Consulting Fees of 3 Million Yen. Are You Still Paying That?

When small and medium enterprises (SMEs) seek consulting for their management strategies, the going rate is typically between 2 million and 5 million yen per project. Monthly retainers often range from 300,000 to 800,000 yen.

Now, we are entering an era where that “external brain” can be acquired for just 50,000 yen a month.

Don’t misunderstand. This isn’t a simplistic claim that “AI can replace consultants.” The cost of some of the value that consultants provided—information gathering, analysis, framework application, and document preparation—has dramatically decreased.

This presents a structural opportunity for SMEs to turn the tables.

—

What Costs Have Decreased? A Closer Look

Breaking down consulting costs reveals three main components:

1. Information Gathering & Research (market research, competitor analysis, understanding industry trends)
2. Analysis & Strategy Development (data analysis, framework application, organizing strategic options)
3. Execution Support & Guidance (implementation on the ground, engaging the organization, progress management)

AI has significantly reduced costs primarily in components 1 and 2.

For instance, by combining tools like ChatGPT (20 dollars a month, approximately 3,000 yen), Claude, and Perplexity, the following tasks can be completed in just a few hours:

• Creating a comparison table of the business strategies and strengths/weaknesses of five competitors
• Conducting a SWOT analysis using the company’s financial data
• Developing a business model canvas for a new business
• Estimating market size and analyzing growth potential
• Drafting proposal documents

If you were to rely on traditional consulting for these tasks, researchers and consultants would take 2 to 3 weeks to complete them, resulting in an invoice of 1 to 2 million yen. Now, it can be done with the monthly cost of AI tools plus a few hours of your own time.

Costing less than 1/50th of the original. Speed increased by more than 10 times.

You might look at these numbers and think, “Still, professional consultants provide higher quality.” That may be true. But the real question is, “Is the quality difference worth 2 million yen?”

For SMEs with annual sales of 50 million to 300 million yen, 2 million yen is a significant amount. With that budget, they could implement AI tools and use them for 40 months or hire one employee for six months.

—

What’s Actually Happening—Real-World Examples

Case 1: Sales Process Reform at a Building Materials Company

A window and door sales company in the U.S. introduced an AI application costing about 1.3 million yen (10,000 dollars). What they did was simple: they created a system that analyzes conversations between sales representatives and customers in real-time and automatically generates quotes.

As a result, the number of deals per sales representative increased by 1.5 times. The time previously spent on creating quotes disappeared, allowing more time for customer interactions. Reports indicate that the increase in sales revenue in the first year alone was in the tens of millions of yen against an investment of 1.3 million yen.

It’s worth noting that this company is not a “large corporation.” It is a small to medium-sized enterprise with a few dozen employees that fundamentally changed its sales process using AI.

Case 2: Local Manufacturing Company Internalizes ‘Self-Consulting’ with AI

This is a domestic case we supported. A local manufacturing company with 30 employees was paying 1.5 million yen annually to a management consultant to develop its mid-term management plan.

What they did was feed their financial data, industry reports, and past consulting reports into a custom GPT of ChatGPT, setting it up as their “management advisor.” The monthly cost was only 3,000 yen for ChatGPT Plus.

According to the CEO, “80% of the questions I used to ask consultants were sufficiently answered by this.” The remaining 20%—issues related to organizational relationships and the CEO’s own decision-making—require human consultants. However, the impact of eliminating 80% of the costs is significant. The cost has gone from 1.5 million yen to 36,000 yen annually.

—

Is the Consulting Industry ‘Collapsing’?—Understanding the Structure

In conclusion, it will not collapse. However, the center of value will shift.

The value of consulting has a three-layer structure:

Consultants who relied on Layers 1 and 2 will face challenges. In particular, those whose primary value was “researching and compiling documents” will lose their jobs to AI.

On the other hand, Layer 3—the role of sitting next to the executive and continuously questioning “What do you want to do?”—is something AI cannot do. The value here may actually increase.

SME executives need to understand this: “The era of paying 3 million yen for Layers 1 and 2 is over. Use AI to do it yourself. If you really need it, only hire a professional for Layer 3.”

—

Three Things SMEs Should Start Doing ‘Today’

No need for abstract discussions. Here’s what you should do concretely.

1. First, Make the Most of AI for 3,000 Yen a Month

Subscribe to ChatGPT Plus (20 dollars a month) or Claude Pro (20 dollars a month). In the first month, try the following:

• Input your financial statements and ask, “What are our management issues?”
• Enter the names of three competitors and request, “Please conduct a competitor analysis.”
• Ask, “What will this industry look like in three years?”

The accuracy may not be perfect. However, the experience of having “a starting point for thinking” generated in three minutes is something you won’t want to go back from once you’ve tasted it.

2. Measure the ‘Research Time’ Within Your Company

In many SMEs, managers and executives spend 5 to 10 hours a week on “research.” Market trends, legal changes, subsidy information, and labor market conditions… Most of these can be delegated to AI.

10 hours a week × hourly wage of 3,000 yen × 52 weeks = 156 million yen worth of time annually. If this can be compressed with AI tools costing 3,000 yen a month, the ROI is extraordinarily high.

3. Make it a Habit to ‘Ask AI Before Asking Humans’

Before asking your accountant a question, ask AI. Before consulting with your labor and social security attorney, ask AI. Before emailing your consultant, ask AI.

AI’s answers will resolve 70% of your inquiries. You only need to ask experts about the remaining 30%. The quality of questions to experts will improve, consultation time will decrease, and as a result, it will also become a negotiating point for advisory fees.

—

The Real Turnaround Begins Here

The essence of this discussion is not that “consulting fees have decreased.”

When the ‘cost of wisdom’ approaches near zero, what will differentiate success is not whether one possesses wisdom, but whether one can act on that wisdom.

Large corporations had wisdom. They had departments that gathered information, analyzed it, and formulated strategies. SMEs did not have that. That’s why there was a gap.

That gap is now being closed by AI.

The remaining gap is “execution capability.” And in terms of execution capability, SMEs can outperform large corporations. Decision-making is faster. The organization is smaller, allowing everyone to act. If the CEO says, “Let’s do it,” changes can happen overnight.

While large corporations take three months to circulate approvals, SMEs can implement AI, test it, fail, improve, and achieve results.

With the democratization of ‘wisdom’ now occurring, the weapons of SMEs are ‘speed’ and ‘on-the-ground capability.’

In the past, not being able to pay 3 million yen for consulting was a “weakness.” Now, with equivalent wisdom available for 50,000 yen a month—or even 3,000 yen—it no longer matters.

There is only one question left. Will you take action today?