In this episode, Frank McShane shares his journey from working at Coca-Cola to founding Square Peg Consulting, emphasizing the importance of data-driven decision making, client selection, and managing change effectively. Discover practical insights on how to grow a consulting business and leverage tools like the Predictive Index and AI.
Frank McShane spent years leading other people's companies before deciding he was done working for someone else's vision. Instead of taking the easy path back into a big firm with someone else's risk tolerance, he bet that most business owners are chasing the wrong fix, hunting for more customers when the real problem was sitting inside their own P&L the whole time.
What makes Frank different is his patience. He does not walk in and start talking. He listens, understands why things are the way they are, then asks one uncomfortable question backed by the client's own numbers. That approach turned a 700 million dollar business bleeding 70 million a year into a 500 million dollar business making 70 million, and it is the same move he ran recently at a paper mill, where he uncovered they were losing 23000 dollars for every hour of downtime they had been quietly measuring in minutes.
Here is what every founder can take from how he does it.
1️⃣ Not all revenue is good revenue
Frank ran the numbers at a fuel distribution client and found 11 percent of their customers generated 80 percent of their profit. The other 71 percent barely moved the needle, but still ate up massive time and attention. If you are treating every customer the same because they all show up on the revenue line, you are working just as hard for the wrong people as the right ones. Pull your own numbers and see who is actually paying your bills.
2️⃣ Stop pitching, start doing
Frank's sales process used to drag until a colleague told him to quit presenting and just start consulting in the first meeting. Show the client what you can do instead of explaining it, and the decision gets made a lot faster. A quick no beats a long yes every time, and most founders waste months chasing the long yes because they are scared to hear the quick no.
3️⃣ Data only works if it embarrasses someone
Frank did not walk into a paper mill and tell them what was wrong. He asked one question, what does an hour of downtime actually cost you, and let the answer do the damage. Turns out it was 23000 dollars an hour, and they had been measuring it in minutes, which made it look small. If you want people to change, do not hand them your opinion. Hand them their own numbers and get out of the way.
Timestamps
00:00 The founder who walked away from two exits to start over solo
00:41 What nobody tells you about the sales process when you go out on your own
04:02 The advice that cut his sales cycle in half, start consulting before you start selling
06:58 Why he named his company after the fastest way to waste your own time
09:39 The referral shift that changed his entire business model
10:50 The peaks and valleys problem every solo consultant hits and never talks about
14:13 The 700 million dollar business that was losing 70 million a year, and what fixed it
16:13 11% of customers, 80 percent of the profit, the number that stops every room
17:45 The one spreadsheet trick that makes companies see their own waste instantly
22:44 What happens when he lets AI do the analysis his clients used to pay him for
25:05 The one word he uses to describe eight years of building this on his own
27:04 Why retirement scares him more than the business ever did
30:31 The line from his father that changed how he runs every client engagement
34:11 The number his client didnt know was costing them 23000 dollars an hour
If your P&L has more waste hiding in it than you want to admit, Frank's the guy who'll find it before you do.