How do I compare three digital consulting firms fairly?
Three consulting firms, three different proposals — how do I decide? When the only number on the table is price, the decision collapses into one dimension. ⚖️
And price is the most misleading row in the comparison: the same figure can mean senior expertise on one side and template work on the other.
Short answer: compare firms in one table with five columns — unit effort, delivery list, reporting, ownership, exit. Price is read last. 📊
Why shouldn’t the comparison start with price?
Price is an output; without knowing what it buys, it means nothing. 💰
How is the five-column table built?
Keep it to one page so it actually gets used. 📋
Columns 3 and 4: reporting and ownership
Is the reporting date and content written down, and are the accounts in your name? If these two columns are empty, the proposal is eliminated whatever the price. 🔐
How do I read references properly?
Every shop window shines; the verification method is what separates firms. 🔎
Which four questions eliminate candidates?
BU BÖLÜMÜN ÖZETİ
- “May I see a sample monthly report?”
- “What did you stop for a client last month?”
- “When will you tell me my target cost per enquiry?”
- “If we part ways, what happens to accounts and data?”
Four questions, five minutes — that is how short screening can be. 🧪
“May I see a sample monthly report?”
The document that arrives answers everything: are the three numbers there, is there a breakdown, is there a decision line? A candidate who refuses, or sends a showcase deck, is out. 📄
“What did you stop for a client last month?”
A concrete answer is proof of management. “We optimise continuously” is the polite version of not looking at the panel. ✂️
“When will you tell me my target cost per enquiry?”
The honest answer is “after we measure, at the end of the first month.” A firm that throws a figure out in the meeting is baiting a number before knowing you. 🎣
“If we part ways, what happens to accounts and data?”
There is only one correct answer: they stay with you. Any hesitation means an exit cost exists before the relationship begins. 🔑
How is the decision made once the table is full?
When the table is complete, the decision usually writes itself. 🧮
Three common comparison mistakes
BU BÖLÜMÜN ÖZETİ
- Mistake 1: comparing apples with oranges
- Mistake 2: mistaking presentation for delivery
- Mistake 3: making sector experience the only filter
- One sentence that prevents all three
The same three mistakes repeat across very different companies. 🚧
Mistake 1: comparing apples with oranges
If one proposal covers ad management only and the other covers everything, comparing prices is meaningless. Equalise the scope first, then look at price. 🍎
Mistake 2: mistaking presentation for delivery
A polished deck is no guarantee of polished work — occasionally it is the opposite. Effort spent on the deck comes out of the sales budget. 🎭
Mistake 3: making sector experience the only filter
“Have they worked in our sector” eliminates strong candidates on its own. The better question is: do they have measurement discipline? 🧭
One sentence that prevents all three
This: “Equalise the scope, compare the unit, ask for the document.” It reduces the comparison to half an hour. ✅
📝 Notes From the Field
A manager laid three proposals side by side; the prices were close. Once the five columns were filled in, the picture changed — one had no defined unit, another had no reporting clause. Three proposals that looked equal on price were three different things underneath. The table, not the price, ended the comparison.
📖 Short Glossary
Unit effort: how many units per month, how long each is, and who spends them. Senior-hour ratio: the share of the budget actually spent by senior people. Decision line: the “what was done / what comes next” note beside each number in a report. Handover list: the signed inventory of access and files transferred at exit.
⚡ Quick Summary
Compare firms across five columns: unit effort, delivery list, reporting, ownership, exit — price last. ⚖️ Four questions eliminate most candidates. Three classic mistakes: comparing before equalising scope, mistaking a polished deck for delivery, and using sector experience as the only filter.
🎯 Next Step
Put us in the same table: write via the consult your expert form and ask for our sample report and capacity breakdown. To start with diagnosis, see the digital audit; line items sit in the services guide.
Frequently Asked Questions
Sık Sorulan Sorular
Because the unit is undefined: one firm quotes senior hours, another quotes a junior team, and the figure matches. Compare the unit, not the price — how many units of effort, and whose effort? ⚙️
In three places: template work, absent reporting and revision rounds. Six months later, when nobody can answer “what did we get”, the saving has reversed itself. 💸
When the senior-hour ratio is high, the breakdown is transparent and the privileges are real. Being expensive is not a crime; being vague is. 🏷️
Scope. If the budget is tight, capacity drops while the work order is preserved. A firm that cuts its price in a minute had either inflated the margin or will cut the quality. 🤝
With three facts: how many units per month, how long a unit is, and who spends it. Write a zero wherever you see the word unlimited; an unmeasurable commitment is not a commitment. ⏱️
What arrives month by month: how many pieces of content, which technical work, which report. It should list deliverables, not services — the distinction is explained in the services guide. 📦
Because the most expensive surprise arrives on the day you leave: notice period, penalty-free exit, handover list. A relationship is judged by how it ends as much as how it starts. 🚪
Time and effort: over how many months, with how many people did that chart arrive? Without those two numbers, a case study is a marketing image. 📉
Two things: does the report arrive on schedule, and what changed? “They’re nice people” is not an answer; ask for a number. A candidate who will not arrange the call is showing you a window display. ☎️
It comes after method discipline: a good system learns your vocabulary within a month. Between a candidate who knows your sector but provides no breakdown and one who does, choose the latter. 🧭
By asking for names: is the team behind that case study the team assigned to you? In larger firms senior people sell and another team delivers — not bad faith, simply the arithmetic of scale. 👥
Start with three months: if a penalty-free exit clause exists, trying is cheaper than debating. Realistic timelines are set out in the results timing guide. ⏳
Yes, but last: when the table ties, communication quality decides — the side that answers clearly and can say “I don’t know, let’s measure it.” Clarity, not charisma. 💬
Whoever will defend the budget. If the decision maker is absent from the meeting, the process becomes reporting theatre. A single point of contact is established on day one. 👤
With the same five columns: write via the consult your expert form and ask for our sample report and capacity breakdown. To start with diagnosis, see the digital audit; the model sits on the digital consulting page. 🎯
Related reading from the archive: how to choose a reliable consultant · how to tell a consultant is good.
Three is usually enough: one as a reference point and two for comparison. More than that stretches the decision and makes the table unmanageable; what matters is filling the same five columns, not the number of candidates.
A proposal is free; a detailed audit and roadmap require real effort and are chargeable at most serious firms. A free “analysis” is usually a sales document rather than a diagnosis.
Safety comes from a written system, not from size. In a small team the risk is capacity; in a large one it is attention. Both are managed through capacity and reporting clauses in the contract.