How to spot resold software, open-ended hours and vague success metrics.
Ask what success looks like in numbers
A good consultant names a baseline and a target before quoting. If the answer is a roadmap or a maturity score, keep looking.
Ask who owns the work
You should own the code, prompts and workflows. Some firms license their platform back to you.
Ask what happens if it misses
A fixed fee with a remedy clause aligns incentives. Hourly billing with no target does not.