The challenge
Haldane was a 40-person accounting firm with deep specialist expertise in R&D tax relief and international structuring. Their website and content targeted 'small business accounting', the highest-volume search terms in their category. It worked, in the sense that inquiries arrived constantly. Almost none could afford the specialist work the firm was actually good at, and partners were spending billable hours on qualification calls that ended in a polite decline.
What we did
Interviewed the clients they wanted more of
Twelve interviews with their best-fit clients revealed those buyers never searched 'accountant'. They searched very specific technical situations: R&D claim eligibility after a grant, transfer pricing documentation thresholds and permanent establishment risk.
Deliberately stopped ranking for volume terms
We retired or noindexed the general small-business content that drove most of their traffic. Inquiry volume fell 46%, which was agreed in advance as a success condition, not a risk. But it still took nerve to hold through two quarters.
Built specialist content only a specialist could write
Partner interview extraction turned technical expertise into 30 pieces of hard, expert content, each reviewed and by-lined by the responsible partner with their professional credentials shown.
Qualified before the partner call, not during it
A structured inquiry form surfacing entity structure, turnover band, and situation type meant partners arrived at calls already knowing whether it was a fit. Partner hours spent on unqualified calls fell by roughly two thirds.
The result
Average engagement fee grew 104% and revenue per partner hour rose 189%. Total inquiries fell 46%. That was the intended outcome, since the inquiries that stopped arriving were the ones the firm was declining anyway.
What result did Haldane Advisory get? +104% in average engagement fee over 10 months, completed in 2026.
“They told us to switch off the marketing that was generating most of our leads. Every instinct said no. Our partners now spend their time on work they're actually good at, and we bill nearly twice as much per engagement.”
Figures reflect real engagement outcomes at the time they were measured. This is a demonstration build — the client name and identifying details above are illustrative.