When to Hire a Business Consultant

If you're considering hiring a business consultant, you already know your business has issues you may not be able to address alone. Or do you? Whether to hire a business consultant is an important decision, if for no reason other than business consulting services are often costly.

The right small business consultant however, can save you money in the long term helping you streamline operations, cut costs, negotiate better deals with vendors and improve company morale. How do you know if you need the services of a business consultant? Here are a few situations where hiring a consultant is something you should consider.

Short-term Problems
Consider hiring a consultant if the problem you're struggling with is short term: a large purchase decision, creating buzz around a product release or other event-even damage control around bad press or an unfortunate mishap. Keep in mind that hiring a consultant you like and trust can be a lengthy process, even if your need for their services is short-- so you'll need to plan ahead to maximize the consultant's impact on the matter at hand.

Long-term projects
You might benefit from hiring a consultant for a long-term project where the specialized skills needed to get the work done won't be necessary to retain after it's completed. A consultant's rate may work out to be more than you'd pay a permanent staff member, but you won't incur payroll taxes and benefits costs or have to find work for that permanent employee once the project is done. In some cases, hiring a small business consultant, even if you work with them for a year, may cost you less over time.

Your Business Issues Are-or Aren't-Clearly Defined
You may be able to point to production, cash flow or other aspects of your business as the problem, when really it's the symptom of a larger organizational issue. If you can't explain why your situation is what it is and thus, don't know how to improve it, a small business consultant can begin by helping you identify the core issue(s).

On the other hand, you may know exactly what the problem with your business is, but don't have the knowledge, skills or resources to best address it. Just be sure it's the right problem-one of the easiest ways to burn through dollars with a consultant is to hire them to solve the wrong problem, especially if that problem is highly specialized in nature.

For example, if you're getting more customer complaints than repeat sales, hiring a public relations consultant to improve your image may not be the solution; hiring a small business product design consultant who can get to the root of the customer complaint may be the better decision.

You Can't Find Good Help
Some industries are known for high job turnover-it's the nature of the business or the specific position you're trying to fill. If you're challenged by attracting, training and retaining employees, a consultant can help you try different recruiting techniques, interview and evaluate potential job candidates and make hiring recommendations.

You Know What You Don't Know
Business consultants almost always have expertise that you don't (but you need), but they may also have valuable business and community connections they've spent their career building. When you hire a consultant, you not only gain access to years of experience but to the other people they've done and do business with.

In this case, what you're looking for in a consultant goes beyond the general-basic marketing-to the highly specific. For example, if your goal is to get your product on the shelves of big box stores, look for consultants who have ties to those stores. Maybe they worked in merchandising or maybe they held an upper management position, but either way, they know someone who knows someone who knows someone who can get you a meeting to make your pitch.