The part-time, poor relation.

In the majority of consulting firms the people who do the work are the ones who have to sell it too. That dual role creates an advantage and a tension.

The advantages

The advantages make consultants attractive to clients.

Insights based on experience. The consultant can talk about the reality of a project delivery and performance during conversations. This is very different from the polished pitches non‑delivery people rely on.

Access to relationships. They're the ones who are invited to client meetings because of the value they add. Being there gives them the opportunity to uncover and shape new opportunities, as well as influence scope.

Natural instinct to diagnose and co-create. This again is different from a 'solution seller' attitude aimed at pushing for a sale, which creates resistance — because that's not what clients want from their advisers.

Together, these explain why consultants can get air-time with senior executives.

The tensions

There are tensions too, which can hold consultants back as business developers.

Time split in two directions - one loses. Delivery deadlines are obviously urgent and visible; because of that, business development activities get displaced easily. What should be important gets squeezed into leftover gaps, when the consultant is probably worn out, or it doesn't get attention at all.

Punishing economic logic. In a billable‑hour world, non‑billable BD time counts as lost margin. This is a particularly odd rationality when you consider that, say, 10 hours of lost billing could result in a huge project for multiple people.

Identity strain. Many consultants see themselves as advisors, not sellers. This association is so strong they don't even like to use the word "sales". Being asked to hit targets, build a pipeline, and have commitment conversations — without reframing sales as growth, diagnosis and solution design — creates discomfort and resistance.

Together, these tensions explain why many consultants feel "busy but stuck".

The big question is how to keep the advantages while removing the tensions. Otherwise business development continues to feel like a part‑time, poor relation, to delivery.