If Most Firms Are Struggling with Their Pipelines, What’s Your Next Move?
Only 7% of professional services leaders report that their sales pipelines are strong and growing.
That data comes from our business development study, (2025 RSW/US Survey Report – Rolling Into 2026) and it’s a surprising snapshot.
Now the better news:
50% of firms feel like while their pipelines are weak, they are improving.
I understand that optimism does not automatically equal results. But a positive outlook is not just helpful. It is necessary.
This is not about telling everyone to sing Kumbaya together. It is about recognizing that believing growth is possible changes how you show up and how you operate.
And in this case, you need to believe you are going to win more new business before the year is out.
Business Development Patterns
We saw similar patterns during the 2008 recession and again during the pandemic.
- A major event occurs
- Prospects pull back because of fear and uncertainty
- Eventually, those same prospects have to turn activity back on to support their business
- Things stabilize until the next major event shows up
The purpose of this report is for you to take each category and review it with your team.
Every area matters. Getting input from your team on what they’re seeing, and then building practical game plans, is a worthwhile and necessary exercise.
One thing is clear. Sales cycles and budgets are starting to move back toward more familiar territory.
Business development is still a process, and you cannot afford to ignore that. That is exactly why you have to keep the engine running.
With that in mind, the rest of this post focuses on the prospects and target companies you are going after.
Prospect List Building
Building prospect lists is one of the most time-consuming parts of business development.
Over the last several years, platforms and AI tools have made this work more efficient. But for many small and mid-sized professional services firms, those platforms come with two challenges.
They are expensive.
And you still need a human being to manage and guide the process.
This is a big part of what we do for our clients, and it gives us the ability to test different tools and approaches to build more targeted lists.
But if you’re not working with us, and the budget doesn’t allow for an ongoing platform investment, here are two practical options that fall into the low-hanging fruit category.
They typically get you in the door faster, and we know they work because we use both with every client program.
First-Degree LinkedIn Contacts
Some firms come to us having done a solid job using their LinkedIn connections. But in our experience, roughly 75% have not really tapped into this at all, even though it can be a very productive place to start.
If you have not already, downloading your connections and reaching out through LinkedIn can be an effective and relatively easy way to reopen doors with contacts who are warm, or at least warmer than a cold prospect.
The messaging should be more personal and more direct, but this is a list you should absolutely be using if you have been ignoring it.
You can find these instructions online, but here they are in one place for convenience.
How to download your first-degree LinkedIn contacts (CSV)
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Open LinkedIn on desktop and sign in.
Go to linkedin.com and log into the account whose connections you want to export. -
Go to Settings & Privacy.
Click your profile photo in the top right, then select Settings & Privacy. -
Open the Data Privacy area.
In the left sidebar, click Data privacy. Under How LinkedIn uses your data, choose Get a copy of your data. -
Choose Connections.
In the Export your data section, select Want something in particular? and check Connections. You can also request the full archive if you want everything. -
Request the file.
Click Request archive. You may be asked to re-enter your password. -
Wait for the download email or refresh the page.
LinkedIn will prepare your export and email you a link when it is ready. For connections only, this often takes just a few minutes, but it can take up to 24 hours. -
Download and open the CSV.
You will receive either a ZIP file or a CSV named Connections.csv. Open it in Excel or Google Sheets.
Typically, this file will include First Name, Last Name, Email Address if available, Company, Position, LinkedIn Profile URL, and the date you connected.
If you plan to use direct mail or other channels, you will likely need access to an additional data platform.
But the real advantage here is simple. You can message these contacts directly on LinkedIn and start conversations with people who already know who you are.
Past Clients
Just like with LinkedIn contacts, some firms do a good job staying in touch with past clients. But in our experience, 40 to 50% do not.
The good news is that this group gives you several different ways to prospect.
1. Your main point of contact is still there, but you stopped working with the company
This is usually the toughest situation.
If things ended poorly, and your main contact is still in place, this is probably not the right place to start.
Timing matters here, and there is no universal rule for how long you should wait. In many cases, it makes sense to set an internal reminder a few months out and revisit it later, assuming you parted on good terms.
2. Your main point of contact moved to another company
This is the ideal scenario, especially if you had a strong relationship with that person.
Many firms win new work this way. And yet, just as many fail to keep track of where those contacts go.
If you have not been doing this, build that list now. These are some of the warmest opportunities you will find.
3. Your main point of contact is gone, but you still have the company history
This is less warm, but it is still valuable.
You did work for that organization. There is often someone still there who remembers it. And even if not, you should identify who is in that role now and build your outreach around the work you did and the results you delivered.
That history gives you credibility you do not have with a completely cold prospect.