Most business consultancy firms will always try NOT to reference the word “problem”, but instead, use the word “opportunities” to connote a positive or enhance value. You can ask any consultant what they do and they will likely answer you with, “I am in the solutions business.”
Despite the negativity that associates with business consultants, they are still able to add value to your middle-market company. You just need to know when to use them and why you are using them. There is a huge market for business consultancy firms – providing different ideas and solutions for different types of business issues.
Business consultants specialize in many different fields and in the different industries. Depending on your current business stage, some fields such as Sales & Finance may priorities over other fields. With mid market price range, this will lead mid-sized companies to work with smaller boutique firms and even individual experts for hire.
Here are the areas in a business that business consultants can add value that bring about Business and Profitability Enhancement:
Management & Strategy: Qualified consultants should have in-depth knowledge of your market and be able to bring the best practices from your industry or even for other industries into your company. If you are looking to expand your market, increase your product portfolio, and reorganize your market to promote cost-effectiveness and efficiency, buy a smaller competitor, or just increase your overall capabilities, then acquiring the help from a business consultant that is experienced in management and strategy, can be practical. They are able to develop and execute better strategies.
Sales: It is important to have a smooth Sales process and protocols that drives your team to operate productively. Most SMEs have been too engross in business revenues and overlooked the importance of Client Retention. A business consultants specialized in this field will assist the business owner to devise and work out a plan that balances both the importance of Client Acquisition & Client Retention. As well as devising and implementation of sales strategies to aid in the business sustainability and growth.
Operations: Do you want to improve the quality and efficiency of your production process? Well, an operations consultant can help you in implementing new methods. Some consultants are specialized in business process
re-engineering in such a way that they step in and map out the existing processes, analyze opportunities for reducing the number of steps in that process while maintaining quality; they also are able to re-engineer your
processes to reduce steps and costs. Some consultants are very good at quality control systems and help make you the necessary changes that will reduce any defects.
IT: This is the fast-growing area when it comes to consultancy as the demands of the new technology have impacted the small and medium-sized businesses every day. An IT consultant can help, whether it is to develop a new system or integrate from old systems in order to work seamlessly. These consultants can enhance your capabilities and also make your IT more flexible in meeting the dynamic needs of both internal and external customers.
HR: If you need to improve the overall satisfaction of your employees, be able to recruit the top talents, and also help in retaining your top performers. Some business consultancy firms specialize in developing
compensation strategies that align with the overall goals of the business, training, and the development of their staff’s communication and leadership. Overall, business consultants can help improve performance-related feedback and evaluation to your team to make your employees work smarter.
Marketing: Marketing consultants can help you identify and set your company in a better market position with the appropriate analytics, marketing channels (Digital or Traditional or even Hybrid), devising a better marketing strategy and interacts with your customers actively.
Finance: The most heart-breaking truth is the limitation of working capital when it comes to growing your business. Financial planning such as, forecasting, cash flow projection, budget allocation, fund injection plan, credit policy etc are usually undermined due to the fact that hiring a finance expert may be costly or a
“not needed yet” personnel in a business especially so for a SME. You have to understand that having an accountant and having a finance manager in your team have great differences in the values that they will bring. Often, you will think your accountant is handling finance where they are just handling the operational
aspects of accounting and reporting. A finance consultant can helps you to structure and implement policies and strategies into your business.
Reasons for Hiring a Consultant
- Hiring a specialist with no overhead cost compared to hiring a full-time employee.
- Be able to manage change and take the blame if any conflict comes out of the changes within the organization.
- Implement best practices and be able to teach your whole organization.
- Infuse creativity with their fresh perspective on the business.
- It can help with delivering proper training or conduct a presentation to your company.
Although hiring business consultants is an additional cost, you need to carefully weigh against the values you will get, especially when you know the particular needs of your company.