One problem at a time
Narrow enough to actually finish.
Because the engagement ended at the recommendation, which is the easy half.
The failure mode in consultancy is well known and still routine: a diagnosis is delivered, everyone agrees with it, and then the people who would have to implement it return to the jobs that were already full. The advice was not wrong; nobody had capacity for it.
Scoping narrowly helps more than it sounds. One defined problem with a fixed fee can actually be finished, whereas a broad engagement expands to fill whatever budget exists and finishes nothing in particular.
The other habit worth keeping is fixing process before buying systems. Software applied to a messy process produces a faster mess and a licence fee, and the business concludes that technology does not work for them. Remove the unnecessary steps first; sometimes the system turns out to be unnecessary too.
Narrow enough to actually finish.
The recommendation is the easy half.
Financial and legal questions go elsewhere.
A free first call, with an honest view on whether we can help.