Everyone likes a good origin story until they realize it’s just smoke and mirrors. Like the Wizard in Wicked, too much CX and MarTech consulting has depended on projection rather than impact, and clients have finally pulled back the curtain.
The Curtain’s Been Pulled Back on Consulting
If you’ve seen Wicked, you know the story behind the story. The wizard isn’t who everyone thought he was. He’s not magical; he’s just a man behind a curtain, creating an illusion of power. That’s been his role for too long, and now clients have pulled back the curtain.
Spend any time scrolling LinkedIn, and every post starts to look the same. As a consultant, I notice a recurring apocalyptic theme predicting the complete downfall of our industry. This isn’t a moment to bury your head in the sand. I understand our industry is facing disruption.
But here’s what I’ve realized after over 20 years in management consulting: the real turbulence isn’t just from AI or rate pressure. It’s a fundamental change in client behavior. Clients see right through us.
For too long, we’ve sent teams of junior consultants, delivered 100-page theory-heavy decks, and deployed highly customized yet unusable technology. We’ve been solving problems, but whose problems? After rereading Patrick Lencioni’s business fable, Getting Naked, I had an uncomfortable realization: I had been under the illusion that we were solving client problems. Too often, we were solving our own, landing the next big deal, showcasing our frameworks, and proving our intellectual horsepower.
What if instead, we focused on solving real client problems and making clients the heroes of their own stories? That’s the shift that will separate the MarTech/CX consulting firms that thrive from those that fade away. This isn’t about survival; it’s about getting back to what creates value.
Why Clients Stopped Believing the Magic
Like the Wizard’s booming voice and elaborate projections, we’ve perfected the show — impressive presentations, complex models, and glorified decks filled with sophisticated language that sounds authoritative. But here’s the uncomfortable truth: clients don’t care about our frameworks. They care about their problems getting solved.
We’ve prioritized the theater of consulting over the substance. We’ve believed that our sophisticated models and complex methodologies would be enough to land the next big deal. And clients have noticed. They’ve pulled back the curtain. They’re onto us now.
The disconnect is real. While we’ve been perfecting our 2×2 matrices and building elaborate “smoke machines,” clients have been struggling with real business challenges — siloed data, disconnected systems, poor customer experience, and teams that don’t trust their insights. They needed practical help getting unstuck, but we were too busy demonstrating our intellectual horsepower.
This isn’t about consultants being bad at what they do. It’s about solving the wrong problem. We’ve been answering the question, “How do we showcase our expertise in driving transformational impact?” when clients are asking, “How do we fix this specific CX/MarTech issue that’s keeping us up at night?”
That’s why trust has eroded. When you’re focused on selling capabilities instead of solving problems, clients feel it. They see through the performance. And in an environment where they can access frameworks and best practices via AI prompts, the old consulting model no longer holds up. The wizard’s act is over.
Making the Clients Heroes Again
Here’s the shift that changes everything: stop showcasing your frameworks and start solving real client problems. One problem at a time. No more. Here’s a concrete example. A client says, “We don’t trust our data.” That’s it. That’s the problem. They have disconnected, siloed data, creating fragmented insights. No visibility. No confidence. No decisions they can trust.
We’ve solved this before. We know how to fix it. But here’s the key: we focus only on that one problem. We don’t expand the scope. We don’t upsell additional services until we’ve proven value. We engage in a low-risk, short-term project where we either prove our value quickly or the client walks away. No drama. No hard feelings.
This is about making clients the heroes of their own success stories. They’re not buying our methodology; they’re solving a specific business problem that’s been keeping them stuck. Our job is to help them get unstuck fast, then step back and let them own the success.
Think about it from the client’s perspective. They’re not asking for a comprehensive digital transformation roadmap with a 12-month timeline. They’re asking: “Can you help us trust our data?” Answer that question. Solve that problem. Prove your value there. Everything else can wait.
New Consulting Model: Quick Impact and Ongoing Value
Here’s how it works in practice: you start by helping clients get unstuck fast. Not a six-month engagement with phased deliverables and steering committee meetings. A focused sprint that addresses the specific problem they defined.
Think of it like Wicked: after the curtain drops and the illusion fades, the real work begins. Clients are no longer looking for a wizard. They want someone who shows up, solves what’s broken, and makes progress without the theater.
For the “we don’t trust our data” example, this could involve a four-week effort to consolidate key data sources, audit analytics platforms, establish basic governance, and build a simple dashboard that boosts confidence in their numbers. That’s it. Quick impact. Measurable results.
This “prove it or walk away” mindset builds trust faster than any relationship-building lunch ever could. When clients see you’re willing to be held accountable for results in a short window, they relax. They know you are not trying to lock them into a long-term contract. They know you are focused on their success, not billable hours. When you prove value by solving that one problem, something shifts. The client sees what’s possible. They start thinking about the next issue they need help with. That’s when ongoing value creation begins.
After Oz: The Future of Consulting
Here’s the uncomfortable part: this approach requires vulnerability. It requires “getting naked” with clients, in Patrick Lencioni’s words: being transparent about what you can and can’t do and being comfortable with the possibility that the client might walk away.
That’s a cultural shift most consulting firms aren’t prepared for. We’ve built our reputations on always having the answers, never showing weakness, and being the smartest people in the room. The old guard management consulting world perfected the wizard’s act. But that armor is exactly what’s keeping us from creating real value.
This isn’t about lowering your rates or devaluing your expertise. It’s about reframing what expertise means. Real expertise isn’t projecting an impressive image from behind a curtain; it’s knowing exactly what the client needs right now and delivering it fast.
At BlastX Consulting, we’ve seen this shift firsthand. Our most successful client relationships start with a single, focused problem. We prove value quickly. We make clients the heroes. Then we build from there. It’s not just a better way to work; it’s the only way forward. When we step out from behind the curtain, get in the trenches, and solve real MarTech problems—we are serving clients in the best way possible.
If you’re done with the behind-the-curtain theater and ready to fix the data, marketing technology, or customer experience issue that’s keeping you up at night, let’s talk.
