How to Test a Consulting Value Proposition With Three Simple Questions

Many consulting firms think they already have a clear proposition.

However, in our work with consulting firms, we’ve discovered that what many firms call a proposition is often just a well-worded description of their services.

Being clear about the list of offered services is not the same as being clear about the value the consulting firm can deliver, and that’s often where things start to fall apart.

Description vs Proposition – What’s the Difference?

We see it often: consulting firms leading conversations with prospects by discussing the services it offers and technologies it utilizes. This is almost a gut-level instinct – describing technical expertise and capabilities as a way to make the strongest possible first impression.

Unfortunately for these consultancies, this attempt to impress backfires. Prospects are left to figure out how different services could potentially address their pain points. And most of the time, they just don’t. They move on.

A description is, by default, inward-facing. It explains what a consultancy does.

A value proposition, on the other hand, is outward-facing. It explains how a specific client base benefits from working with the consultancy. In other words, it showcases why this consulting firm gets hired.

Why This Differentiation Matters

Initiating client conversations with a description opens up consulting firms to a wide range of challenges as they try to push through to the closing stage:

• Since it is not clear what problem they solve for their clients, the ability to charge premium fees is heavily undermined.

• There is weak pre-qualification of buyers. These consulting firms tend to cast a wide net in the hopes of maximizing their chances.

• Sales conversations require constant follow-ups, additional slide decks, long internal discussions on the client side and significant attention from senior experts on the consultancy’s side. 

Conversations that are guided by strong value propositions avoid these barriers:

• It is instantly clear who the consultancy can help – and, equally important, who it is not suited for.

• There is clarity about the high-impact problem the consulting firm addresses. Instead of getting distracted by surface-level results or generic promises, the consultancy uses its expertise to go straight to the heart of the issue – where a real difference can be made.

• There is little need to justify prices. If a client is sold on the value, the exact processes, manpower allocation, technologies, and methodologies become secondary to the conversation of what the roadmap and accountability should look like.

Recommended reading: The Impact of a Clear Consulting Proposition on Service Design

The Five-Minute Test for a Consulting Value Proposition

Here is an exercise we do often in our work with consultancies – it’s straightforward, quick, and has triggered some interesting discussions.

We grab two to three senior people and ask three questions:

1. Who is your consultancy not for?

2. Why would someone pick your consultancy over a cheaper generalist?

3. In one line, can you tell us what your consultancy does, for whom, and why it matters?

Let’s review each question.

Q1: Who is your consultancy not for?

If a senior consultant can't name a client type the business would turn away, the consultancy is not positioned. It’s just available.

Exclusion sharpens positioning. It signals a focus, specialization.

Q2: Why would someone pick your consultancy over a cheaper generalist?

With this question, we are not looking for the polished answer. Not "we have the best people" or "we genuinely care" – everyone says that.

The real answer lives in a specific focus, viewpoint, method, or result. If senior members of a consultancy can't name it in two sentences, something is usually off.

Q3: In one line, can you tell us what your consultancy does, for whom, and why it matters?

We are not interested in the tagline. We want a straightforward answer: what the consultancy does, for whom, and why it matters. 

What The Test Reveals

This simple 5-minute exercise can reveal quite a bit about the internal problems of a consulting firm.

• Strength of the proposition: whether one actually exists or it’s just a well-rehearsed service description.

• Internal alignment: whether the team is pulling together in the same direction or framing its value differently to a wide range of prospects.

• Sales reality: whether the team engages in value proposition-driven discussions or defaults to competing on pricing and persuasion.

• Commoditization of services: whether the consultancy competes in a crowded middle or stands out for its clarity.

If the three people in the room give three different answers, the consulting firm doesn’t have a proposition. It has a committee.

And the friction that the consultancy feels while running the exercise? Is exactly where the work is (and, likely, where better answers are hiding).

In Conclusion: Turning Inconsistencies Into a Starting Point

I urge consulting firms to run this exercise. And to pay attention to both what senior consultants say as well as how they say it – the hesitation, the variation, the need to clarify and qualify, the fallback to generic language. Are there strong variations in answers or slight discrepancies? Do some struggle to explain in a simple language and feel the need to resort to technical jargon? Is the language inward- or outward-facing?

This is where the insights lie. This exercise helps reveal not only whether a consultancy does indeed have a proposition but, if it doesn’t, where the frictions lie and, as such, where work must begin.

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