---
title: 5 Types of Strategic Planning Consultants to Pick From
description: developing a new strategy plan. What strategic planning consultants should you contact as potential partners? The new CEO wanted an organizational vision
---

[Blog | Brainzooming ](https://www.brainzooming.com/blog)

# [5 Types of Strategic Planning Consultants to Pick From](https://www.brainzooming.com/blog/5-types-of-strategic-planning-consultants-to-choose)

 Written by [Mike Brown](https://www.brainzooming.com/blog/author/mike-brown) | Aug 24, 2022 10:01:11 PM

Suppose you’re looking to [develop a new strategy plan](https://www.brainzooming.com/strategicplanning). What kinds of strategic planning consultants should you contact as possible partners?

I received that question from a good friend and client. Her organization’s new CEO wanted to create an updated organizational vision and strategy.

There was something intriguing about her question: Brainzooming had already collaborated with her and the CEO to develop a scope of work for us to provide strategic planning consulting. When the scope of work reached the purchasing department, though, the head of purchasing said they needed a competitive bid process.

Thus, I was being asked to recommend who Brainzooming should compete against for a strategic planning engagement we’d already been led to believe that we’d secured.

How did I answer her question?

I gave her solid suggestions for two other types of consultants to compete with us.

## **5 Strategic Planning Consultants You Might Choose**

What type of strategy partners could they (or you) engage? There are many flavors of strategic planning consultants with varying expertise. I shared the following five categories with her as possibilities:

- **Category / industry expertise – **These have a specific experience and depth in your industry. This can be important when a CEO who is new to an industry wants unfiltered expertise and marketplace perspectives.
- **Process expertise – **These types of potential partners [approach strategy planning with specific methods](https://www.brainzooming.com/streamlining-strategic-planning) ([Collaboration](https://info.brainzooming.com/collaborativestrategy101), Appreciative Inquiry, Six Sigma, Scenario Planning, etc.), irrespective of industry.
- **Functional / adjacent expertise – **This is a partner that you are already using for another business function (branding, operational planning and implementation, sales force growth) who can also support developing broader strategies.
- **Model / framework expertise – **A firm, expert, or author who is known for a specific market or operational model that makes sense for your organization and/or industry.
- **Marquee value – **A big name consulting firm that has been at it a long time and can easily deploy a large (albeit potentially junior) team for your engagement. They often feature category or process expertise, too.

From this list, and knowing that we fit into the Process Expertise category, I recommended they talk to:

- A branding agency they were already working with (Functional / adjacent expertise category)
- Another consultant they’ve used in the past who focuses exclusively on their type of organization (Category / industry expertise)

I’m happy to report, that we won the business after re-competing for it.

I’m especially happy knowing that I provided good recommendations about who our strongest competitors would be. That’s what any current or prospective client [can depend on from Brainzooming as one aspect of our core purpose](https://www.brainzooming.com/about-brainzooming): we will provide the best recommendation for them, irrespective of its impact on us.

[If you’d like to experience that same assurance when you are developing your next strategy, let me know!  – ](https://info.brainzooming.com/lets-chat-about-strategy)*[Mike Brown](https://www.brainzooming.com/who-we-are/#MikeBrownBio)*

* *

[View full post](https://www.brainzooming.com/blog/5-types-of-strategic-planning-consultants-to-choose)

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