PREP WORK Even when you find the perfect consultant for the company, its problems, and your personality, the job is just beginning. What you do before and after the consultant’s visits will determine their worth for the company and what you get from the investment. Consultants and contractors suggest that you:
- Collect relevant information. Having as much of the right information as possible ready in advance saves time and money. “The consultant should tell you what to have ready for him. Then get it into his hands before he actually starts working with you,” Grosso says.
- Inform employees. Tell them about the purpose of the consultant’s visit, and bring them into the problem-solving process. “Prepare your staff properly,” Yoho says. “If you don’t, their fear can drive them to giving bad information.”
Consultants will offer managerial advice and you, the owner, will sift through it, making policy changes and adjustments. But your employees will also have to live with it, so make it clear to them what’s going on. “They need to know what is coming and why,” says Rick Wuest, owner and president of Thompson Creek Window Co., in Annapolis, Md. “Reassure them so they can open up. On two occasions, I didn’t do this right and freaked out my staff. I won’t make that mistake again.” After the consultant makes his recommendations and leaves, often the real work is just beginning.
NOW IT’S YOUR TURN
Follow-through will oftentimes make or break a consulting engagement. “The contractors who get the most out of it become proactive. They take seriously that they have a part in this,” Anton says. The businessmen who benefit least “are looking for a miracle or a secret” to avoid the work required for success, he adds.
Being open-minded and unafraid to change is key, Lemons says. “The people who get the least value are the ones who are stuck behind their own egos.” To succeed, contractors must implement, consultant Yoho points out. “They act on the advice. But that doesn’t mean they didn’t fight me first.” By all means, challenge the consultant, he says. “If I believe what I’m telling you, I have some evidence to prove it.”
Good advice doesn’t come cheap. Rates are typically thousands of dollars a day, and costs quickly add up. Some consultants will work on a percentage of results achieved, but you have to agree in advance how such performance will be measured. Some consultants prefer a written contract, others think that all parties are better served by a less formal arrangement that proceeds on the basis of results and mutual satisfaction. Contractors and consultants recommend making an open-ended agreement that either party can terminate at any time.
Even contractors with negative experiences say the money spent was a worthwhile investment. “I wouldn’t be where I am today without all the outside help I have brought in,” Barr says. A business owner often has to make tough decisions, but doesn’t have someone with whom to talk them through, he notes. Talking to someone “who understands you and your business and what you want to achieve can help you make those tough decisions and follow through on them,” he adds.
Even the best self-taught managers are quick to acknowledge what a good consultant, or consultants, can do for the business. “I wouldn’t have come up with the methods and ideas on my own,” Wuest says. “Certainly not in that period of time. That’s the value of asking people for help.” —Jay Holtzman is a freelance writer based in Jamestown, R.I.