How an engagement runs
Six stages, and the last three happen after the invoice has been paid.
Framing
What decision the work has to support, who makes it, and who will still be in post in a year. The last question sounds impertinent and it predicts abandonment better than anything else we ask.
Evidence
Interviews, process observation and data, including with people well below the leadership team who usually describe the real constraints most accurately.
Recommendations with risk scores
Each recommendation carries a named owner, an implementation cost, and an abandonment risk score based on sponsor stability, capacity and dependencies. High-risk items are flagged before you commit.
Three-month review
A short check on what has started, what has stalled and why. Early stalls are recoverable and this is usually the cheapest intervention in the whole engagement.
Six-month review
Status recorded against original intent. This is where most abandonment becomes visible, typically following a personnel change or a competing priority.
Twelve-month review and publication
Final status on every recommendation, added to our aggregate record. It happens whether or not you have renewed, and the result is reported to you either way.
What this costs us
We publish evidence against ourselves. A thirty-eight per cent abandonment rate is a number no competitor has to disclose, and some prospects read it as a weakness rather than as measurement.
We flag our own weak recommendations. Scoring an item as high abandonment risk invites a client to remove it, which shrinks the scope we were engaged to deliver.
Tracking is unpaid work after the fee. Three follow-up reviews sit inside the original price and continue even where the relationship ended badly.
We decline the implementation work. Delivery arising from a recommendation is usually worth more than the advice, and we exclude ourselves from all of it.
Frequently asked
What is your abandonment rate?
Thirty-eight per cent across the last thirty engagements. We will send the breakdown by cause on request, including the engagements where it was considerably worse.
How is abandonment risk scored?
Against sponsor stability, available management capacity, whether a named individual owns the change, and whether it depends on anything outside the sponsor's control.
Does tracking continue if we do not renew?
Yes. Otherwise the published rate would only reflect clients who were pleased with us, which would make it useless.
Will you implement the recommendations?
No. We advise on sequencing and review progress, but we do not tender for delivery of work we recommended.
Are fees contingent on savings?
Never. Fixed against scope and agreed before work begins.
Can you review another firm's report?
Yes, at a fixed fee. We score the recommendations for abandonment risk and identify unstated dependencies, whether or not you engage us further.
Who receives the findings?
The full board or ownership group, including where a finding concerns the executive who commissioned the work.
How long is a typical engagement?
Six to twelve weeks of active work, followed by the tracking reviews across the subsequent year.