I have hired consultants, been one, and cleaned up after a few. The tells are consistent.
What are the red flags in the first ten minutes?
- No price until "discovery." Discovery is where they find out what you can afford.
- "Transformation," "journey," "unlock." Vocabulary that does not describe anything you could point at.
- Urgency. The window is closing, your competitors are ahead. The window is not closing.
- Nothing to show. Ask what they built that a business uses today. A demo made last week does not count. Neither does a case study with no name on it.
- The team is somewhere else. A smooth person on the call and "our engineers" later. Ask to meet an engineer. Watch what happens.
What does a good one sound like?
Boring, honestly. They ask a lot of questions about how your business actually works, who does what, where the hours go. They tell you which of your ideas are bad. They say a number. They tell you about a project that did not go well and what they did about it. They are not in a hurry, because they have other work.
What questions should I ask?
- What have you built that is running right now, and who can I call?
- What would you tell me not to do?
- What does this cost, and what does it not include?
- Who does the work, and can I meet them?
- What happens when it breaks?
The last one matters most. Everything breaks eventually. A good consultant has a plan for that and will tell you about the time it happened to them.
Is it a bad sign if they are also a vendor?
It is a sign to notice. Somebody who gets paid when you buy a particular tool is going to recommend that tool. That is not evil, it is just gravity. I do not sell software and I do not take referral fees, so when I recommend a tool, it is because it fits.
What about the big-firm versus independent question?
The big firm has a bench and a brand. The independent has the actual person on your call every time. For a small or mid-sized business the independent is usually the better deal, because you are not paying for the brand, and because the person who sold it to you is the person who does it. For a large company with a six-month program across four departments, a bench matters. I do both, and on the call I will tell you which one you need, even if it is not me.
Answered by Jared Lukes, Minneapolis. Twenty-five years in brand, UX, and technology, currently holding fractional AI and technology seats at three companies. About Jared.