How should consulting firms make a decision?

[Abby Chang]

If a consulting firm gives one of its clients a proposal that they think can solve the client's problems efficiently and effectively, but the client has its own counter-proposal (which the consulting firm believes is not as good), what should the consulting firm do if the client insists on the consulting firm implementing it?

[Monro]

The consulting team will usually communicate with the client throughout the project at various intervals:daily,weekly,monthly.They may keep their client informed about the evolving hypothesis and make sure the consulting team is on track to meet client exceptions.

[Ian Cai]

As far as I concern, consulting firms provide advice rather than giving orders so consulting firms can not force clients to do things in any case. Consulting firms have to respect the clients and try to negotiate with them, persuading them of the consultants are capable enough to solve their problems.

[Tom Spencer]

An organisation usually turns to a consulting firm when it is not able to solve a problem by itself. The problem could be in a broad range of different areas e.g. strategy, operations, supply chain management, software development, HR management, culture change.

In my opinion, skilled consultants are better placed than the client to know how to approach a problem, what tasks to perform, and what deliverables to provide (e.g. reports, surveys, meetings). 

New York based consultant Alan Weiss wrote an excellent book called Million Dollar Consulting in which he describes a consulting project he was asked to work on for a car company (I think it was Mercedes). At the start of the consulting project, Mercedes told Alan they wanted him to provide X number of interviews, Y number of meetings, Z number of surveys, etc. And Alan responded by saying something to the effect of "I won't teach you how to make break lines if you don't teach me how to consult".  This was a pretty forceful response, but after which he ultimately went on to run a successful consulting project in the way that he thought best. 

The idea is that if a consultant is not willing to push back against a client's ideas, then they are not providing independent and objective advice, and they are doing the client a disservice. Consultants charge high fees, and clients are looking for more than just a bunch of "yes men".