When I started Questas 15 years ago, professional services felt different. For many technically minded professionals, decent work often landed at their feet. Reputation carried significant weight, relationships were long established, the notion of ‘the family solicitor’ still often existed and opportunities frequently came through referrals, existing networks or simply being known for doing good work. If you were technically strong and delivered well, there was often a steady flow of opportunity, ‘Rainmakers’ was a common phrase, hungry technical experts winning the work and ‘feeding the young’!
Of course, those things still matter today, but the market has shifted, as I’m sure many of you would agree. Competition is stronger, buying decisions are more commercial, clients are under greater pressure, and winning work now often requires a level of visibility, confidence and commercial awareness that many technical professionals were never formally taught.
Put simply, you have to fight for work much more than you used to.
At the same time, even in the early days I kept seeing a consistent pattern. I was meeting technically brilliant people; lawyers, engineers, environmental consultants, accountants and other specialists who were genuinely excellent at what they did. Intelligent people, credible people, hardworking people, yet many felt quietly frustrated that despite being very good at their job, the work was not flowing in the way they expected it to. Not because they lacked technical ability, but because nobody had ever really helped them develop the commercial skills that sit alongside technical excellence.
How to build stronger client relationships, how to navigate difficult conversations, how to feel more confident with business development without feeling ‘salesy’…and how to communicate expertise in a way that reassures clients; these questions were what created Questas.
The belief that technically minded professionals should not be left to simply ‘figure it out’ when it comes to winning and growing work. These behaviours can be learned, developed and strengthened over time, whilst still feeling authentic to who you are. I’ve worked out we must have trained over 20,000 people! This is staggering to me and to know that we have been able to make a real difference in developing skills that have helped people develop stronger relationships and contribute to growth giving them (and me) a sense of fulfilment and delivering tangible results is good to know!
More recently that thinking led to Work Winning Ways. I know how busy professional life is, and the reality is most people do not have time to sit and read lengthy business development approached and theory. The idea was simply to create a short, practical monthly read; something thoughtful and relevant that could offer one or two useful ideas to apply in client conversations, meetings or day-to-day interactions. So seeing Work Winning Ways grow to over 500 subscribers genuinely means a lot. Thank you to everyone who reads it, shares it and occasionally messages to say “that resonated” or “I saw myself in that.” It is hugely appreciated.
There is plenty more to come, and whether I have connected with you through training, at a networking event or through my monthly newsletter I hope these insights help even a few technically minded professionals feel more confident, commercially aware or better equipped in front of clients.
Gary
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We are a business development consultancy which is passionate about helping our clients develop processes, skills and behaviours that will result in increased sales and improved margins. 
