Paul Higgins Podcast

A client called you last week. The report used to take an hour. Now it takes five minutes. They want to know why they're still paying for the hour, and the honest answer is you don't have one. In this episode, I break down why AI didn't break your pricing model, it just exposed what was already broken the day you started selling time instead of outcomes. I walk through what's happening across Sale...

Working hard on the wrong thing and you can feel it, but you can't see it from inside the jar. In this episode, I break down the Decision Call format, what it is, why it works, and the pattern showing up across four very different SaaS partner businesses I ran calls with recently. One was a Microsoft partner at $800K running two business models pretending to be one. One was a Salesforce solopreneu...

Why you should listen Jay McBain breaks down the data behind why 51% of partners are in double-digit profit decline while the industry grows at 10.2%, and what separates the partners winning from the ones quietly falling behind. Learn the specific positioning shift that gets you found by large language models, buyers, and vendors, including why "I sell to midsize banks in Perth and do compliance"...

Your clients keep asking you about AI, and you keep talking about tools. That's the problem. In this episode, I break down why most SaaS partners are giving away the most valuable conversation they could be having, AI readiness diagnosis, for free. I share Jay McBain's latest research showing 82% of channel partners don't feel prepared to deliver AI services, and I unpack the real reason it's not...

Your revenue is inconsistent and you already know why you haven't made the decision yet. In this episode, I break down the WHO problem most SaaS partners mistake for a skills problem, why serving more industries makes you the best option for no one, and the audit I run on every client's last twelve months of revenue to find their real signal. I share what Jay McBain's data shows about the fastest-...

You didn't lose that deal in the proposal. You lost it six months earlier, before the prospect ever found your name. In this episode, I break down why the buyer's journey for tech business owners has shifted, why AI is accelerating it, and why most owners are still showing up only at the last two touch points and wondering why win rates feel random. I walk through the channel analyst data from Jay...

Why you should listen Donald runs one of the top B2B sales podcasts in the world, heard in over 155 countries, and breaks down the exact LinkedIn-first sequence he uses to turn cold prospects into booked calls without paid ads or cold spam. Learn the three-step system Donald uses to move a prospect from stranger to conversation: engage on their content, send a personalised connection request tied...

Watched your vendor's share price lately, or noticed the quiet changes to partner fees, commissions, and cloud service minimums? In this episode, I break down why Wall Street is pricing in the collapse of the per-seat model, and why platforms restructure partner economics long before they touch executive pay. I share the pattern I've seen across 670 tech business owners, including what happened to...

Most tech business owners hitting mid-six figures aren't stuck because they're not working hard enough. They're stuck because they're running a business built on assumptions nobody has ever tested. In this episode, I walk through the exact audit I did on my own business when activity was high and revenue wasn't moving. I share what the data revealed: a newsletter that warmed but never converted, a...

Why you should listen Molly launched the world's first AI-focused content membership in 2021, two years before ChatGPT, and has generated content that reached over 39 million views. She brings hard-won perspective on what separates human-first AI strategy from AI zombie content that erodes trust. Learn the SAAVE framework: a five-part method for identifying what makes you a uniquely weird human, s...

Platform agnosticism made sense when software budgets were small. That era is ending. In this episode, I break down why the "death of SaaS" narrative is the wrong read, and why the tech business owners who believe it are about to miss the biggest software wave in a decade. I walk through what Monday.com's CEO said on the 20VC podcast about the budget equation flipping from headcount to platforms,...

Using AI to diagnose your own business is like Googling your blood test results and treating yourself. In this episode, I share what seven years of post-transplant care taught me about pattern recognition, and why the same principle applies to the WHO and WHAT decisions most tech business owners are avoiding. I walk through the difference between a tool that helps you execute and someone who has s...

Most tech consultants building their first team make the same mistake. It's not the hire. It's what happens on day one. In this episode, I walk through the exact 10-item induction call checklist I use with every new hire, whether they're based in the Philippines, Australia, or North America. I cover the questions that flip the dynamic from day one, the ones most consultants skip entirely, and why...

Working 60-hour weeks and still watching your revenue flatline? In this episode, I break down the two strategic decisions most tech consultants have never made: WHO to target and WHAT business model to run. I share how one consultant went from competing on commodity rates with payroll anxiety every month to building a specialist practice, hiring a team, and clearing over $30K a month without chang...

Why you should listen Angie scaled from an 18-year marketing agency to leading AI adoption for 600-person corporations, giving her a rare ground-level view of exactly where companies get stuck and what actually moves people from fear to fluency. Learn the "people-first" sequencing Angie now uses before any AI tool deployment, including how she frames corporate AI training as "recess" to sidestep r...

You're at mid six figures, your calendar is full, and you're still grinding for $20,000 projects. Meanwhile, there are enterprise and mid-market contacts sitting in your CRM right now who could write $200,000 checks, and you haven't called them because the small deals feel safer. In this episode, I walk through the exact WHO decision that keeps most tech consultants stuck in the project grind, and...

Clients aren't pushing back on your rates, so you assume you're priced right. That's the most expensive assumption in consulting. In this episode, I break down how one consulting partner discovered she was leaving $55 to $95 per hour on the table because she priced based on confidence instead of market value. I walk through the exact sequence she used to move from $40,000 per month to $63,000 per...

Why you should listen Doug Pelletier has spent 35 years winning enterprise accounts (Disney, Pfizer, Xerox) as a small Salesforce partner, proving that company size is irrelevant when your positioning and sales approach are right. Learn why Doug hired a General Manager at just six employees, and how that single WHO decision helped him scale to 130 people without burning out on tasks outside his st...

You've landed a foothold in a big company, delivered a great project, the client loved it, so why are you still stuck in the same corner six months later winning the same small deals? In this episode, I break down why most consultants stay trapped in one department and how to turn a single project into an enterprise-wide engagement. I share how one Airtable consultant turned a $20,000 clinical tri...

Stuck at 50% of your revenue target because your pipeline depends on someone else's priorities? In this episode, I break down the partner program trap and why so many platform consultants stay dependent on AE referrals even when they know it's holding them back. I walk through the exact 12-month transition sequence I use with clients: pick your niche, build pain-point messaging, start direct outre...

Why you should listen Ferny reveals how Sherpaneer uses AI across operations, from capacity planning models to proposal development, giving you a practical blueprint for integrating AI into your own consulting workflows. Learn how Ferny and her partner built a fully self-sourced pipeline through reciprocal partnerships with adjacent vendors like Gong, Clari, and FinancialForce, without relying on...

Still relying on referrals and hoping the next one brings a decent project? In this episode, I break down why your referral strategy is actually killing your margins, not growing them. I share the pattern I see with over 200 tech consultants who are great at delivery but trapped in legacy business development, constantly auditioning for clients who see them as a vendor instead of a strategic partn...

Ever finish a 60-hour week and realize you didn't do a single thing to find better clients? In this episode, I break down why most tech consultants stay trapped in work that feels productive but actually keeps them stuck. I share the story of a client who was exhausted, in debt, and over-delivering on every project until we made two critical decisions together: the WHO (estate attorneys only) and...

Why you should listen Christine Duque, former Big Four consultant and CEO of Alonsera, shares why only 10% of global companies are seeing real impact from AI, and what separates the successful ones from the rest. Learn Christine's "Three A's" framework for making AI consumable: Automated, Anticipatory, and Augmented intelligence, plus how to progress toward autonomous operations. Get practical gui...

Stuck three months into a niche and wondering if you picked wrong? In this episode, I share the story of a client who spent 14 months doubting his industrial automation niche before everything clicked. His first outreach response took 14 months to close. A newsletter reader opened the same email 25 times before becoming a client. I break down why most consultants quit at the exact moment their pla...