How to Pick the Right Business Consultant

The right consultant can help you improve efficiency, use technology more wisely or target new markets.

Better Business Bureau

Published December 18, 2001

Do you have a problem in your company that you can't solve? Do you need expert advice on how to develop a program or plan? If so, hiring a consultant may be the answer. However, the Better Business Bureau (BBB) cautions companies to be careful. Sometimes you don't always get the advice your company needs. The right consultant can help you improve efficiency, use technology more wisely or target new markets. The wrong consultant can harm your company by wasting time and money and alienating employees.

The BBB offers the following tips to help you pick the right consultant.

  • Be certain that you need a consultant. Take the time to lay out the specifics of the problem you face, the exact objective you want to accomplish and a time frame for doing so. Consider whether your immediate "problem" is a symptom of a larger problem. By carefully thinking things through, you may discover that you don't need an outsider to identify the true problem. Maybe one of your employees has the ability and the desire to do the job.

  • Ask people you trust for referrals to qualified consulting firms or sole practitioners. Contact each referral with a brief letter or phone call describing the problem you need to solve, your industry conditions and your management style.

  • Schedule an introductory meeting with three or more of your best prospects. This will allow you the opportunity, by asking pointed questions, to verify that the consultant has experience with the specific problem and your industry.

  • Check references thoroughly. Reputable consultants should be able to provide references readily, while would-be-consultants will have few, if any, to offer. Also check to see if the consultant is accredited by a national association. Some associations do extensive background checks and their members usually must be in business for at least five years. They also hold members to professional codes of conduct.

  • Get a written proposal. Reliable consultants will provide a written, detailed proposal before the contract is signed. Without specifics you could end up losing valuable time and money.

  • Clearly spell out all fees. Consultants can charge a fixed fee or an hourly rate. Hourly rates could raise your costs substantially, so ask the consultant to put a ceiling on the job to cap your expenses. Also beware of the consultant who asks for all of the money up-front. It's customary to pay as much as one-third in advance, with the rest due on specific dates or at the completion of the project.

    • Visit the Better Business Bureau Web site for more information.

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