Before you engage into a consulting agreement, you must have an idea about the intended outcome of the engagement. If you are conducting a financial analysis, then you will want to understand revenue generation or cost savings. If you are building a new website, then you will want to understand costs and the business model. No matter what type of consulting agreement you are working on, as a consumer there are some concerns that you should have.

1.) Is there a defined process laid out for the engagement.
2.) Is there a project timeline? What are the risks for going outside of this timeline?
3.) Is there a defined process for testing recommendations? or testing new software?
4.) For software development, how often will the consumer be shown proto-types?
5.) What type of development methodology is used?

This list represents only a few "best practices" that should be discussed or at least mentioned during a consulting arrangement. These best practices will help you as a consumer to determine the professionalism of the firm you are working with. As the consumer, your main goal is to make sure that your consultants have a methodology for implementing solutions, this will save both time and money in the long run.