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Using "The Wedge" to Overcome Client Hesitation
Why do so many consultants have a strong conversation, a clear opportunity, and still lose the work?
In this first episode of the Niche Consulting Growth Podcast, Michelle Sera breaks down one of the most important ideas in the NCG framework: the wedge.
You’ll hear why prospects hesitate after a good diagnostic conversation, the four risks sitting underneath that hesitation, and how a well-designed wedge makes it easier for clients to say yes without forcing you into oversized, unclear projects too early.
This episode is especially useful if you’re tired of watching promising opportunities stall out, or if you’ve ever landed a project only to realize the scope was fuzzy, the problem wasn’t fully defined, or trust had not been built deeply enough yet.
In this episode:
- What the wedge actually is, and what it is not
- Why client hesitation is a major driver of feast-or-famine consulting
- The 4 risks behind hesitation: cost, problem, scope, and relationship risk
- How the wedge reduces risk and builds trust quickly
- The 3 phases of a wedge engagement
- A simple pricing recommendation for structuring your wedge
Key takeaways:
A wedge is a structured, chargeable, assessment-oriented initial project designed to bridge the gap between early trust and a client’s confidence to move forward.
Rather than asking a prospect to make a massive leap into a large engagement, the wedge gives them a smaller, lower-risk way to experience your thinking, your process, and your value.
When designed well, it helps overcome four common forms of hesitation
Timestamps
- 00:00 – Welcome to the Niche Consulting Growth Podcast
- 00:18 – What the wedge is and why it matters
- 02:54 – Risk 1: cost risk
- 03:19 – Risk 2: problem risk
- 04:24 – Risk 3: scope risk
- 05:31 – Risk 4: relationship risk
- 06:36 – The 3 phases of executing the wedge
- 07:41 – How to think about wedge pricing
- 08:28 – Final recap: why the wedge helps move consultants out of feast or famine
- 09:12 – Beta mention: a faster way to create your wedge
Mentioned in this episode
- The wedge
- Diagnostic conversations
- Feast-or-famine consulting
- Niche Consulting Growth
- Chris Spurvey
Next step
If you want help building a consulting business that becomes easier to buy from, more trusted in the market, and less dependent on random opportunities, schedule a conversation.
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Follow the Niche Consulting Growth Podcast for short episodes on positioning, trust, demand-building, and the strategic work that helps consultants become the obvious choice.
Transcript
This is the Niche Consulting Growth Podcast for consultants who want to become
Speaker:the obvious choice and move beyond feast or famine.
Speaker:I'm Michelle Serra, and in these short episodes, we'll look at the positioning,
Speaker:trust, and demand-building work that helps consultants grow more steadily.
Speaker:Welcome.
Speaker:So let's talk about the wedge and how we use the wedge to overcome
Speaker:client hesitation.
Speaker:This is a big challenge for consultants, and it is a big
Speaker:contributor to the feast or famine cycle.
Speaker:So just imagine, you know, you've had this fantastic diagnostic conversation with a
Speaker:prospective client, but they're still hesitating to sign this
Speaker:large consulting contract or project with you.
Speaker:And you know that the longer that time goes by,
Speaker:the less and less likely it is that you're going to get this project.
Speaker:And a big part of client hesitation has to do with risks, and we're going to
Speaker:jump into those.
Speaker:There's 4 of them specifically, but the thing that I want to convey right now
Speaker:is the wedge helps to overcome all of these risks and very quickly.
Speaker:So as I said, you know, clients often
Speaker:hesitate because of these risks and The big one is
Speaker:that they're unsure of your ability to deliver results and they need a tangible
Speaker:next step to feel fully confident.
Speaker:They need something that is an easy yes going forward and that in turn overcomes
Speaker:these risks and builds trust and gets you to the bigger body of work.
Speaker:If you aren't familiar with Niche Consulting Growth or Chris Spurby's work,
Speaker:then let me just explain how we define this.
Speaker:It's a structured, chargeable, assessment-oriented initial project, and
Speaker:it's designed in a very specific way.
Speaker:Its purpose is to act as a bridge between the trust that you've established in your
Speaker:initial conversations and the confidence that the client
Speaker:needs to commit to a larger engagement.
Speaker:We call it the wedge because it's essentially getting your foot in the door,
Speaker:but I do want to emphasize that it is far more than that, and I think you'll
Speaker:understand this by the time we're done here.
Speaker:It becomes this strategic tool that allows you to showcase your expertise in a very
Speaker:tangible way and naturally lead to your bigger body
Speaker:of work or long-term collaboration.
Speaker:So having said all of that, let's look at these 4
Speaker:major risks that cause client hesitation.
Speaker:The first one is the most obvious. It's cost.
Speaker:Clients are afraid to make a massive financial leap.
Speaker:It's a big commitment. They're not sure.
Speaker:The wedge gives you or gives them this smaller
Speaker:opportunity, low-risk opportunity to experience the value that you bring
Speaker:before the huge investment.
Speaker:It's a much easier yes.
Speaker:Now, problem risk is the second one, and this one's interesting.
Speaker:And I'm, I'm sure that you've experienced it.
Speaker:Like, we've all experienced this where you realize very quickly, and this may
Speaker:come after you've, you've gotten the project and you're beginning the work,
Speaker:but you realize that the clients aren't very clear on the problem.
Speaker:That they, they need more clarity.
Speaker:They, they don't understand the full scope of the challenges.
Speaker:So the wedge allows you to dig deep and identify the problem or problems,
Speaker:plural, or just the bigger issue at hand.
Speaker:It's this thing that they can't see clearly.
Speaker:And by you being able to do that and, and very quickly, you bring immense clarity.
Speaker:And that ensures that you are completely aligned on the core issues.
Speaker:So we have cost risk and we have problem risk that the wedge addresses.
Speaker:The next one is scope risk.
Speaker:And raise your hand if you've been here, but
Speaker:you take on a client and you're, you know, super motivated, you're ready to get this
Speaker:going, and you realize very quickly that it's gonna spin out of control.
Speaker:The scope creep is real, and that is something none of us want to experience.
Speaker:And we don't have to go into like all the costs to that, but
Speaker:you know, on the client's side, a massive project can feel very overwhelming.
Speaker:What the wedge does here is it's this highly focused and clearly
Speaker:defined initial project It sets expectations and proves that you
Speaker:can deliver, and it eliminates that scope creep in the
Speaker:initial project as well as any projects going forward.
Speaker:That alone makes this something I would much rather do than jumping straight into
Speaker:the big— bigger body of work with a new client.
Speaker:The last risk is relationship risk.
Speaker:You know, trust takes time to build.
Speaker:Whether it's through having conversations or you're reaching out and trying to
Speaker:comment on the fact that you've seen this prospective client in the media recently,
Speaker:or you've noticed some of their work and you're trying to show that you
Speaker:are interested in what they're doing and that you've done some of your homework and
Speaker:you're trying to maybe share some of your track record or some of
Speaker:the big names that you've worked with.
Speaker:You're trying to build this trust.
Speaker:But that takes a whole lot of time and effort that you simply just don't have.
Speaker:The wedge acts as this test drive, and it solidifies your credibility
Speaker:and reliability on a smaller scale and very quickly.
Speaker:So all 4 of these are major contributors to
Speaker:client hesitation, and the wedge takes care of them all.
Speaker:Let's talk a little bit about how to execute the wedge.
Speaker:Now there's just these 3 phases.
Speaker:Phase 1 is pre-engagement, and this is all about preparation.
Speaker:This is something you're very familiar with.
Speaker:So you're, you're gonna summarize the client's pain points.
Speaker:You wanna clearly define the scope and deliverables and secure
Speaker:a commitment on pricing.
Speaker:Phase 2, engagement.
Speaker:This is the active working session, and you're gonna focus deeply on diagnosing
Speaker:the client's challenges, capturing insights, and balancing tactical
Speaker:quick wins with a vision for long-term improvement.
Speaker:Phase 3, post-engagement.
Speaker:This is the crucial phase, which is the transition.
Speaker:This is where you lay it all out, what you see that they don't.
Speaker:You're going to use this experience to open a
Speaker:conversation about the bigger body of work that is obviously so needed because
Speaker:if you've got the wedge set up correctly and executed correctly, they're
Speaker:going to see this instantly.
Speaker:Pricing.
Speaker:You know, this isn't so different from probably the way that
Speaker:you're currently pricing.
Speaker:So you've either got a flat fee or maybe you have tiered options or
Speaker:probably value-based pricing.
Speaker:And what I'm gonna recommend here is you can certainly go with a flat fee
Speaker:and let your bigger body of work that the wedge is going to naturally lead into
Speaker:be your value-based pricing that tied to the, the potential ROI.
Speaker:But as I said, you can, you can do it either way, but
Speaker:that would be my recommendation.
Speaker:Fixed pricing, flat fee on your, your wedge, and then let your bigger
Speaker:body of work be value-based pricing.
Speaker:Let's wrap this up quickly so you can get on about your day.
Speaker:Just as a reminder, the wedge transforms client hesitation into action.
Speaker:It makes it super easy to say yes and leads naturally into
Speaker:your bigger body of work.
Speaker:Cuts down a whole lot of work on your side.
Speaker:It overcomes the client hesitation, those risks that we talked about, and
Speaker:builds some pretty quick trust.
Speaker:By delivering immediate value and clarity, you aren't just doing a small project,
Speaker:you're actually creating a seamless, natural path toward a deeper
Speaker:long-term partnership.
Speaker:And this is one piece of the puzzle that moves you out of feast or famine.
Speaker:Now there's one more thing that I want to let you know about, and I'm probably
Speaker:speaking a little too soon on it, uh, but I'll go ahead and share it now anyways.
Speaker:Chris and I are working on something that will enable you to
Speaker:create your wedge for your client, uh, very quickly, just in minutes.
Speaker:And we're gonna be rolling it out to some beta testers for free in exchange for
Speaker:feedback and how it works for you.
Speaker:So if you want to be able to get your hands on that, then just pay close
Speaker:attention to your inbox and maybe you can get on that beta test list.
Speaker:All right, I hope this helps.
Speaker:And until next time, if you've enjoyed this episode and want to
Speaker:know more about how we can help, schedule a conversation.
Speaker:The link is in the notes.
