Perhaps their advice needs expenditure up front - for example if they suggested using blue photocopiers and you only have pink ones. You would have to spend the money on blue photocopiers before you see the return, and before they see their services fee paid?
Per the parent's update, they're overthinking things like how earnouts or how capital budgeting cycles work.
e.g., complaining about having to provision an FTE to manage the earnout doesn't make sense because that should be in the business plan considered for approval. You'd only approve if your NPV is positive, including the FTE overhead.
