>I don't think it was usually worth it for them to pay us as much as they did.

Do understand that, most businesses have zero way to actually hire competent employees outside of their areas of expertise. So if a bread factory wants a CRM spun up to manage their sales and orders, they don't know where to start in terms of finding that sort of talent, and a consultant is a far, far safer option for realizing their goals. The realization of a goal holds nontrivial value, which is what a consulting firm is billing them for.

Could they do it cheaper? Yes, absolutely, but, they'd also need to get lucky, and, understandably, luck isn't really something most successful businesses are willing to leverage.