ReeHart – Blogging from the Heart

Posts Tagged ‘consultancy’

Before answering the all important question “who uses independent consultants?”, it is worth establishing the definition of a consultant. It is widely agreed that a consultant is a person who gives expert advice in a professional capacity.

In business-survival language, a person determined to become an independent consultant has to approach his search for clients with some kind of presumption that he will be able to establish good business relationships with enough people (especially business decision-makers) who will be prepared to consider hiring him (or her) for the expert advice he will be able to offer them and the style and manner with which he will offer it.

Then there are two other questions to be considered: who hires established independent consultants who have built-up a good reputations over several years and who already have a network of regular clients? And who might be likely to hire a new independent consultant?

Assuming established consultants have been newcomers to their market at some stage, the reality will be that they will have established a reputation and will have proven themselves to be very valuable to the clients they have served since they set-up their consulting business. They will be hired because of these attributes: the services they provide will have become reliable and well-suited to their client base; they will have developed an understanding of the businesses and have a mature professional relationship with the individuals they communicate with.

The independent consultant should provide them with easy access to his or her expertise when they need it. They do not need to employ an expert member of staff and find other work for the employee to fill up their day. The client will also not need to pay for holidays or sick-leave. Savings like these will matter especially to small businesses interested in lower operating costs wherever possible.

An independent consultant will want to be well respected in their niche. They should be known to reinforce their existing expertise by buying relevant trade publications and keeping up their memberships of the professional bodies that will help keep them up to date on professional matters, and even to spend money on important training courses. This also spares clients the need to include any of these in their own budgets for employees.

But perhaps the most fundamental reason why an established consultant will be consistently hired is that most old-fashioned ingredient: reliability. He will be going out of his way to make sure that his clients can feel confident he will always be there for them, ready to help them sort out their problems. Quite often they can’t be confident their own staff would be that diligent.

It has to be said that a newcomer looking to establish himself in any type of consultancy will have a tougher job these days than ever before. At the same time as there is more awareness among business managers of the valuable role of consulting support, more and more employees are being exposed to the work that the consultants are doing for their bosses and think to themselves, “I could do that.”

If these employees decide to leave the safety of their employers to become independent consultants, some might survive for a time on work passed to them by former managers who they shared a mutual respect with when they worked together. But nowadays it takes a determined person with an entrepreneurial spirit to find and set themselves up as an independent consultant where they will survive and prosper without any corporate cotton wool to protect them.

Market research is an essential part of the aspiring independent’s business planning. This period also provides an excellent opportunity to ask for meetings with business managers who do not yet use consultancy services – planting a seed that can be nurtured in the months ahead, so that a portfolio of prospects can be developed.

Who will actually hire him? It will depend on how good he can market himself and what expertise he has to offer. “Mr Company Director, we have met before and you have explained why your company doesn’t employ consultants. I have thought more about our conversation and it occurred to me …