Why you should hire a consultant
If you’re a business owner, you’ve probably been told a few times that hiring a consultant for various needs is a wise move for forward progress.
But is it actually worth the investment?
We’ll give you the inside look into 10 reasons why hiring consultants for your business is not only a smart move but an easily doable one, too!
Hiring Consultants: 101
Let’s be honest, sometimes as upper management, it can seem frightening to admit you need a little more expertise in one area to make good decisions.
Some individuals who are high up in a business may feel they are “admitting” a weakness or lack of know-how if they seek consultant help. The opposite is true.
“It is a sign of strength, not weakness, to admit that you don’t know all the answers.” -John P. Loughrane
Successful businesses and business owners are able to identify weaknesses in their structure or information and seek well-qualified and educated help. This is where proper consultants come in.
1. Expertise
No one person can be an expert at everything. You’re more likely to achieve expertise in something if you’ve narrowed your field of experience and study.
Hence, hiring a consultant who has a proven track record of success and expertise in the area you need help will prove an asset to your business.
The proven track record is essential as anyone with a Facebook account can write on their resume that they are a “social media specialist.” But, the fact of the matter is, that Jerry from accounting can’t do as great a job at boosting your online social presence as someone who has actually done it before…
If you hire a consultant who has real experience in boosting social views or follower numbers, (and they can show you the stats), there’s where you want to put your money.
2. Objectivity
A little metaphor: No one thinks their newborn is ugly. After all, it’s their baby. They’ve put time and effort and money and love into that little person and they are of course perfect in every way.
But, let’s get real. Most newborns do in fact, look like potatoes.
Do you see what we mean? Having an outside business consultant come in to analyze your business or an area of your company can really help provide an honest assessment of where your weaknesses lie.
Consultants aren’t as worried about offending a coworker they know put in years of work on a certain project. They won’t be influenced by potential politics or the individual desires of those working for your organization.
They can most easily give you straight facts, and sometimes you gotta be told, “this is an ugly baby.”
3. Teaching New Concepts
Say your company simply needs some improvement in their email marketing, but you don’t want to hire (and can’t afford to hire), a whole new employee just for this.
You’re in luck because a consultant can be brought in simply to teach your existing employees a new skill.
It’s the consultant’s job to stay up to date and competitive in their area of expertise so you can hire someone to come in and teach you what you may be lacking. This can help improve even top executive’s value to a company.
4. Doing the Dirty Work
Unfortunately, sometimes you realize cuts need to be made, and it can be hard firing someone you like. Did you know you can actually hire a consultant to come in and let go of certain employees?
They can even help you eliminate a whole division if necessary.
Sometimes relationships can be helped or simply awful situations can be avoided by hiring an impartial consultant to come do this task for you.
5. Identify Issues
It may be hard to know why your website isn’t working properly if you know nothing about coding. Maybe you had your site set-up once by a developer who no longer works for you and you need help with fixes, this is where a consultant can come in.
Even in situations where you suspect employees are too close to the project to really see the problem, a consultant can jump in for a short period to shine light on any wrenches in the works.
6. Save Some Dough
If you’ve initially been put-off from hiring a consultant because they seem to be paid more than a full-time employee, don’t be fooled.
If you have a small project that needs to be done, or a temporary change to be made, it can save your company thousands to hire a consultant for a short time instead of bringing in an entirely new full-time employee.
After all, consultants are responsible for all their own work expenses, insurance, and benefits. Once you’re done with them, they are no longer on your payroll.
7. Catalyze Change
Change can be hard for an organization, especially if you have a well-established company culture.
However, change is essential to progress. Sometimes bringing in a consultant to breathe fresh air into a business can help boost morale, generate new ideas, or smooth out existing issues.
8. Business Creation
Simply put, sometimes you have the grand idea for a product or service, but don’t know how to get things rolling.
Hiring a business consultant to get your fantastic idea off the ground can be a great way to launch.
9. Being Able to Plan
As an executive, you have a myriad of responsibilities weighing on you every day as it is. This can make a new project or development take much longer than it ideally would.
However, bringing in a consultant for a time who devotes all their time and work to this one task or development gives that project more opportunity to be well thought out and implemented.
Managers are left to do what they do well and consultants can delve into research, testing, quality control, etc.
10. Outside Market Awareness
Again, it can be burdensome for executives to not only stay on top of all going on within their own company, let alone the market in which their company operates.
A consultant can bring in news from the outside, so to speak.
They can tell you what changes, or news is current to give your business an edge.