When you’re up to your eyeballs in work and your business is booming, it can feel overwhelming. While you’re delighted that your work is taking off, you clearly need a little help in getting those projects completed that are going to help you focus your business goals for the next year. If all this sounds familiar then it might be time that you hired in a consultant.
Give yourself a fighting chance of getting that project done and find someone that will deliver your objectives for a one off piece of work. If you’ve never hired a consultant before, then you need to take a look at our short guide and get your next temporary employee on board.
Figure out your project
The very first thing you’re going to need to do is work out the deliverables of your project. What do you want, exactly, from the piece of work? What exactly are you asking your consultant to deliver? It might be a piece of customer market research or it might be you’re looking for innovative procurement consultants to take your business to the next level.
Whatever it its, draw up a clear plan of what you need and have that document to hand when you’re interviewing. Before that though, you’ll also need to think about your budget and work out if it’s going to be inline with your goals. If your consultants tell you time and time again that it falls short, then you’ll either need a new budget or some new, more deliverable and realistic goals.
Interview
Ask around for recommendations and take your time going through the websites of the consultants you hope to talk to. See if they’ve worked with businesses of a similar size and nature to yours and in the same industry. You may favour a slightly larger consultancy that specialises in your type of work or you may prefer a smaller more intimate style of working with a smaller organization. Whichever the case, get your interviews started and find out what seems to work for you.
Finding the right consultant is going to depend as much on your style and your expectations as much as the consultant’s ability so much will come down to how well you communicate together. If you feel that you’re being listened to properly and that your thoughts and opinions are being acted on, then you’ll find your yourself getting along just fine with your match. A lack of communication invariably spells disaster so make your decision carefully,
Be realistic about budget and your expectations and you’ll find working partnership that ticks all the right boxes. Find someone who is available to you throughout the day and who offers to hold weekly catch-up sessions with you. Set time limits that meet everyone’s expectations and sit back as some of that weight is lifted from your shoulders. Get it all right and you’ll soon see that project done and dusted and your business moving onto bigger and better things.
