned through immersion.

And that is what clients will pay a premium for.

We break it down in this newsletter and episode of Consulting Mastery - here - https://lnkd.in/gig4tfgW

Why do we love ChatGPT and Claude so much?

Not because they're smart. Because they have access to massive amounts of data.

Your clients are evaluating you the same way.

They're asking (whether they say it out loud or not):

"How much data do you have access to?"

If you've never solved this problem before? They know you're learning on their dime.

If you've solved it a few times? Still not world-class. Still experimenting.

But if you've solved it 30, 40, 50 times?

You see things other consultants can't see.

You become a category of one, just on volume.

Now, if you haven't hit 50 yet, don't panic.

It's not just repetition. It's immersion.

How you think about the problem constantly. How you research it obsessively. How you connect with others who live it daily.

Clients can tell the difference between "this is what I do" and "this is an opportunity I spotted."

Even without 50 case studies, depth of immersion shows.

We break it down in this newsletter and episode of Consulting Mastery - here - https://lnkd.in/gig4tfgW

Here's an uncomfortable exercise:

Ask everyone in your life what you do for a living. Your friends. Your family. The person at your coworking space. That neighbor you chat with sometimes.

How many could give an accurate answer?

Not "consulting." Not "strategy work." An actual explanation of what problem you solve and who you solve it for.

My guess? Maybe one in ten. If you're lucky.

Now think about all the conversations those people have. All the problems they hear about. All the times someone says, "We're struggling with X" and your name could come up but doesn't.

Not because your work isn't good. Because nobody knows what your work actually is.

That's the referral opportunity sitting right in front of you. Not your client list. Your entire network. 

Every person who knows you exists but has no idea what to do with that information.

The traditional referral strategy is hoping your ten past clients remember you at the right moment. 

The actual strategy is making sure everyone who knows you can explain what you do when it matters.

One of these scales. The other doesn't.

Read the full newsletter and watch the episode - https://lnkd.in/gxnW-38f

Your proposal has too much in it.

Not because you're padding scope. Because you're treating every activity as equal.

They're not.

In every consulting project, there's a 20% that creates 80% of the transformation.

And ideally, that 20% is the stuff they can't get anywhere else. Can't do on their own. Can't manufacture internally. Can't get from your competitors.

Here's what happens when you drown clients in scope:

They lose the forest for the trees. They forget what broke their mental model in the first place. They start questioning if they need all of this.

But when you put 80% of your focus on the 20% that moves the needle?

That becomes the must-have.

"We need THAT piece. The rest is part of a larger engagement, but THAT is what we're buying."

The counterintuitive result:

You work fewer hours. You deliver more impact. You charge more.

We break it down in this newsletter and episode of Consulting Mastery - here - https://lnkd.in/gig4tfgW

The more expertise you have, the less time you should spend with each client.

Not more. Less.

Sounds backwards until you think about it.

If your expertise is truly rare. Truly valuable. Truly scarce.

There should be massive demand for it. More clients who need the transformation you provide than you could ever serve.

So why would you spend years embedded in a single organization when dozens of others are waiting?

The consultants who embed themselves aren't protecting their income. They're capping their impact.

And their positioning.

And their pricing.

One client for two years gives you one story to tell. Eight clients in that same window gives you eight. Eight data points. Eight case studies. Eight proof points that you're the one who solves this problem.

The math isn't complicated. The decision is.

For more, check out this week's instalment of Consulting Mastery: https://lnkd.in/g42RCv5W

taplio

Ahmad Munawar's Linkedin Analytics

Ahmad Munawar

Performance ScoreAhmad Munawar's LinkedIn Performance

What is Ahmad talking about?

Who is engaging with Ahmad

Ahmad Munawar's Best Posts (last 30 days)

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

taplio

.css-6ytdur{background-image:linear-gradient(284deg, rgba(39, 43, 72, 1) 0%, rgba(33, 47, 183, 1) 100%);color:transparent;-webkit-background-clip:text;background-clip:text;}Ahmad Munawar's Linkedin Analytics

Ahmad Munawar

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Ahmad Munawar's LinkedIn Performance

What is Ahmad talking about?

Who is engaging with Ahmad

Ahmad Munawar's Best Posts .css-1emoo84{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:400;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);}(last 30 days)

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

Ahmad Munawar's Linkedin Analytics

Performance ScoreAhmad Munawar's LinkedIn Performance

Ahmad Munawar's Best Posts (last 30 days)