Finding the right business consultant

There are times when, as a business owner, you need help—this is where a business consultant comes in. American expert Dr Alan Weiss tells us how Australian businesses can benefit from outside consultants and how to choose the right business consultant.

Every business occasionally needs outside help. But most Australian businesses don’t know how to separate the good from the bad and the ugly.

For smaller businesses, an outside consultant can offer objective advice, best practices, models and methodology to gain results more quickly and a permanent transfer of skills to internal staff. But external consultants can create as many problems as they solve.

Poorly trained or inexperienced consultants can end up being damaging for business with reliance on off-the-shelf methods, a lack of sensitivity to the client's business, culture and environment, and solutions that are not really practical for the client's business. I've been in consulting for well over 20 years and, to my astonishment, I find that about 50 percent of those calling themselves ‘consultants’ don't really know what they're doing, but almost 90 percent of those buying consulting services don't know how to tell the difference.

To choose the best consultant for your needs, try following this advice on key areas to consider:

Referrals: Ask business colleagues you trust for names of people they have used for similar needs, and find out specifically what the results were. (Don't ask the consultant for references, because they will be hand-selected, glowing and meaningless).

Credentials: Has the consultant ever worked in a conventional job? What are their academic qualifications? How many similar organisations have been clients? Every consultant has to start somewhere, but I'd strongly advise that their start not be with you! They should start in a larger consulting firm, and should also have real world experience.