The Business Model Canvas for Consultants and Coaches

As a consultant or coach, you use the Business Model Canvas in two ways: for your own business and with clients. Both are valuable. Both require a slightly different approach.

Why the BMC works so well in advisory work

The canvas is a shared language. You can talk about strategy for a long time, but the moment you put a canvas on the table, everyone has the same reference point. Discussions become more concrete. Assumptions become visible. That's exactly what you want in a session.

It also forces choices. Not thinking about your customer, but deciding exactly who your customer is. Not talking about value, but naming the specific problem you solve. Those two things sound the same. They aren't.

How to use it in client engagements

Phase 1: diagnosis. Have the client fill in the canvas themselves, ideally before your first meeting. Not to get it "right", but to see how they understand their own business model. Where are they vague? Where is an answer missing? Those are exactly the places where you add value.

Phase 2: analysis. Check whether the blocks are internally consistent. Does the Revenue Stream match the Customer Segment they named? Do the Key Activities logically connect to the Value Proposition? Inconsistencies are your entry points.

Phase 3: adjustment. Update the canvas together based on what you've learned. This is where most of the value is. Not filling in boxes, but the conversation that happens when you challenge an assumption.

Tips for a good canvas session

Keep the group to six or seven people maximum. More than that and you lose sharpness. Large groups produce full canvases. Not sharp ones.

Use time limits per block. Ten minutes for Customer Segments, five minutes for discussion, then move on. Without time pressure, groups argue endlessly about wording.

Document digitally straight away. A photo of a sticky-note canvas is the worst thing you can give a client. Enter the canvas directly into a tool so you can share it after the session, update it and compare it to a version from three months later. Version history is underrated when you're running longer engagements.

Your own business model

Many consultants and coaches who use the BMC with clients have never explicitly mapped their own model. Understandable. You're busy. But it's worth doing.

What is your actual value proposition? "Good workshops" is not an answer. What do you make possible that others don't? How does your model scale if you get more clients? Are your Revenue Streams diverse enough if one big client leaves?

Those questions are uncomfortable. That's exactly why they're useful. If your own model is sharp, you're a more credible conversation partner for clients doing the same work.

You can use mybmctool for free to map your own canvas and share it with clients via a link.