What happens when professional services stops being viewed as the team that simply gets customers live?

In this episode of The Consultant’s Way Podcast, Ana Gole joins Dean McMann and Anthony Paluska to share how her organization began shifting from traditional implementation work toward a more advisory, value-focused model.

Ana walks through what that transformation looked like in practice, from identifying the business results customers actually cared about to redesigning discovery, developing new consulting capabilities, and creating a more connected customer journey across sales, professional services, and customer success.

The conversation also explores what happens when consultants become more strategic partners to their clients. As trust grows, so does their ability to uncover new opportunities, recommend additional services, and help customers see a clearer path to long-term value.

But making that shift is not as simple as changing a methodology or giving a team a new set of talking points. Ana shares some of the challenges her organization encountered along the way, including the realities of changing behaviors across functions, building repeatable processes, and helping customers navigate change within their own organizations.

The result is a practical conversation about how professional services teams can move beyond implementation, strengthen their advisory role, and create greater value for both customers and the broader business.