Questions to ask before you pay any business consultant

Why vetting matters more than credentials

Credentials tell you someone studied or practised; they don't tell you whether that person can help with your decision. An MBA, a long career or an impressive client list are good signs, but none of them ensures a fit for your business.

Vetting fills the gap. Its aim is simple: before money changes hands, find out how this person thinks, what they will produce, and how you'll know whether it worked.

Twelve questions to ask

Who does the work

1. Who exactly will I be speaking with, and will that change after I sign? Some firms put a senior person in the sales conversation and a junior one on the work. Neither is wrong, but you should know which you're buying.

2. How many clients like me are you working with right now? You want an honest answer about capacity. An advisor juggling too many accounts can't give your decision much thought.

3. What kind of businesses do you know best, and what's outside your depth? A good consultant names their strongest sector and their limits. For example, Ali's deepest track record is in HVAC and heating, and he says so.

What they've done

4. Can you name two clients and show me their live websites? Names and links can be checked. Percentages without names can't.

5. What did you actually do for them, and what did the client's own team do? Results are rarely one person's work. Listen for a clear, modest account of their part.

6. Tell me about a project that didn't go well. What did you learn? Everyone has one. Evasion is a warning sign; a specific, thoughtful answer is a good one.

How success is measured

7. What numbers will tell us this worked, and when will we check them? Expect business numbers: enquiries, close rate, average sale, margin, hours saved. Be wary of reports built on impressions or followers alone.

8. What will I receive in writing, and when? A good answer names documents and dates: a summary after a session, a plan at a milestone.

9. Will you promise a result? The right answer is no, followed by an explanation of how progress will be measured. A promise of leads, rankings or revenue should make you more cautious, not less.

How to stop

10. What is the notice period, and are there any fees I haven't seen? Get both in writing. If something isn't in the proposal, ask before you sign.

11. Who owns the work and the accounts? You should own your website, domain, ad accounts, analytics and customer data, plus any plans written for you.

12. If I stop, what do I walk away with? The answer should include every document, login and file connected to your business.

How to check claimed results yourself

Checking a result takes ten minutes. Here's how:

1. Find the business. Search the client's name and visit the website named in the case study.
2. Check it's real and active. Does the site work? Does the business appear to be operating?
3. Read the claim precisely. "300% ROI" and "300 more leads" are very different claims. Make sure you understand which one is being made.
4. Ask how it was measured. Over what period? Compared with what starting point?
5. Notice the sector. A result in one industry is evidence of method, not a forecast for yours.

You can try this on our own results page. Every result there names the client and links the live site, and we label them as results from our HVAC work. For instance, HVACDeal.ca shows 500+ leads at a 12:1 ROI.

Red flags in a proposal

Watch for these when you read any consultant's proposal:

• Vague scope. "Improve marketing" or "growth strategy" with no defined deliverable.
• Promised outcomes. Pledged leads, rankings, revenue or "page one".
• Unclear pricing. A monthly fee with no description of what it buys.
• Long lock-ins with no exit. Multi-year terms with heavy penalties for leaving.
• Accounts in their name. Ad accounts, domains or websites registered to the consultant rather than to you.
• No measures. Nothing in the proposal tells you how you'll judge whether it worked.
• Advice outside their field. Legal, tax or lending opinions from someone not licensed to give them.

One red flag isn't always fatal; it may be an oversight. Ask about it. How the consultant responds will tell you a lot.

Where business consulting stops

A business consultant advises on strategy, growth, marketing, sales and operations. Some questions belong elsewhere:

A good consultant will say "that's not my area" without being prompted. If yours offers confident answers to all of these, be careful.

A low-risk way to start

The safest first step with any new consultant is small, cheap and written. A free conversation, then a single paid session with a written summary, lets you judge how someone thinks before you commit to a larger project.

That's how we structure our own work. The free first conversation costs nothing, a paid strategy session has a clear deliverable, and larger engagements only start after a written scope. Rates are published on our pricing page.

Using these questions with us

Please do. Ask Ali any of the twelve questions in your first call. If an answer doesn't satisfy you, that's useful information and you should keep looking. To get started, the contact page explains how to reach us by call, text or email.