David A. Fields Consulting Group The 1 Question That Tells You Whether a Delayed Consulting Project Will Ever Happen
When a prospective client responds “Now’s not the right time” to your proposal, you could feel dejected.
Don’t.
Delayed consulting projects can be great for your consulting firm.
Benefits of Delayed Projects
- Time to plan your resources. This is particularly important if your consulting firm’s capacity is already stretched.
- Time to cogitate about solutions. Like sleeping on a problem and waking up with the answer, a bit of downtime before a project starts can lead to a more valuable result for your client or a more elegant, efficient path through the project.
- Boost to future revenue. Every project you put in place for later reduces your future anxiety. This may be the biggest benefit of delayed projects. You’re giving your future self a gift of revenue, and what nicer gift is there than that?
Of course, not every delay delivers on those benefits.
Sometimes, “Not right now” is tantamount to “Never.”
Your consulting firm only enjoys the benefits of a delayed project if you ultimately win it!
Start the process of winning a delayed project by posing a very important query to your prospect:
How will you know when it’s the right time to do this project? What’s the trigger for us to move forward?
Your prospect’s response likely falls into one of the following categories:
3 Common Causes of Delays
Not a Priority
Most excuses and all AWOL prospects indicate a lack of urgency.
This is the most common cause of delays and unsigned projects.
If you’re diligent during the Discovery process (a.k.a. the Context Discussion), you uncover your prospect’s compelling, emotional reason for hiring you, and discuss the consequences of delay.
That diligence will prevent you from wasting time on many low-quality leads.
Soft Obstacle
Prospects sometimes insert conditions that seem reasonable, but aren’t truly necessary.
New personnel is a common example; e.g., “We want to wait for the new VP of Gravity to start, and let him weigh in on your project.”
Hard Obstacle
Sometimes clients are facing an obstacle that literally prevents them from moving forward.
For instance, your project can’t start until a pending regulation goes into effect, or until a certain IT system is installed.
Did you notice that none of those three buckets actually answers the questions you posed?
You didn’t ask, “Why are you delaying?” You inquired, “What’s the trigger to move forward?”
Push for a specific, concrete signal that your consulting firm can start the project.
The trigger (or lack of one) will tell you whether to be happy or unhappy about the delay.
3 Types of Project-Start Triggers
No Trigger/Fuzzy Trigger
If your prospect can’t give you a definitive indication of how she’ll know when to start your project, then mark it down as a lost project and move on.
Excuses that amount to a lack of priority tend to lead to fuzzy triggers.
Let go, turn your attention elsewhere, and feel good that your consulting firm won’t waste any more time on a prospect who’s not serious about jumping into action.
Condition-Specific Trigger
If your prospect identifies a specific condition that must be in place in order to move forward with your consulting project, then your odds of winning vary; however, your next step is consistent.
A specific condition based on a Soft Obstacle (e.g., the VP of Gravity starting) is often bad news for your consulting project.
Set a date in the future to check the status of the condition. (Did the VP start? Is he ponderous?)
Don’t count on these projects, and don’t feel bad about them either. Occasionally one will blossom into future revenue.
A specific condition based on a Hard Obstacle (e.g., an IT system in place) is better news for your consulting project.
In these cases you can feel positive about seeding your pipeline with a high-potential opportunity.
As with soft conditions, set a date with your prospect to check their progress.
Date-Specific Trigger
If your prospect has a Hard Obstacle and can name the specific date the obstacle disappears, you’re sitting pretty.
For instance, “The IT system will be running on November 3rd” or “The regulation goes into effect on January 1st.”
Delayed projects with a date-specific trigger are highly likely to close, assuming you’ve overcome all other obstacles.
Lock in the project by signing a contract, setting up a kickoff date, and getting the client into action on the project already.
Then give yourself a pat on the back for helping your future self.
How have you responded when a prospect delayed moving forward with a consulting project?
Text and images are © 2026 David A. Fields, all rights reserved.
This post really resonated! I once worked on a client that seemed very ready to move forward but decided to delay. It was a fuzzy reason and eventually went AWOL. Instead of spending time pestering and creating a sense of urgency I’ve settled into a routine of checking in once a quarter. However, I have found it much more valuable letting it go mentally and spending my energy searching for spots where the fish are hungry for help!
Your example is excellent, Ale. Neither the pestering nor the internal worrying was going to be of much help, and redirecting your energy to productive pursuits is better for you and for the business. I’m impressed with your approach.
Thank you for sharing your story, Ale.