"We need a new client tomorrow." It's the moment most consultancies start thinking about business development - and according to Luke Badiali, that's already too late.

Luke is the co-founder of BeDeveloped, which helps boutique consulting firms replace feast-and-famine selling with a repeatable BD engine. Drawing on conversations with over a thousand consulting leaders, he makes a clear case for getting ahead of the curve rather than reacting when things go wrong.

In this episode we cover why business development feels so much harder in consulting than in other sectors, and why throwing money at a senior sales hire so often fails. Luke digs into the opportunities firms are sitting on without realising - dormant contacts, under-served clients, and the simple key-account question that opens new doors fast. He gives a straight answer on whether cold outreach works in consulting, makes the case for picking up the phone again, and explains how to sequence outreach from your hottest relationships down to genuinely cold prospects.

He also walks through what changes when a firm gets this right, including a client who went from one new business conversation in a year to twenty-five in six months, a realistic timeline for results, his take on the state of the sector in 2026, and where AI genuinely helps with BD - and where it doesn't.

Plus our regular Snog, Marry, Avoid finish: Luke's quick win, his non-negotiable, and what he'd have every founder ditch today.

A practical, no-nonsense listen for any consultancy founder whose pipeline runs hot and cold.

Find Luke on LinkedIn or at bedeveloped.com.

Send us a message