The client's initial description usually indicates fairly clearly whether the issue is something I think I can have some impact on. There definitely are areas where I have expertise and others where I'm not the right person for the job. If your organization had a problem with marketing or financial reporting systems, I probably wouldn't be the person to help. But if you need help crafting a vision and strategy and communicating to employees, or you're having working relationship problems at senior levels, or performance is beginning to slip in your markets, or you're considering a significant new direction or acquisition, those are the kind of things I can help with. The first step is to validate the client's perceptions.
Clients are generally intelligent about the negative effects an issue is having on their business.
They're often less intelligent about the causes. I most often use interviews of company personnel throughout the organization to get a more thorough picture of reality. Whatever form of analysis I use, I then need to get agreement with the client as to the issues. Next, I put together a plan for addressing those issues and work with the client through execution of the plan. Sometimes things are OK and a client simply needs help to take the next step to make things even better.