Ep. 125 - From First Conversation to Closing: Why Early Fit Assessment Matters More Than Over-Engineered Due Diligence - with Alexander Thress

Send us Fan MailBerater sind gedanklich oft einen Schritt weiter. Umso wichtiger, dass sie ihre Kunden auf diesem Weg mitnehmen.Florian Warring ist Managing Director bei FTI-Andersch, Teil von FTI Consulting mit weltweit über 8.100 Mitarbeitenden. In der DACH-Region begleitet er Unternehmen bei ganzheitlichen Transformations- und Performance-Improvement-Programmen. Neben der Projektverantwortung ist er außerdem verstärkt im Business Development und bei der Akquise aktiv.Seine Überzeugung: Die beste Lösung wirkt nur, wenn sie die Akzeptanz des Kunden findet.Im Gespräch mit Host David Anheier erklärt Florian, warum zu frühes Vorpreschen Akzeptanz kosten kann, weshalb vermeintliche Einigkeit im Meeting trügerisch sein kann, und wie Paraphrasieren zum strategischen Führungsinstrument wird.Er spricht über Authentizität als USP im Consulting, über die „Bringschuld“ von Beratern in der Interaktion mit Kunden und darüber, warum Massenmails keine belastbaren Beziehungen schaffen.Freue dich auf folgende Learnings:1) Warum aktives Zuhören oftmals wirkungsvoller ist als Argumentieren.2) Wie man echte Akzeptanz schafft, statt nur Lösungen auf dem Papier.3) Weshalb Authentizität die Basis für langfristige Mandantenbeziehungen ist.4) Warum weniger Folien in der Akquise mehr Wirkung entfalten.5) Wie KI die Rolle junger Berater verändert, aber nicht ersetzt.___________Vernetze Dich mit Florian Warring auf LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/florian-warring-45a855104/ Florians Leseempfehlung:Never Split the Difference  von Chris Voss |   https://amzn.eu/d/0glqCDPq ___________Über den Host David:David ist Partner bei entero und verfügt über umfangreiche Erfahrung in der Salesforce-Beratung, insbesondere im Consulting von Beratungsunternehmen bei der Optimierung und Digitalisierung ihrer Prozesse.In den letzten zehn Jahren hat er Teams geleitet, komplexe Kundenbeziehungen verwaltet und digitale Lösungen implementiert, die die betriebliche Effizienz verbessern.Seine Leidenschaft gilt der Unterstützung von Unternehmen bei der Nutzung von Technologien zur Förderung von Wachstum und Transformation, um sicherzustellen, dass sie in einer zunehmend digitalen Welt wettbewerbsfähig bleiben. Schreibe David einfach via E-Mail unter [email protected] connecte Dich auf LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danheier/___________Bisherige Gäste des LEADERS IN CONSULTING Podcasts: Friederich von Hurter, Melanie Tobler, Tilman Au und viele weitere!

Send us Fan MailIf a buyer looked at your firm today, would they see focus or fragmentation?Daniel Schwartmann, Managing Director at ServTeq Capital Advisors, has spent decades on the buyer side of the table, including leading 150+ acquisitions during his time at Accenture. In this conversation with host Sammy Gebele, he breaks down what strategic buyers and private equity investors actually pay for and what they label as “distraction.”You’ll hear why differentiation is rarely about having more capabilities and almost always about owning a specific swim lane, building a story the market can instantly understand, and making growth decisions with the end in mind. Daniel has seen how growth without a defined endgame leads to diluted positioning and a lower valuation, and he insists that the years leading up to a capital event must be treated as a deliberate value-creation phase.He also explains how private equity can serve as a strategic "booster" rather than a final exit, and what investors actually look for before committing capital.You'll learn:1. Why unclear positioning quietly erodes valuation and how to build a niche buyers will pay a premium for.2. How to grow with the end in mind by aligning your equity story, operating model, and leadership bench years before a transaction.3. When private equity acts as a growth accelerator and when it becomes a strategic mismatch.4. How to expand into adjacencies, technology, or new markets without diluting the positioning that drives your valuation.5. How buyers assess founder retention risk and the subtle signals that can lower deal confidence.___________Get in touch with Daniel on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniel-schwartmann-820a0/___________ About the host Sammy Gebele:Sammy and SAWOO offer a B2B community-building service that establishes you as a thought leader in your industry and helps you build genuine, human-to-human relationships with your dream clients.Get in touch with Sammy Gebele on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sammygebele/___________Past guests on the LEADERS IN CONSULTING Podcast include: Friederich von Hurter, Melanie Tobler, Tilman Au, and many more!___________Thanks to our friends at SAWOO for producing this episode with us!

Send us Fan MailHow do you grow a buy-and-build consulting platform where founders genuinely want to stay after the deal?In this episode of the LEADERS IN CONSULTING Podcast, Alexander Thress, Partner and Head of M&A at AdEx Partners, shares how a PE-backed consulting platform can scale founder-friendly growth through disciplined buy-and-build.Alexander joined AdEx with a very deliberate mandate: to grow the platform by selectively adding high-quality consulting firms that strengthen AdEx’s core positioning in large-scale transformation at the intersection of business, digital, IT, and AI — while preserving the entrepreneurial DNA of the firms that join.Rather than chasing deal volume, Alexander invests significant time upfront to identify early fit across four dimensions: strategic alignment, cultural compatibility, financial fit, and genuine partnership intent. This early focus on fit avoids late-stage surprises and ensures that due diligence and contractual negotiations mainly validate decisions made with conviction beforehand.The conversation also touches on AdEx’s growth strategy. While the current focus remains on the DACH region, the firm has already built a well-filled pipeline beyond it. In a second growth phase, AdEx sees attractive opportunities in culturally compatible markets — including the Nordics and other “beer-drinking countries” — where shared values and consulting cultures support sustainable integration.You’ll learn:1. Why buy-and-build only works when early fit assessment is executed before exhaustive due diligence starts2. How a private equity investor adds value as a capital provider and sparring partner3. Why founders join platforms for attitude, partnership, and future upside potential4. What separates AI consultancies that deliver real impact from those chasing buzzwords5. How integration succeeds when it feels like building a shared home, not executing a takeover___________Get in touch with Alexander on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexander-thress-3b8ba6b3/___________ Alexander's book recommendation:The Last Weynfeldt by Martin Suter -  https://a.co/d/iCEh6Id ___________About the host Sammy Gebele:Sammy and SAWOO offer a B2B community-building service that establishes you as a thought leader in your industry and helps you build genuine, human-to-human relationships with your dream clients.Get in touch with Sammy Gebele on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sammygebele/___________Past guests on the LEADERS IN CONSULTING Podcast include: Friederich von Hurter, Melanie Tobler, Tilman Au, and many more!

Send us Fan MailWhat happens when you stop "selling" and start designing every interaction around how clients want to feel working with you? In an industry where collaboration reigns supreme, this question is more relevant than ever.Ambrish Parmar, Partner and Consulting & Growth Leader at Cognizant, has transformed the empathetic coaching mindset into a practical playbook for landing complex transformation deals. In this episode, he joins host Sammy Gebele to explore five ways senior consulting leaders can move beyond classic sales and foster genuine co-creation.In a high-stakes transformation with a major European financial institution, Ambrish witnessed how active listening and a single well-timed question shifted a tense executive room from polite resistance to shared ownership of the roadmap. He emphasizes structuring initial conversations around an “us together” agenda, even designing workspaces to reflect stakeholder personalities.Along the way, he learned that transformation should be viewed as an energy that builds across both organizations, and that prioritizing mental well-being has become a non-negotiable aspect of the Partner, MD, and CEO role.You'll learn:1. How to turn sales meetings into co-created transformation conversations.2. A simple question that surfaces risk, trust, and real buying intent.3. How to design teams and spaces around your clients’ personalities.4. How to treat transformation as an energy that grows between your firm and clients.5. Self-care practices that sustain your work as a consulting leader.___________Get in touch with Ambrish on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ambrish-parmar-consulting-leader-executive-coach/ ___________Ambrish's podcast recommendation:Empire: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/empire/id1639561921 Ambrish's book:Buenos Aires Sunrise by Carlos Chambers https://www.amazon.co.uk/Buenos-Aires-Sunrise-mesmerising-historical-ebook/dp/B0BZSGGNZJ___________About the host Sammy Gebele:Sammy and SAWOO offer a B2B community-building service that establishes you as a thought leader in your industry and helps you build genuine, human-to-human relationships with your dream clients.Get in touch with Sammy Gebele on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sammygebele/___________Past guests on the LEADERS IN CONSULTING Podcast include: Friederich von Hurter, Melanie Tobler, Tilman Au, and many more!___________Thanks to our friends at SAWOO for producing this episode with us!

Send us Fan MailChristian Underwood didn’t build a sales team. He engineered a lead-generation system that would never need one.The CEO & Co-Founder of StrategyFrame®AI joins us once again, this time to lift the lid on how he operationalized a GTM strategy to scale his AI-powered consulting platform.With an 8-person team, Christian is on track to hit a mid–double-digit million revenue scale next year. He got there by doing one thing exceptionally well: focussing on a niche he could own, and becoming the authority through repeatable trust points. He launched the first German-speaking strategy podcast, published a book to deepen credibility, and hosts an annual in-person event to strengthen relationships offline.He is also candid about what did not work. Paid advertising never became a reliable lever, so the focus shifted to what actually compounds on LinkedIn: consistency, frequency, and relevance. That means turning every podcast episode into a content machine and showing up daily.This episode is a transferrable playbook you can use to build credibility and relationships that convert without a single pitch. You’ll learn:1. Why owning one focussed niche beats broad capability in consulting2. How one podcast becomes a daily content engine that builds authority at scale3. What converts guests into clients, partners, and warm introductions without pitching4. How an in-person event deepens trust without selling from stage5. Why inbound demand on LinkedIn comes through consistency rather than paid ads___________Get in touch with Christian on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christianunderwood/en___________Listen to Christian's podcast Hope is not a Strategy: https://www.strategyframe.ai/en/strategiepodcast-overview___________About the host Sammy Gebele:Sammy and SAWOO offer a B2B community-building service that establishes you as a thought leader in your industry and helps you build genuine, human-to-human relationships with your dream clients.Get in touch with Sammy Gebele on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sammygebele/___________Past guests on the LEADERS IN CONSULTING Podcast include: Friederich von Hurter, Melanie Tobler, Tilman Au, and many more!___________Thanks to our friends at SAWOO for producing this episode with us!

Send us Fan MailWhat does it take to go from zero in the bank to a successful exit without financial investors?In this episode, Marc Staudenmayer, Co-Founder & Co-CEO of Advyce & Company, joins Sammy Gebele to share how he and his co-founder Burkhard Wagner built one of Germany’s fastest-growing consultancies by merging three firms into one and eventually selling to a strategic acquirer for a high multiple.Marc walks through the full story: the early crisis that forced clarity when Advyce & Company had just €3k left in the bank, the decision to say no to private equity, and the smart merger strategy that built real scale through collaboration, culture, and digital infrastructure.He explains how Advyce & Company avoided the “stupid mistakes” seen in traditional consulting, designed a transparent partner model where collaboration is rewarded, and created a digital backbone that made integration almost effortless.And ultimately, how that discipline and structure led to a deal that rewarded everyone involved.You'll learn:How to scale your consulting firm to a successful exit without giving up ownership or cultureWhy collaboration beats competition in driving sustainable growthHow a strong digital backbone enables flexibility and rapid integrationThe structural choices that make post-merger integration actually workHow Advyce & Company turned “let’s not make the same stupid mistakes” into a strategy for lasting success___________Get in touch with Marc on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marc-staudenmayer___________Marc's book recommendation:Business Class by Martin Suter https://www.amazon.de/-/en/Business-Class-Geschichten-Welt-Managements/dp/3257800592___________About the host Sammy Gebele:Sammy and SAWOO offer a B2B community-building service that establishes you as a thought leader in your industry and helps you build genuine, human-to-human relationships with your dream clients.Get in touch with Sammy Gebele on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sammygebele/___________Past guests on the LEADERS IN CONSULTING Podcast include: Friederich von Hurter, Melanie Tobler, Tilman Au, and many more!___________Thanks to our friends at SAWOO for producing this episode with us!

Send us Fan MailIn this exclusive keynote from the main stage at the LEADERS IN CONSULTING London Summit, Stephen Edward (Managing Director, PTS Global), Connor Budden (Global Director at Service Performance Insight), and Sarah Edwards (Chief Product Officer, Kantata) unpack how consulting firms must rethink what success looks like as AI reshapes every part of the services lifecycle.Stephen shares how a 40-year-old, employee-owned consultancy is re-evaluating quality, culture, and reskilling while delivering on complex multi-year capital projects. Connor brings fresh SPI benchmark data showing how high performers are moving beyond T&M, experimenting with subscription and outcome-based pricing, and using revenue per consultant as a leading indicator of AI maturity.Guided by Sarah, the discussion goes straight to the questions every Partner and MD is wrestling with:How fast do we need to transform?What should replace utilisation at the top of our scorecard?How do we measure the value of AI agents, evolving skills, and next-generation delivery models?If you're questioning how to keep your consulting business competitive in an AI-first market, this conversation delivers a practical, forward-looking roadmap for the metrics that will matter most in the years ahead.You will learn: 1. Why leading firms are shifting from T&M toward subscriptions and outcome-based pricing.2. The AI-era KPIs that matter most, from revenue per consultant to real-time sentiment.3. How employee-owned and mid-sized consultancies rethink quality, culture, and reskilling.4. How to redesign your scorecard to track skills evolution, client health, and business agility.5. Where high performers see real ROI from AI in delivery, proposals, and knowledge access.___________Get in touch with Sarah on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarahedwards3/Get in touch with Stephen on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephenjedward/ Get in touch with Connor on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/connor-metcalf/ ___________About the host Sammy Gebele:Sammy and SAWOO offer a B2B community-building service that establishes you as a thought leader in your industry and helps you build genuine, human-to-human relationships with your dream clients.Get in touch with Sammy Gebele on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sammygebele/___________Past guests on the LEADERS IN CONSULTING Podcast include: Friederich von Hurter, Melanie Tobler, Tilman Au, and many more!

Send us Fan MailDie wenigsten Beratungen überleben den Sprung vom Gründerteam zum Marktführer. Atreus hat’s geschafft.Was macht eine Beratung wirklich skalierbar: Menschen, Prozesse oder Haltung?Uwe Gehrmann, Partner und Mitglied des Executive Board bei Atreus, teilt im Gespräch mit Sammy Gebele die Erfolgsprinzipien hinter dem Wachstum eines Unternehmens, das vom kleinen Beratungsplayer zum Marktführer und Exit-Kandidaten wurde.Er erklärt, wie Atreus durch kollaborative Führung, eine klare Sales-Struktur und konsequente Kulturarbeit gewachsen ist und warum Teamvertrauen und Umsetzungsstärke entscheidend sind, wenn Beratung wirklich Wirkung zeigen soll.Eine inspirierende Episode für Partner, Geschäftsführer und Growth-Leader, die wissen wollen, wie man Beratungen auf das nächste Level bringt, ohne Kompromisse bei der Qualität.1) Wie du eine Beratung skalierst, ohne ihre Kultur zu verlieren.2) Warum Vertrauen das stärkste Wachstumsinstrument ist.3) Wie kollaborative Führung echte Sales-Power schafft.4) Welche Rolle Teamzusammenhalt bei Skalierung & Exit spielt.5) Wie du mit Klarheit und Fokus nachhaltiges Wachstum steuerst.____Uwe Gehrmann freut sich über den Austausch zu Themen rund um Skalierung und Wachstum in der Beratungsbranche.Verbinde dich mit ihm auf LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/uwegehrmann Uwes Buchempfehlungen:The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People von Stephen Covey  | https://www.amazon.de/dp/0743269519Die Macht des Einfachen: Warum komplexe Konzepte scheitern und einfache Ideen überzeugen von Jack Trout & Steve Rivkin  | https://www.amazon.de/dp/3593363530 ___________Über den Host Sammy:Sammy und SAWOO bieten einen B2B-Community-Building-Service, der Dich als Vordenker in Deiner Branche etabliert und Dir hilft, echte, zwischenmenschliche Beziehungen zu Deinen Wunschkunden aufzubauen.Schreibe Sammy einfach via E-Mail unter [email protected] connecte Dich auf LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sammygebele/___________Bisherige Gäste des LEADERS IN CONSULTING Podcasts: Friederich von Hurter, Melanie Tobler, Tilman Au und viele weitere!___________Vielen Dank an unsere Freunde von SAWOO, die diese Episode vom LEADERS IN CONSULTING Podcast für uns produziert haben! 

Send us Fan MailDuring the pandemic, Christian Underwood laid off almost his entire team.Today, he leads an AI powered consultancy that generates €5.5 million in revenue 2025 and will generate €50m+ 2026.Christian is the Co-Founder and CEO of StrategyFrame, a consultancy that doesn't look like one. It's lean, software-powered, and built for scale. Clients use the platform to run strategic processes internally, supported by smart workflows, trained agents, and minimal external input.In this episode, Christian joins host Sammy Gebele to share how StrategyFrame grew from a consulting reboot into a high-revenue, product-led firm with ambitions to 10x sales over the next year.They explore what an AI-native consultancy really looks like, what Christian had to learn in the transition from service to product, and why trust, not tech, is the true moat when your platform becomes the business.Whether you're running a traditional firm or building a tech-enabled offer, this conversation offers an inside look at what the future of strategy consulting may already look like.You’ll learn:1. How Christian built a €5.5M consulting business with a lean, AI-supported delivery model2. What it means to deliver strategy as a product, not a project3. How one article brought 1,200+ inbound leads overnight, and what that says about market readiness 5. The critical hires that keep a no-office, no-pyramid consultancy running6. Why defensibility in AI consulting comes down to trust, not algorithms___________Get in touch with Christian on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christianunderwood/ ___________Christian’s book recommendation:SIMON SAGT! Was im Management wirklich zählt by Hermann Simonhttps://amzn.eu/d/0bU5KBE___________About the host Sammy Gebele:Sammy and SAWOO offer a B2B community-building service that establishes you as a thought leader in your industry and helps you build genuine, human-to-human relationships with your dream clients.Get in touch with Sammy Gebele on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sammygebele/___________Past guests on the LEADERS IN CONSULTING Podcast include: Friederich von Hurter, Melanie Tobler, Tilman Au, and many more!___________Thanks to our friends at SAWOO for producing this episode with us!

Send us Fan MailIn this episode, Tilman Au, Managing Director Conclusion DACH, and Engbert Verkoren, CEO of Conclusion, reveal how they’re building one of Europe’s most entrepreneurial IT and consulting ecosystems where autonomy, collaboration, and growth go hand in hand.Tilman shares why moving forward with diva-e was the natural choice, and how joining Conclusion opened a new chapter of purpose and scale. Engbert explains why the ecosystem’s model will at times trade efficiency for entrepreneurial fit, and why every new partner must bring a unique proposition to earn their independence.Together, they unpack how Conclusion empowers founders to grow faster, and achieve cross-domain synergies that create long-term client relationships built on trust and shared ambition. For consulting leaders considering their own next chapter, whether joining a group or building one, this conversation offers a rare inside look at how an ecosystem model truly works in practice.You’ll learn:1. Why Conclusion prioritizes entrepreneurial fit over pure efficiency2. How autonomy and collaboration coexist in a multi-company ecosystem3. The secret to post-acquisition growth that doubles or triples company size4. Why “staying relevant” is every leader’s real long-term KPI5. What to look for when choosing (or becoming) the right growth partner___________Get in touch with Tilman and Engbert on LinkedIn or via email: https://www.linkedin.com/in/engbert-verkoren/https://www.linkedin.com/in/tilman-au-ceo-investor-digital-expert/[email protected] ___________Engbert and Tilman's book recommendations:Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel KahnemanGood to Great by Jim Collins___________About the host Sammy Gebele:Sammy and SAWOO offer a B2B community-building service that establishes you as a thought leader in your industry and helps you build genuine, human-to-human relationships with your dream clients.Get in touch with Sammy Gebele on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sammygebele/___________Past guests on the LEADERS IN CONSULTING Podcast include: Friederich von Hurter, Melanie Tobler and many more!___________Thanks to our friends at SAWOO for producing this episode with us!