Really though I think for large clients is that it is the right way to go. For small clients, typically you have a pretty good idea of what they need. For large clients it can prevent swamp projects.

Really for the big customers, the key to doing a project evaluation is to deliver independent value in the evaluation. The evaluation may come in handy even if they do not choose to close. So here you are bringing people in, you are finding out exactly what the problems are and why, and giving the customers tools to think about those problems. Who knows, the evaluation might even cause them to rethink the project direction entirely?

One key advantage to doing project evaluations and charging for them is that you are suddenly a lot more free to tell the customer "We are happy to do this for you, but in our estimate, you don't need a fancy new CMS system at this point. The first thing you need to do is get some more editors and work on your editorial processes. Once those are under control, we can talk about a CMS."