The Value Proposition Gap: What Consulting Firms Say vs. What Clients Hear

Most consulting firms operate with weak or generic consulting propositions. There is no clarity, true differentiation, or relevance to real client pain points.

In our experience, consultancies with weak consulting propositions tend to fall into one of three categories:

• Indifference: Some consulting firms simply don’t care. They don’t believe that investing time and effort into sharpening or completely changing the value proposition will yield any meaningful results. They slapped a tagline-type of messaging on their website and believe it suffices.
  
  
• Stuck in value proposition limbo: These consulting firms know their value proposition isn’t working, but they don’t know how to fix it. Perhaps they’ve outgrown their original positioning. In many cases, it was never that strong to begin with. They sense the disconnect, but the risk of getting it wrong feels too high.
  
  
• Blind spots and the internal echo chamber: Many firms are simply unaware of just how weak their positioning is. They have convinced themselves that their value proposition resonates, often because it sounds good internally or has been in use for years. Often, these blind spots are reinforced by positive feedback from loyal clients who already “get it.” But to new prospects, the ones you actually need to convince, the message doesn’t land.

Here is what all three groups have in most instances: what they call a “value proposition” is just a description of what they do. It’s a laundry list of capabilities and services.

“We do X” may sound impactful internally. It highlights the firm’s expertise, abilities, and parameters of work. However, it means nothing to the outside world, especially not to new prospects. Clients don’t go out looking for services. They want their problems solved, and they want it done with maximum effectiveness and minimum risk.

And therein lies the disconnect between internal and external perceptions of value propositions that I’d like to discuss in this article.

How Clients Experience Value and the Dangerous Disconnect

The “internal echo chamber” consulting firms believe they have a strong value proposition because they talk about results, expertise, or capabilities:

• “We help our clients with digital transformation”
• “We reduce your cost base”
• “We optimise your supply chain”.

They are confident in their value proposition because they promise a specific result or outcome. What they often fail to understand or acknowledge is that this is simply a promise. It’s not a proven problem-to-resolution path.

As a result, outcome-focused and capability-focused propositions often fail in the first client meeting. They come off as generic and “we-centric”, the inside view. And the more a firm talks about what it does, the more it risks sounding like every other firm.

Clients often don’t experience value during the project scope or in the slide decks. They experience it by having the following questions answered:

• Clarity about the problem: Does this consulting firm grasp the full extent of the problem? Can it diagnose and fix it with surgeon-like precision? Has it accounted for all possible solutions?
  
  
• Confidence in resolution: Does this consultancy have a proven problem-to-resolution path that has been tested multiple times in the past? How confident are we in the consultancy’s ability to actually execute this path?
  
  
• Tangible business impact: Will solving this problem make a measurable difference to the business? Will it reduce risk, significantly reduce costs, or improve performance in a way that can be seen and felt on the bottom line?
  
  
• Emotional reassurance: Do we trust this consulting firm and its team members? Do they make us feel understood, or is this just a facade of a sales pitch? Will they bring confidence and clarity to a complex situation or just add to the complexity?

For example, while the “we reduce your cost base” type of value proposition will come off as generic and meaningless to clients, they will pay attention if the consultancy leads with:

• Establishing specialisation: Our clients come to us because their operating costs are out of control, and internal efforts to reduce spending haven’t been effective.
  
  
• Defining the ideal client: They typically are industrial or manufacturing firms with $20M–$200M in revenue and complex procurement processes.
  
  
• Detailing the pain points: They usually struggle with fragmented vendor contracts, inefficient procurement systems, and a lack of cost visibility.
  
  
• Establishing expectations: They can expect a 10–15% reduction in direct procurement costs and a 20% faster purchasing cycle time.
  
  
• Clarifying the roadmap: Here's how we help: We audit procurement workflows, renegotiate supplier agreements, and implement more effective sourcing strategies to secure lasting savings.

Symptoms of a Misaligned Value Proposition

There are dozens of symptoms of the root problem: misalignment between the prospects’ perception of the value proposition and the consultancy’s internal perception of its strength. 

These symptoms show up across various dimensions:

Targeting & Positioning

Symptoms:

• Inbound leads are off-target
• Firms are compared to consultancies that don’t offer similar services
• Firms win work outside their sweet spot and lose work they’re well-suited for
• Business development relies heavily on individual relationships or founder reputation

Underlying cause: the consultancy is selling broad capabilities rather than a clearly defined transformation. The positioning is reactive and inconsistent.

Consulting Proposition

Symptoms:

• Prospects frequently ask, “So what do you actually do?”
• Referrals reflect outdated or misaligned messaging
• The firm’s offer is explained differently in every conversation
• Outcome discussions are avoided because they are difficult to define

Underlying cause: the value proposition is vague or overly “we-focused”. It may sound compelling within the firm, but it lacks external clarity or relevance. It does not clearly convey the problem solved, who it's for, or how it leads to meaningful results.

Client Engagement

Symptoms:

• Proposals get stuck in decision cycles without closure
• Clients disengage after an initial strong meeting
• Sales cycles are erratic and often longer than expected

Underlying cause: the value proposition doesn’t create confidence or clarity. Clients are not drawn into a compelling journey because the firm is pitching services instead of offering a clear path to resolution and impact.

Service Offering

Symptoms:

• Teams frequently start from scratch on proposal decks
• Referrals are vague or unrelated to the firm’s core strengths
• Outcomes are difficult to define or anchor in conversations

Underlying cause: the service model is improvised or disconnected. Without a structured, repeatable offer that takes prospects on a client success journey, clients struggle to understand the value.

Delivery & Operations

Symptoms:

• Work often falls outside the firm’s core expertise
• Delivery approaches vary widely across projects
• Execution is inconsistent and inefficient

Underlying cause: the absence of a standardised delivery model leads to complexity, low repeatability, and operational strain. There is no clear link between the promise and the process.

Growth Model & Pipeline

Symptoms:

• Business development is driven by a few key individuals
• Pipeline quality is unpredictable and lacks consistency
• Project work is short-term and fails to build toward strategic growth

Underlying cause: without a compelling transformation narrative and repeatable model, growth remains opportunistic. Consulting firms chase leads rather than attract the right-fit clients systematically.

Pricing

Symptoms:

• Pricing pressure arises despite strong credentials
• Clients focus on cost rather than value
• Projects are scoped to budget rather than to impact

Underlying cause: selling capabilities positions the consultancy as a commodity. Without a differentiated problem-resolution path, pricing power is weak, and the value of transformation is unclear.

Talent & Team

Symptoms:

• Talent is misaligned with the firm’s stated value proposition
• New hires introduce inconsistency instead of clarity
• Internal teams spend excessive time tailoring the pitch per client

Underlying cause: a vague or constantly shifting proposition makes it hard to build and maintain a team with shared expertise. Talent strategies are reactive instead of aligned with strategic goals.

Trust & Risk

Symptoms:

• Clients hesitate to commit even after a strong pitch
• Firms are asked to do unpaid exploratory work
• Larger, more generic firms are perceived as safer bets

Underlying cause: without a proven, repeatable path to transformation, the consultancy is seen as a risk. The pitch may sound good, but the delivery model lacks the confidence-building structure clients look for.

Recommended reading: Do Consulting Firms Know the Real Problems They Solve?

Bridging the Gap: From Describing Services to Delivering a Transformation

Step 1: Zeroing in On the Client Pain

It is imperative that consultancies switch the mindset from “we”-centric to client-centric. And at the foundation of that should be the client’s pain points.

So I recommend that instead of leading with services, consulting firms start with urgency. What’s the problem that makes decision-makers hurry?

These core pain points should be clearly defined, and the consequences of inaction strongly highlighted

Step 2: Articulating the Desired Solution

I strongly encourage consulting firms to rethink how they talk about the end state that clients want to achieve. It shouldn’t use buzzwords or technical jargon.

Step 3: Mapping Services to Outcomes

This is about reversing the order. Instead of giving a list of services and then expecting prospects to connect them to the desired outcomes, consulting firms first state the business outcome and then, only after it’s clear, connect it to the services.

Step 4: Designing the Value Proposition

In one of our articles, we offer consulting firms a straightforward way to design a winning consulting proposition. I encourage consultancies to rethink and rearticulate their value proposition based on the following template:

1. Our clients come to us because… (urgent problem)
2. They typically are… (the ideal client profile)
3. They struggle with… (specific pain)
4. They can expect… (measurable outcome)
5. Here’s how we help… (methodology)

Step 5: Testing the New Consulting Proposition

The fear of getting it wrong stops many consulting firms from redesigning their value proposition. However, I always emphasize that it doesn’t have to be perfect or permanent to get started. A redesign of such a foundational element requires testing and validation. So I recommend starting small and using the new consulting proposition in actual meetings, iterating fast, and trying again, until hitting the sweet spot.

Recommended reading: Building a Winning Consulting Value Proposition

Nobody Buys a Capability List – Time for Action

The disconnect between what consulting firms say and what clients actually hear goes beyond being a simple messaging issue. It’s a strategic risk. 

Consultancies that continue to lead with “We do X” unknowingly set themselves on the patch of getting commoditised.

High-performing consulting firms don’t just describe their services. In fact, their list of services is one of the last things they bring up in client conversations. Instead, they own a specific, high-stakes problem and show exactly how they solve it. They lead with pain as opposed to results, processes, or capabilities. And they anchor their proposition in the high-impact transformation, not service offerings.

It’s a shift:

• From “We do X” to “We solve X”.
• From generic services to contextual use cases (their focus areas).
• From listing what the consulting firm offers to explaining the high-stakes situations where it creates the most value.
• From capability selling to outcome clarity.

It’s a simple change that can deliver a radical impact. But it demands clarity, courage, and a willingness to step outside the internal echo chamber.

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