Purpose: Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) play an important role in the economy, but their specific status brings several difficulties that large firms do not have to face. Among others, the literature underlines a market gap in the SME consultancy services, with a weak demand from SME managers. This research investigates the consultancy market to find some solutions to facing this market gap. More specifically, the aim of this article is to understand the actual context of the consultancy market perceptions and, thus, to provide some recommendations about how advice providers can adapt their services to foster, meet, and maintain the demand of SMEs. The research focuses on actors located in the department of Drôme, France. Methodology & design: An investigation of demand’s perception has been conducted through a questionnaire during the period September–October 2015. It resulted in 38 valid responses from SME managers located in the department of Drôme, France. A descriptive analysis of the answers is followed by a cluster analysis applied to the most significant survey questions. Main findings: Generally speaking, the results suggest that consultants should build a long-term relationship with SME managers in order to face the different factors limiting the demand (among others, specificities of SMEs, entrepreneurial spirit of the SME managers, and lack of trust). High importance is also attributed to the consultant’s experience in the sector of activity and consultancy domain provided. The results also suggest that SME consultants are widely different from the ones working with large companies. SME consultants need to adapt their support in line with the specificities of SMEs. Their role as SMEs’ “accompanist” consists of encouraging and enabling managers to think strategically. The cluster analysis identified different kinds of SMEs with whom the consultants should act differently. The three groups concerned SMEs that were “public entities oriented”, “personal relationship oriented”, and “internal support oriented”. Limitations: The main limitation is linked to the location of the sample: 38 questionnaires from companies located in the department of Drôme (France). Notwithstanding, given the difficulty of obtaining reliable data from SMEs, this is a first key step in trying to fill the gap regarding consulting services dedicated to this specific kind of firm. The survey revealed interesting results that could be deepened in further research. Value and interest: This article provides a better understanding of how the consultancy market is actually “perceived” by SMEs. It is one of the first attempts focused specifically on this sector and the SMEs. The results enable the advancement of first recommendations in order to improve the market for consulting services dedicated to SMEs for policy and strategy development. Future research could build on these preliminary results to test them on a larger sample and determine clear market segments.
