The uncertain economy is causing more small and mid-size business owners to search for every moneymaking opportunity possible.  Many of them are turning to professional business consultants to help guide them in their search for increased profits.  

A key reason for using professional assistance is the basic fact that outsiders bring a different viewpoint.   People at a troubled business may not be the best ones to rely on for a solution, since they may have caused the problem to begin with.  Also, many businesses tend to neglect the most direct way to spur profits – reducing costs and increasing productivity in their own operations. 

Cutting costs and boosting productivity are two of the essential actions that form the basis of the business improvements from the professional consultants at the George S. May International Company, Park Ridge, Ill.  The costs and productivity serve as guides to their consulting work. 

When a business owner invests in professional consulting work, getting the greatest return on that investment should be uppermost in his or her mind.   Here is a series of tips for hiring and working with consultants, based on 83 years of experience and more than 2,000 clients a year served by the professionals at George S. May International Company. 

Look for a profit focus from consultants, not technical knowledge.  To become a more profitable business, most owners don’t need technical knowledge.  For example, a roofer or a baker likely knows how to install a roof or how to bake pastries.  Instead, an owner should be looking for ideas on how to better operate a roofing business or bakery from a business perspective, not a technical knowledge viewpoint. 

Obtain background on the firm.  How long has the consulting firm been in operation? What’s its reputation?  What groups or organizations does it belong to?  Also, consider a firm that may not be an expert in a specific industry.  General consultants are more likely to bring new profit-oriented ideas, instead of the same old ideas you may have already tried. 

Define your expectations.  Before any work begins, there should be a clear understanding between the consultant and the client of the deliverables – what results are expected from the consulting work.  This helps avoid disappointment later.   In addition, you should expect a statement of working policies from the consultants.  This disclosure should cover what the consultants will do, how they will do it, how they operate, etc.  The consultants should welcome both your input as well as your request for disclosing their procedures.  They should hide nothing from you because you are the client paying them.    

Get it in writing.  Be sure that the consultants develop clearly written operating instructions for each of the programs they install at your business.  These should be reviewed before the consulting team departs.   

Get trained.  A business owner should never allow a consultant to simply come up with ideas, write them down with some instructions, and then depart.  That is not a complete consulting project.  The client and appropriate employees should always be fully trained in the changes that were installed by the consultants.  

Participate in the project.  For a consulting investment to be of top value the business owner and the employees need to fully participate in the activities and provide complete disclosure.  Don’t hide information.  If there is some business effort that you or an employee may be embarrassed about, be sure to mention it to the consultants. Doing so can save time and effort in discovering it separately. 

Demand reports.  Insist that the consulting team provide frequent updates and reports on their activities.  To be an active participant, you need to know what is going on.  It is a responsibility of the consultants to keep you informed and involved. 

Accept changes.  The consultants are at your business to improve its operations so it is more profitable.  This means change.  A business owner happy with the business operating as it was probably never would have called consultants in the first place.   

Expect measurable results.  By hiring consultants, the business is making an investment.  The owner should expect to see if the investment pays off, that means a more profitable business.  Make sure all the programs that are installed provide methods to measure the improvements.  

Use the programs installed.  All too often business owners expect the consultant’s work to be almost magical.  Some people expect improvements to suddenly appear and profits to increase overnight.  Even the best consultants can’t do these things alone.  The owner and the employees must buy into the consultant’s work to make things happen.  Improvements are the result of work by everyone. If a business begins to disregard the changes, or fall back into the same old bad habits that caused the problems in the first place, then the full value from the consulting investment will never be realized. 

Expect follow-up assistance.  When the consultants complete their work and depart should not be the last time you hear or see from them.  Many will do periodic phone call checks to see how the programs they installed are working for you.  Taking this service a step further, firms such as the George S. May International Company also provide clients with check-up on-site visits at no charge to ensure that clients continue to receive full value from the consulting work.

  Read more at www.georgesmay.com