Why SMBs Are Being Priced Out of Quality Consulting — and What We're Doing About It

The data is clear: small and medium businesses represent over 99% of all businesses in the United States, yet they account for a disproportionately small share of professional consulting engagements. The reason isn't a lack of need — it's a pricing gap.

Traditional consulting firms structure their pricing around enterprise contracts. Minimum engagements, long retainers, and hourly rates that assume Fortune 500 budgets. For a 50-person business trying to solve a real operational problem, these economics simply don't work.

At DoorKey, we built our tiered consulting model specifically to close this gap. Our three-tier structure — from Essential Advisory to Executive Consulting — allows any SMB to access pre-vetted expertise at a price that fits their current stage and budget.

The goal isn't to offer discounted consulting. It's to offer appropriately scoped consulting — matching the right level of engagement to the right problem, every time.