Finding the best management consulting firm is difficult. Most firms are either one of the “big three” in the consulting industry that everyone is familiar with, or they are part of a large mass of smaller firms that may appear indistinguishable from each other.

Searching the web for “best management consulting firms” isn’t much help. Most firms that make such lists are ranked on things like employee size and revenues — as if they should be graded on how much money they extract from clients rather than results.

The truth is that top management consulting firms meet the following criteria:

• They are experts in the problem that your organization is trying to solve
• They are available when you need them
• They are able to commit their best talent to meet your needs

If your organization is undergoing a massive transformation, digital or otherwise, a big three firm may be just what is required. However, for smaller projects and initiatives, these firms may not be the right choice. For starters, they are less likely to have specific expertise in your industry, region, or domain than a smaller, more specialized firm. They are also likely to hand out smaller projects to their most inexperienced consultants, leaving your organization in the lurch.

For many management consulting engagements, a boutique consulting firm or individual consultant is a better — and far more affordable — way to go. Finding an expert or team with specific expertise in practice areas that matter to you in healthcare, financial services, manufacturing, supply chain, consumer goods, private equity, or other industries, will take you further faster than ramping up a junior consultant from a big three firm. The rise of independent management consulting has only added to this competitive advantage. Freelancers now make up one-third of the workforce, with some of the fastest growth happening among highly-skilled knowledge workers.

Leaders need to be crystal clear on their expectations and desired outcomes before talking with firms or consultants.”

Whether your project involves strategy consulting (entering new markets, supply chain strategy, transformation), performance improvement (operations, cost reduction, pricing), implementation consulting (PMO, interim management), M&A (strategy, due diligence, integration), there are a few standard practices that can help you find the right management consultant or firm.

• Define the work to be done. Many management consulting engagements fail before they begin thanks to loosely-defined goals, objectives, and outcomes. In fact, many larger consulting firms feed off this failure to string several redundant engagements together! Leaders need to be crystal clear on their expectations and desired outcomes before talking with firms or consultants. This should include clear ownership, success metrics, communication plans, deliverables, and deadlines.
• Assess the skills gap. Now that you understand the work to be done, it’s time to evaluate the skills required to complete your project. The right firm or consultant will complement the skills you have in-house while bringing additional expertise to help you deliver. What other similar projects have they completed? Do they have the right industry expertise? What technical or analytical skills do they bring to the table?
• Screen multiple firms — quickly. Often the process of evaluating, hiring, and onboarding a management consultant is a long, drawn-out affair. Working with a partner like Catalant with a broad community of expert-level consultants is a much better option. Rather than contacting multiple firms through their websites and engaging in redundant interviews, clients can evaluate multiple consultants more efficiently.