Nothing running, no price, never says no, and in a hurry. Any two of those and you have your answer.
I have hired consultants, been one, and cleaned up after a few. The tells repeat.
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?
Kind of boring. They ask a lot of questions about how your business runs, who does what, and 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?
Pay the most attention to the answer on the last one. Everything breaks eventually, and a good consultant has a plan for it and a story about the time it happened to them.
Is it a bad sign if they are also a vendor?
It is worth noticing. Somebody who gets paid when you buy a particular tool is going to recommend that tool. I do not sell software or take referral fees.
What about the big-firm versus independent question?
The big firm has a bench and a brand. The independent is the same person on your call every time. For a small or mid-sized business the independent is usually the better deal: you are not paying for the brand, and the person who sold the work does the work. For a large company with a six-month program across four departments, a bench matters. On a first 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.