I think your question is not what should I fix in my company but how do I know I have the right person to help me with my problems/solutions. I think, after a number of engagements I've done over the past 20yrs as a business coach, that you want someone who is not going to tell you what to do but rather knows how to get you to come up with the answer so you are able to keep growing the business on your own. Once the consultant goes away then what? A consultant does the work for you and provides the proper solution. That then becomes a game of figuring out which consultant has the right solution and at what cost. Then it becomes cost/benefit equation. Then it winds up being an exercise is you evaluating if you agree with the consultant or not. The problem there is you don't solve a problem at the same level it was created. How do you really know if the consultant has the right solution or not? is becomes an exercise in who has the better business acumen to discern that. A coach is more about the getting you to a place you can solve problems better on your own. So that becomes a different search as you would be evaluating them based on how much you think you could grow by your interactions with them. Do you gain more confidence in your decision making ability, are they a good sound board, do they make you think a different way you couldn't think before, etc. :-)