The Thurlow Study · Edition Two
108 of 119 expert businesses proved they were good. Only 22 told a new client what to buy.
We read the websites of 119 established coaches, consultants and advisory firms the way a new client would: no referral, no introduction, just the site. Nearly all proved they were good at what they do. Most left the buying questions open: which offer fits, what happens next, what it costs. Only 3 said what working with them costs. A referral answers those questions for you. A stranger only has your site.
Edition Two in full, including the five checks you can run on your own site. We'll email you the report, then occasional practical insights from Thurlow Marketing Group. Unsubscribe any time. Privacy policy
What we found
What a buyer could not find out
For each of the 119 firms added in this edition, we walked the public site and coded the same ten buyer questions as answered, partly answered or open, with the page behind each code. A second coder re-coded 24 of the firms without seeing the first coding and agreed on 87% of the codes. Six of the ten questions are below; the report has all ten.
The median firm fully answered 4 of the 10 questions. No firm answered all ten.
The first row is about the founder. Every other row is about the purchase. Nearly every firm had built the first. Few had built the rest.
Edition Two
What's in the report
- 01
The 10 questions every new client asks
What a stranger needs to know before getting in touch, and how many of the 119 businesses answered each one.
- 02
Why more offers make you harder to choose
Of 8 businesses with one offer, 7 told a new client it fit them. Of 111 with several, 15 did. The fix is smaller than cutting services.
- 03
Why you're the last person to notice
45 of 64 businesses had written down why a client should choose them. Only 2 put it where a first-time visitor looks.
- 04
Why referrals hide the problem
In 43 of 64 businesses, the site couldn't do what a referrer does in person: vouch for the work. When referrals slow, or you launch something new, the gap shows.
- 05
What changes in your field
Coaching and leadership, finance and risk, operations, HR and strategy consulting. The pattern held in all five; the question most often missed depends on what you sell.
- 06
Five checks to run on your own site
You do them yourself, with your site open. Each one shows a question your site leaves open for a new client, and where to start.
Read this before you quote it
What this study is not
These are firms Thurlow reviewed as potential clients, not a random sample of the market. The figures describe this set of firms and should not be read as industry statistics.
No firm is named, in this edition or any that follow. Where the report uses an example, the firm is anonymized.
Nothing was implemented at any firm and no outcome is claimed for any of them. The review used public information only, with no access to analytics, pipelines or financials.
The grouping into families, the reasons each fault goes unnoticed, and the referrer's job are our classification rather than a count. The report marks each one. The two editions measured the questions differently, so their figures sit side by side and are never added together.
Reviewed and written by Segun Makinde, founder of Thurlow Marketing. Thurlow helps founder-led expert firms become easier to find, recognize, trust and choose. With the set past 100 firms, the study now publishes once a year.
Proven, Not Chosen
Read Edition Two
150 firms, 1,190 buyer questions and the five checks you can run on your own site this week.
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