Choose the commercial model for a consulting engagement — and know what it costs you
For firms selling or buying strategy, business, deal-advisory and technology consulting who want the commercial model to fit the work.
- Engagement type
- Team Pod
- Experts
- 2 experts
- Hours
- ~30
- Duration
- 2 weeks
What the client needed
A firm needed to understand the commercial models prevalent in consulting across four service lines — strategy, business, M&A deal advisory and technology consulting: which models are used, their benefits, challenges and prerequisites, what drives the choice, and how the split has moved in the last 12–18 months.
The brief
The questions on the table
As the client wrote them, lightly shortened. Client and respondents are not named.
- Q1
Which commercial models — T&M, fixed price, milestone-based, outcome-linked — are used in each service line?
- Q2
What are the benefits, challenges and prerequisites of each?
- Q3
What drives a client or a firm to a particular model?
- Q4
Has the split changed in 12–18 months, and why?
The hours
What the work involved
- 01
Consultation guide by service line
Four lines, same questions, so the answers compare.
- 02
Expert consults
Two leaders who have priced and run large technology and transformation engagements for global providers.
- 03
Synthesis
Models by service line, with the conditions under which each works and the direction of travel.
Deliverables
What the client received
- Commercial models by service lineWith prevalence.
- Benefits, challenges and prerequisitesPer model.
- What drives the choiceFrom both sides.
- The 12–18-month shiftWith reasons.
- Consultation notesDe-identified.
The terms
What an engagement like this costs
You buy hours in blocks and can change the expert at the end of any block, at no extra cost. Longer projects run in stages: pause after a block, pick up the next stage when you are ready.
- Rate band
- $65–$250 /hr
- Senior specialists can be up to $500
- Hour blocks
- 1 · 2 · 5 · 10 · 20 · 50 · custom
- This engagement
- Team Pod · ~30 hours · 2 weeks
More in IT services
Choosing a commercial model?
Describe what you needFor example: “We are structuring a technology-consulting engagement and want to know when fixed price or outcome-linked beats T&M.”
We aim to come back with matched experts within 24 to 72 hours.