Consulting is an emotion-driven purchase.

If you don’t understand your consulting prospects’ desires and fears, their sources of happiness and anxiety, your business development efforts will hit hard ceilings.

But what about your emotions? Could they be undermining your success?

Let’s talk about dolls.

You know, those miniature people that kids used to play with back in the olden days (before AI-enabled smart toys).

Perhaps you played with dolls for hours, or perhaps your experience (like mine) consisted mainly of popping the heads off your sister’s toys.

Either way, it’s worth understanding the emotional dolls that are sitting on your mental shelf, murmuring in your ear and, in some cases, hampering your efforts to win business.

Virtually every consultant plays with these unhelpful, emotional dolls at some point.

Silencing their whispers is how you make breakthroughs in your consulting firm’s revenue.

Chucky Doll (a.k.a., Fear)

Chucky is pretty darn terrifying.

He’s also the most well-known emotional doll and the one that’s talked about most often.

Chucky represents the fear of rejection.

He haunts your outreach efforts, scaring you away from picking up the phone to contact prospects for your consulting firm.

Unless you’re the rare duck that loves contacting people who aren’t expecting your call, you’ve probably seen this side of Chucky.

Ironically, Chucky also can haunt you with the fear of success—knowing that if you do win the business, you’ll have to deliver on your promises to your client.

The Chucky Remedy:

As with all fears, regularly confronting Chucky will disempower him.

Make your business development efforts routine and regular.

Fix them on your calendar every week.

Teddy Bear (a.k.a., Comfort or Satisfaction)

Okay, Teddy Bears aren’t really dolls, but they still laze on your mental shelf, sipping fuzzy cocktails and high-fiving you for how well you’re already doing.

If you’re severely dissatisfied with your finances, you’ll put your business development efforts into high gear.

However, once you’re feeling warm, well-fed and comfortable, Teddy Bear pops up.

There’s nothing wrong with being content with where you are, of course.

Just understand that while Teddy is perched prominently on your mental shelf, you’re unlikely to make much progress.

The Teddy Bear Remedy:

If you want to quiet your Teddy Bear, give him a hug each night then put him away until the next evening.

In other words, happily embrace where you are today, but don’t be content to occupy the same place tomorrow.

Russian Nesting Dolls (a.k.a., Overwhelm)

You thought one, unassuming doll was wobbling on your mental shelf.

Then, in a blink, out pops another doll.

And another and another.

Suddenly you’re frazzled and feeling like there’s no time to look for new consulting business.

Besides, if you did win another consulting project, there’d be no time to get the work done with high quality.

Russian nesting dolls fill up your mental shelf when you’ve underinvested in systemization and staff for your consulting firm.

The Russian Nesting Doll Remedy:

1) Line up additional resources (a combination of human and virtual/AI resources is best).

2) Ensure you’ve equipped your additional resources to succeed.

3) Transfer big gobs of your work to the resources you’ve put in place.

All three of those steps are hard and scary. (Yikes, there’s Chucky again!)

Raggedy Ann (a.k.a., Nostalgia)

You know what makes it hard to move forward with your consulting firm?

Your past.

Raggedy Ann embodies all those years of experience and effort that have made you the success you are today.

She loves you, you love her, and setting her aside is brutally difficult.

Yet, your consulting firm’s business development efforts are stalling (or will stall at some point) because you’re hanging onto what you used to do; what your clients bought five years ago; what won you praise previously.

The Raggedy Ann Remedy:

You must meet the market where it is now, not where you wish it would be or where you had success in days of yore.

In my experience, Raggedy Ann’s a tough doll to knock off the shelf.

Redefining yourself, your consulting firm, and your offering requires a conscious decision and plenty of fortitude.

What emotional dolls have you (or other consultants you know) had to put away to succeed in consulting?

Text and images are © 2026 David A. Fields, all rights reserved.