Competitors are leading with AI in proposals and winning work you used to own.
What’s happening
Ascentra Labs has been adopted by three of the top five consulting firms. These firms aren’t just using AI internally; they’re 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 fits into the engagement methodology, not because they care about the technology, but because they care about speed, cost, and accuracy. A proposal that doesn’t address AI feels behind. BDO research shows an efficiency ceiling of 25–40% from AI adoption. The firms winning proposals are the ones explaining what they do with that efficiency, not just claiming they have it.
The most dangerous competitive position is the middle: firms that have adopted AI tools internally but haven’t changed their external offerings or pricing. They’re paying for AI without getting the competitive benefit of AI-differentiated proposals. Their competitors are telling a better story about what the client actually 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 aren’t choosing firms based on which AI platform they use. They’re choosing based on what the AI lets the firm deliver differently.
“Hire an innovation team”
Internal innovation teams don’t change the business model. They produce pilots and white papers. What clients care about is how your AI capability changes the engagement they’re buying, specifically the timeline, cost, and what they walk away with.
“Partner with AI vendors”
This makes you a channel for someone else’s technology. Partnering with an AI vendor doesn’t differentiate your consulting. Clients want your expertise, not your vendor list.
What’s working instead
The winning proposals lead 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, but the pitch isn’t about AI. It’s about what AI lets the firm deliver that it couldn’t 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. The Workshop is the facilitated day we do this work with you. You leave with 2–3 new offerings, specified and priced. Your team or an implementation partner builds and tests them with named clients.
Offerings that address this
Other pressures on Consulting Firms
Related reading
Sequoia Just Put a Trillion-Dollar Bounty on Your Business
Sequoia Capital told its portfolio companies that the next trillion-dollar company won’t sell software. It will sell the work professional services firms do now.
AI Adoption Is Not AI Strategy
Your firm has adopted AI. Your team is faster. But nobody has connected that speed to new revenue — and that’s a different problem than the one your AI vendors are solving.
$15,000
Fixed fee. A full day with your senior team. 2–3 new offerings your team or an implementation partner builds and tests.
Book a Conversation30 minutes with Shawn Yeager. No pitch.