Situation for consultant #1:

• Client needs help in determining business strategy and writing business plan for its Board
• Consultant follows traditional MBA frameworks by performing 3Cs (Customer, Competition, Company), Porter's Five Forces and competitive advantage, etc. to research and analyze the best way for client to move forward
• Consultant uses structured frameworks for outlining and documenting the tactics and logistics for pursuing the business (e.g., marketing 4Ps, traditional business plan outlines)
• Consultant prepares full financial proformas (balance sheet, income statement, cash flow statement, and notes)
• Consultant writes business plan to spec
• Consultant delivers written business plan to client
• Consultant invoices $40,000
• Client ends up being lukewarm about the deliverable.

Situation for consultant #2 (differences in bold):

• Client needs help in determining business strategy and writing business plan for its Board
• Consultant sets up engagement timeframe and governance structure with consulting team and client leads, extended resources for all key workstreams, and steering/approval committee
• Consultant follows traditional MBA frameworks by performing 3Cs (Customer, Competition, Company), Porter's Five Forces and competitive advantage, etc. to research and analyze the best way for client to move forward
• Consultant sets up workshops and strategy sessions with the executive team, key functional managers, etc.
• Consultant uses structured frameworks for outlining and documenting the tactics and logistics for pursuing the business (e.g., marketing 4Ps, traditional business plan outlines)
• Consultant sets up regular review meetings and working sessions with client to review best practices, evaluate options, and refine and revise strategy
• Consultant prepares full financial proformas (balance sheet, income statement, cash flow statement, and notes)
• Consultant sets up working sessions to familiarize client with models, align financials with chart of accounts for client, get client input, and educate client about industry benchmarks
• Consultant writes business plan to spec
• Consultant involves client with interim drafts and presentations and gets organizational buy-in
• Consultant delivers written business plan to client (largely same as before)
• Consultant invoices $250,000
• Client is very happy and ends up getting multimillion dollar business moving forward through Board and project launched.

Vanilla business plan $40,000. Client buy-in ... priceless.

Update (3/5/08): Find more interesting papers on Management Consulting.