Competitors are repositioning around AI and winning proposals you used to own.
What's happening
Ascentra Labs has been adopted by three of the top five consulting firms. These firms are not just using AI internally — they are leading with it in proposals. When a competitor walks into a pitch and says 'we deliver due diligence in one week instead of four, at half the cost, with AI-powered analysis,' your proposal for a traditional four-week engagement looks slow and expensive.
The pitch is changing across the industry. Clients now expect to hear how AI is part of the engagement methodology. Not because they care about the technology — because they care about speed, cost, and accuracy. A proposal that does not address AI is a proposal that feels behind. BDO research shows an efficiency ceiling of 25-40% from AI adoption. The firms that are winning proposals are the ones that explain what they do with that efficiency — not just that they have it.
The most dangerous competitive position is the middle: firms that have adopted AI tools internally but have not changed their external offerings or pricing. They bear the cost of AI investment without the competitive benefit of AI-differentiated proposals. Their competitors are telling a better story about what the client gets.
Why the obvious responses don't work
“Add AI capabilities to proposals”
Table stakes, not a differentiator. Every firm can add a slide about their AI tools. Clients are not choosing firms based on which AI platform they use — they are choosing based on what the AI enables the firm to deliver differently.
“Hire an innovation team”
Internal innovation teams do not change the business model. They produce pilots, white papers, and demonstrations. What clients care about is how your AI capability changes the engagement they are buying — the timeline, the cost, the outcome.
“Partner with AI vendors”
This makes you a reseller, not an advisor. Partnering with an AI vendor does not differentiate your consulting — it makes you a channel for someone else's technology. Clients want your expertise, not your vendor relationships.
What's working instead
The firms winning proposals are leading with the outcome, not the methodology. Instead of 'we will spend 10 weeks analyzing your market,' they say 'we will deliver a market entry decision in three weeks with continuous monitoring for 12 months.' The engagement is faster, cheaper on the project phase, and more valuable overall because it includes ongoing support. AI makes this possible. The pitch is not about AI — it is about what AI lets the firm deliver that it could not before.
The pattern is the same across every firm that gets this right: they stop optimizing the old model and build new offerings around what AI cannot do. That is the work we do in the Workshop.
$15,000
Fixed fee. Two days. 2–3 offerings ready to test with real buyers.
30 minutes with Shawn Yeager. No pitch.