A man in a hot air balloon comes descending on a meadow where a shepherd is tending his flock. After he greets the man he asks him “If I tell you how many sheep you have without having to count them, will you give me one of them?”
The shepherd agrees.
The man in the balloon says “You have 100 sheep.”
A bit surprised the shepherd says “How did you know?”
“Well,” says the man, “your field is about 5 km by 5km and in this part of the wilderness you can graze 4 sheep on each square km of land. So 5×5 is 25 square km times 4 is 100 sheep.”
“Wow, you’re right,” said the shepherd, “please take your pick of the sheep.”
After the man in the balloon selects his sheep, the shepherd turns to him and says “if I tell you what you do for a living, will you give me my animal back?”
The man in the balloon agrees. The shepherd says “You are a consultant.”
The man in the balloon is amazed at the insight that the shepherd has shown and says “How on earth did you know I am a consultant?”
The shepherd answered, “You showed up here even though nobody called you. You want to get paid for an answer I already knew, to a question I never asked. And you don’t know a thing about my business … now give me back my dog!”
For an example of a great consultant read up about the great refrigerator repair experience I had.