Consultant and Coach FAQ Examples: What to Write and Why

A prospect reading a consultant's website is trying to answer four things before they will book a call: what does this cost, what exactly do I get, how long does it take, and what happens to what I tell them. Most consulting sites answer none of those, which is why the first email is always the same email. The sections below give those questions with two versions of each answer: the one most sites publish, and one that does the job. The pricing section runs longest, because that is the answer consultants get wrong most often and in both directions at once.

The format throughout is deliberate. A weak consulting FAQ answer is rarely wrong. It is usually true, polite and completely unusable, and the only way to see the difference is side by side.

Pricing: the question everyone asks and almost nobody answers

What do you charge? / How much does this cost? / Do you have packages?

This deserves its own treatment because the two obvious options are both bad. Hide the number and you filter out serious buyers along with the tyre-kickers, since a prospect with a budget and three tabs open will close the one that will not say. Publish a flat number and you have either underpriced the complicated work or frightened off the simple work, and you have committed before you know the scope.

The way out is to publish a *shape* rather than a *number or nothing*. Four patterns, in rough order of how much certainty you have:

Pattern 1: the starting figure. "Most projects start at £X." Works when your work varies but has a floor. It is the single most useful sentence a consultant can add to a website, because it answers the only question a prospect needs answered to decide whether to continue.

Pattern 2: the range with its drivers. "Strategy reviews run between £X and £Y. Where you land depends on three things: how many business units are in scope, whether we are interviewing your customers or only your team, and whether you want us to present to the board at the end." Works when you can name what moves the price. Naming the drivers is what stops the range reading as arbitrary, and it quietly teaches the prospect how to brief you.

Pattern 3: the worked example. "A typical engagement: a six-week review for a forty-person business, two days a week, £X total, delivered as a written recommendation plus two workshops. Yours will differ, but that is the scale." Works when "it depends" is genuinely true. One concrete example does more than any range, because the prospect can see themselves next to it or not.

Pattern 4: the unit with its honest caveat. "My day rate is £X. Most clients use between eight and fifteen days. I will give you a fixed total before we start, so you are not watching a meter." Works for advisory work. The second half is the part that matters: a day rate on its own makes buyers anxious about open-ended cost, and the sentence that removes the anxiety costs you nothing.

Now the two versions.

Weak. "Every client is different, so our pricing is tailored to your specific needs. Get in touch for a bespoke quote and we will design a package that works for you."

Better. "Fixed-scope projects start at £4,500 and most land between £6,000 and £12,000. Three things move that: the number of sites or teams in scope, whether we run customer interviews, and whether you want implementation support after the recommendation or just the recommendation. Ongoing advisory work is £X a month for two days, minimum three months. If your budget is below £4,500, say so on the call and I will tell you honestly whether there is a smaller piece of work worth doing or whether you would be better served elsewhere."

The last sentence is the one consultants resist and the one that converts. It signals that you will not waste their time, and it gives a prospect with a smaller budget a reason to talk to you rather than silently leaving.

What never to do. Do not publish "pricing available on request" next to a form. Do not list a price you will not honour, because a prospect who gets quoted triple on the call will not continue, and will tell people. Do not price-match in an FAQ answer. And if you genuinely cannot give a figure because you work on outcomes, say what you can commit to instead: the shape of the fee, when it is agreed, and that it is agreed in writing before work starts.

Discovery calls: what happens and what it costs

Is the first call free? / How long is it? / Will you try to sell me something? / What should I prepare?

Weak. "Book a free, no-obligation discovery call to find out how we can help you achieve your goals."

Better. "The first call is forty-five minutes, free, and you will not get a pitch. I will ask what is not working, what you have already tried, your timeline and your rough budget. You will get my honest read on whether this is a problem I can help with, and if it is not, who I would try instead. Bring any numbers you have to hand. Within two working days you will get either a short proposal with a fixed price, or an email saying this is not for me and why. There is no second call to get the proposal."

Four things make the better version work: the duration, what you will ask, what the prospect walks away with, and what happens next with a timeframe. "No obligation" reassures nobody, because nobody expected an obligation. What people actually fear is a forty-five minute sales call, and the fix is to say what the call contains.

Scope: what is included and what is not

What exactly do I get? / What is not included? / Will you do the work or just advise? / What do you need from us?

Weak. "We work closely with you as a partner, providing end-to-end support throughout the engagement."

Better. "A review engagement includes: a kick-off workshop, up to twelve interviews, a written findings document of fifteen to twenty pages, a prioritised recommendation list with effort and impact against each item, and a ninety-minute session presenting it to whoever you choose. It does not include writing the implementation plan, hiring, hands-on build work, or attending your internal meetings during the project. Those can be added, priced separately. From you I need a named contact who can get me diary time with people, access to your existing reporting in week one, and a decision-maker at the kick-off and the final session."

The exclusions are the valuable half, and the "what I need from you" paragraph is the single most underused answer in consulting. Projects fail on client-side access far more often than on consultant competence, and publishing the requirement sets the expectation before anyone has signed. A prospect who cannot supply those things has just learned something useful too.

Timeline: how long and when can you start

How long does it take? / When can you start? / How much of my team's time will this need? / What if it overruns?

Weak. "Timelines vary depending on the project, but we always work to agreed deadlines."

Better. "A review runs six to eight weeks from kick-off. Implementation support runs in monthly blocks. I usually have capacity three to four weeks out, and I take two projects of this size at a time, so booking is worth doing early if you have a board date to hit. Expect to give me around four hours of your own time across the project and an hour each from the people I interview. If the scope grows mid-project, I will tell you before I do the extra work, not after, with a price and a revised date. If a delay is on my side, there is no extra charge."

Lead times are a selling point, not an embarrassment. Saying you are booked three weeks out signals demand and lets a prospect with a deadline act now. The client-side time estimate is the one nobody publishes and every operations director wants.

Confidentiality, data and conflicts

Will you sign an NDA? / Who sees our information? / Do you work with our competitors? / Can we be named as a client?

Weak. "We treat all client information with the strictest confidence."

Better. "Yes, I will sign your NDA, and I have a mutual one if you would rather use it. Your material is seen by me alone unless the engagement needs a specialist, in which case I will name them and ask you first. I keep project files for [period] after the engagement and delete them after that; if you want them deleted sooner, say so and I will confirm when it is done. On competitors: I will tell you at the start if I have worked with a direct competitor in the last [period], and I will not take work from one during your project. I never name a client without written permission, and the logos on my site are all there with it."

Specifics are the whole point here. "Strictest confidence" is what the people who leak things also say. Retention periods, the subcontractor rule, the conflict window and the permission rule are checkable commitments. Note that data protection obligations differ by jurisdiction, so state what you do rather than claiming compliance with a regime you have not checked.

Deliverables: what arrives, in what form

What will I actually have at the end? / Do we own the work? / Will you present it to our board? / Can we reuse your frameworks?

Weak. "You will receive a comprehensive set of deliverables tailored to your requirements."

Better. "You get a findings document as a PDF and an editable version, a one-page summary for circulation, the prioritised recommendation list as a spreadsheet, and the anonymised interview notes. You own all of it and can reuse it internally however you like, including after we stop working together. My own templates and frameworks stay mine, but anything filled in with your data is yours. A board presentation is included in the fee; extra sessions are £X each."

Ownership is the question clients are too polite to ask and most anxious about. Answer it in one unambiguous sentence. Listing deliverables by file type sounds mundane and is exactly what someone deciding between two consultants is comparing.

Payment terms and invoicing

When do I pay? / Do you take a deposit? / What are your payment terms? / Do you invoice through a portal?

Weak. "Invoices are issued upon completion and payment is due promptly."

Better. "Fifty per cent on signature, fifty on delivery of the findings document. Monthly retainers are invoiced on the first of the month, in advance. Terms are fourteen days from invoice date. I take bank transfer and card; card payments carry the processor's fee. I am happy to go through your procurement portal, though it usually adds a week, so tell me early if there is one. Late payment beyond thirty days pauses the work rather than triggering a penalty, and I will always ring you first."

Consultants soften this section and then chase money for months. Precision is kinder to both sides. The procurement portal line prevents a fortnight of surprise in corporate work, and "pauses the work" is a more credible consequence than a late fee most independents never enforce.

Cancellation, rescheduling and stopping early

What if I need to cancel? / Can I reschedule a session? / What if we want to stop mid-project? / What if it is not working?

Weak. "Cancellations are subject to our terms and conditions."

Better. "Before kick-off: cancel more than fourteen days out and the deposit is refunded in full; inside fourteen days it is retained, because the time is already blocked. Individual sessions can be moved free with forty-eight hours' notice; inside that, the session is used. Mid-project, you can stop at the end of any completed phase, paying for work done to that point, and I will hand over everything produced so far. Retainers need thirty days' notice. If something is not working, raise it at any point and we will have the conversation before notice periods matter; I would rather fix it than hold you to a contract."

Give the deadlines as observable numbers and explain the reason behind the one that will annoy people, which is usually the retained deposit. The exit route matters more than it looks: a visible way out makes signing easier.

Industries, clients and fit

Have you worked in our sector? / What size of business do you work with? / Do you work remotely or on site? / Which clients have you worked with?

Weak. "We have extensive experience across a wide range of industries and business sizes."

Better. "Most of my work is with professional services firms and manufacturers between twenty and three hundred people. I have done four projects in your sector; two are on the case studies page and I can describe the others anonymously on a call. Sector experience matters less for this kind of work than you might expect, because the problem is usually structural, but I will say plainly if a project needs domain knowledge I do not have. I work remotely with two or three on-site days per project, usually kick-off, interviews and the final session. Travel beyond [region] is charged at cost and agreed in advance."

The admission that sector experience is sometimes irrelevant, and the offer to say when it is not, reads as expertise. "Wide range of industries" reads as nobody in particular. Name your range by size and type, because fit is what the prospect is testing and a clear no saves everyone the call.

Ongoing support after the project

What happens when the project ends? / Do you offer a retainer? / Can I come back with questions? / Do you do implementation?

Weak. "We remain available to support you on your continued journey."

Better. "Email questions about the work are free for ninety days after delivery, and I answer them within two working days. After that, three options: a monthly advisory retainer at £X for two days, a fixed implementation project priced separately, or a half-day review at £X, which is what most clients take at the three-month mark. There is no automatic rollover; if you want nothing further, nothing further happens and I will not chase you."

The ninety-day window converts, because the fear after signing off a recommendation is being left alone with it. The explicit "no automatic rollover" removes the suspicion that a project is a funnel into a subscription.

Turning the answers into something a prospect actually reads

Three placement rules decide whether any of this works.

The repeated-verbatim rule is worth the effort. When the same scope wording appears on the site, in the proposal and in the engagement letter, scope arguments largely stop happening, because there is only one version to point at. For the day-to-day messages that follow once work starts, client communication for freelancers and independents covers that side; this page is about what gets answered before anyone signs anything. If you are building the page from scratch rather than rewriting answers, how to create an FAQ page covers the structure, and the FAQ generator will draft a first version from your existing proposals and service descriptions so you are editing rather than staring at a blank page.

Frequently asked questions

Will publishing prices mean I lose negotiating room?

You lose the room to quote the same work at wildly different prices, which is a practice worth losing. You keep the room that matters, because a range with named drivers makes scope the negotiation rather than the fee. Consultants who publish a starting figure usually report fewer enquiries and a much higher proportion worth having.

Should a solo consultant write "we" or "I"?

"I", unless there is a genuine team. A one-person practice writing "our team of experts" is the most common and most easily spotted credibility leak on consulting websites, and prospects usually prefer the solo answer anyway, because they want the person they met.

How do I answer "why are you more expensive than the other quote"?

Not with a defence of your rate. Answer it with the difference in what is delivered: the interviews the other quote does not include, the fixed total rather than an open day rate, the board session. If there is no difference, the honest answer is that there is no difference, and you then decide whether you want the work.

Does an FAQ page undercut the discovery call?

It changes what the call is for. Prospects who have read the answers arrive asking about their situation rather than about your process, which is a shorter and better call. The calls you lose were the ones that would have ended at the pricing question.

What should I do about questions I would rather not answer in public?

Publish the boundary instead of the detail. "I do not disclose client names without permission" and "fees for retained work are agreed case by case, starting at £X a month" are both real answers. Silence is read as a hidden number; a stated boundary is read as a position.

How often should the page be reviewed?

Whenever your rate changes, and otherwise twice a year. The faster habit is to add an answer every time a prospect asks something that is not there yet. Three months of that and the page writes itself.