A professional-services firm was growing revenue but losing margin every quarter. Leadership couldn’t see which clients and service lines actually made money.
Role
Fractional COO
Sector
Professional services
Engagement
10 months
Focus
Margin · pricing
THE SITUATION
⚠ Profit shrinking as revenue grew
⚠ One blended P&L, no line-level view
⚠ Pricing set by gut, not cost
The shift, in numbers
OUTCOME
+11 pts
Gross margin recovered
100%
Lines now costed accurately
3
Unprofitable lines repriced or cut
What I did
01
Re-cut the P&L
Clean cost allocation by client, line, and team.
02
Found the leaks
Surfaced the work quietly losing money.
03
Fixed pricing & mix
Repriced, restructured, or exited the losers.
04
Made it stick
A monthly margin review leadership owns.
“
We finally know which work makes us money — and we stopped doing the work that doesn’t.