Report Finds Only 1 in 3 Professional Services Firms Has the Infrastructure to Scale

Survey of 161 firms examines pipeline constraints, AI adoption, sales and marketing alignment, and scale readiness

FORT COLLINS, Colo.— Only one in three U.S. B2B professional services firms has the operational infrastructure needed to scale, and most are investing in growth before they have built the systems to support it, according to OTM’s second annual B2B Growth and Technology Trends Report.

The survey of 161 U.S. B2B professional services firms, most generating between $1 million and $10 million in annual revenue, finds that firms often add headcount, ad spend and technology before they can see what is actually working.

“The playbook most professional services firms are running was written for a different business model entirely,” said Miles Kailburn, chief executive officer of OTM. “When you are selling expertise on an 18-month timeline, adding activity before the system can support it adds more chaos, not more growth.”

Among the report’s key findings:

• Only 32% of firms surveyed meet the dual criteria of better-than-expected revenue results and improving pipeline quality, the report’s definition of readiness to scale.
• 42% of high performers cite pipeline capacity as their primary constraint. 42% of low performers cite pipeline volume as theirs. Identical figures, entirely different stages of growth.
• 76% of respondents report experimenting with or actively using artificial intelligence (AI), yet 41% cite underutilization of existing tools as their biggest technology challenge.
• High and low performers adopt AI at identical rates, 44% each, while most firms report regular sales and marketing meetings that do not produce structural alignment.
• 40% of high performers plan to increase marketing budgets compared with 20% of low performers, not because they have more money but because they can see how marketing connects to revenue.

The report finds that most firms believe more activity will create more growth, and that growth will ultimately translate into scale. In practice, firms that have not built the infrastructure required for visibility and repeatability are not able to sustain or scale that growth.

“If you do not have the infrastructure required for predictable, repeatable growth, you will not be able to scale, no matter how much activity you add,” Kailburn said.

The report’s five insights each include a diagnostic test and recommended next steps. Firm leaders can use it to identify whether their constraint is infrastructure, alignment, pipeline or investment and what to address first. The full report is available at meetotm.com/b2b-insights/.

About OTM

OTM is a Fort Collins-based marketing and sales consultancy that helps B2B companies build the strategy, systems and alignment needed to grow predictably. The firm works with founders and CEOs through its proprietary Path to Growth® framework and has been recognized by Inc. magazine and regional and national business organizations for sustained client impact. For more information, visit meetotm.com.