Latest posts
Billboards vs. Back Nine: Why Personal Injury Lawyers and Big 4 Firms Choose Different Marketing Channels
The Logic Behind Professional Service Channel Choices: Right for Thee, But Not for Me I hate personal injury billboards. While their ubiquity makes me nauseous, I appreciate that they are utilizing the right channel for their target market. Every professional services...
How Professional Services Firms Can Shorten Sales Cycles
The NFL is in the midst of OTAs following the draft. The season doesn't officially kick off until mid-July with rookie camps. What are the teams focusing on? The fundamentals: blocking and tackling. Why? Because success starts with the basics. Winners consistently...
The Virtues Driving Growth in Professional Services
The Values Hanging on Your Walls Are Important, But They Don't Drive Growth Growth in professional services firms does not fail for lack of intelligence, integrity, or intent. Most firms possess these qualities in abundance. They serve clients with care and uphold...
Why Your AI-Driven GTM Strategy Will Fail Without a Strategic Orchestrator
The Role Professional Services Firms Overlook in the Age of AI: AI is accelerating professional services marketing, but it’s also amplifying go-to-market misalignment by disconnecting and decentralizing sales, marketing, and delivery even more. Most firms lack a...
The Hidden Burden of Growth: Why Expanding Your Performance Envelope Requires More Than Ambition
The Weight that Comes with Growth Most CEOs believe that adding more capabilities, markets, and services signals progress. In theory, it makes your firm look larger, more capable, and more attractive. But in reality? It usually signals the beginning of brand dilution,...
What is the IC Triad and Why Is It Important?
The IC Triad is a term I coined for one of the three core Systems in the Prudent Pedal Growth Framework. Once the firm sets its strategic direction using the GPS System, the IC Triad serves as the mechanism by which it achieves that direction. I chose the word IC,...
Tony Stark and the Future of the IC Triad: Why the Winners Will Be Thinker-Seller-Doers
From Boardrooms to Caves Back to the Boardroom There’s a scene in the original Iron Man movie that says more about the future of professional services than most strategy decks ever could. Trapped in a cave, surrounded by scrap metal and insurgents, Tony Stark doesn’t...
How AI Is Reshaping Sales, Marketing, and Delivery in Professional Services
A Call for the Strategic Reinvention of Pro Services Sales, Marketing, and Delivery Several years ago, we had the sales and marketing leaders from SMART Technologies on the Rattle & Pedal podcast. They had just been featured in an HBR article titled “Traditional...
You Don’t Need More Marketers. You Need These Six Roles—Reimagined for AI
The 6 Professional Services "Marketing" Roles that Matter Several years ago, I began describing six essential marketing roles that every growth-focused professional services firm needs. Not job titles. Not skillsets. But roles—archetypes that show up across the...
What’s Your Growth DNA? Decoding Your Firm’s Thinker–Seller–Doer Mix
Most professional services firms don’t stall just because of poor strategy. They stall because no one is effectively managing the go-to-market system—or the wrong people are shaping it by default rather than design. Every firm consists of Thinkers, Sellers, and...
Professional Services Brand Architecture: Curing “I-didn’t-know-you-did-thatitis.”
Why do your clients buy services you offer from other firms? It happens time and time again. You learn through the grapevine or a loyal client that another client has just chosen a competitor for a service that you provide. When you ask your client why he chose a...
Fortitude: The Key to Marketing Success
Marketing professional services is simple. It is not easy. Prudence discerns the strategic course, Fortitude fuels the journey.
LISTEN to the Only Podcast Addressing “The BS of PS”
Rattle and Pedal, hosted by Jeff McKay and Jason Mlicki, offers divergent thinking on growing professional services firms. Be prepared for an unorthodox exchange on life in professional services.
Your Co-hosts
Jeff McKay
Founder and CEO
Prudent Pedal
Jason Mlicki
Principal
Rattleback
Latest episodes
- Building a Leaner, Smarter Marketing Organization for the AI Era with Bri Jones
How do you build a marketing team for the AI era? Stitch VP of Marketing Bri Jones shares how a lean team, business context, generalists, and smart AI investments are reshaping marketing. The post Building a Leaner, Smarter Marketing Organization for the AI Era with Bri Jones appeared first on Rattle and Pedal.
- The Future of the Marketing Organization: What Should Firms Build Now?
What should the marketing organization of 2030 look like? Jeff and Jason launch a research series exploring how AI, talent, client experience, and strategy will reshape marketing. The post The Future of the Marketing Organization: What Should Firms Build Now? appeared first on Rattle and Pedal.
- Why Every Professional Services Firm Needs a Better Story with Stephen Steers
Why do some firms stand out while others blend into the crowd? Stephen Steers joins us to explore how storytelling builds trust, differentiates firms, and drives business growth. The post Why Every Professional Services Firm Needs a Better Story with Stephen Steers appeared first on Rattle and Pedal.
- Selling Belief with Mat Zucker from Prophet
In an AI-driven world, expertise alone isn’t enough. Jeff, Jason, and Mat Zucker explore why professional services firms must move beyond trust to build buyer belief and win more business. The post Selling Belief with Mat Zucker from Prophet appeared first on Rattle and Pedal.
- Demystifying Case Studies: Why Most Firms Get Them Wrong
Most professional services case studies fail to influence buyers. Jeff and Jason explore the biggest myths and explain how to create stories that build trust, reinforce positioning, and win business. The post Demystifying Case Studies: Why Most Firms Get Them Wrong appeared first on Rattle and Pedal.