The 4 Situations When it Makes Sense to Hire a Consultant

Working with consultants can be a powerful tool in your business arsenal. However, consultants can be costly if used at the incorrectly or when you aren’t ready for them. From our estimation, here are the three times you should use a consultant: 1.    You have an opportunity that can make you money if you implement it, but you can’t reasonably do it internally.You have an opportunity that can increase your company’s revenue or profitability (developing a new marketing campaign, re-vamping your sales process, establishing efficiency standards). However, your organization is lacking the manpower, the necessary skills, or the specific knowledge on how to make it happen.Solution:  A consultant can bring talent, skills and ideas to your organization, or fill in the gaps of your existing personnel so that you can grow your company without long-term employment requirements. 2.    You have a liability that is or will cost you money if you don’t rectify it, but you can’t appropriately do it internally.You have an issue that needs to be addressed in your company. However, circumstances make the situation technically or politically difficult. Or, the solution is “sticky”, and could damage your long-term relationship with your staff if you attempt to implement it internally.Solution:  A consultant can bring skill, objectivity, and professionalism to a difficult situation. Additionally, a consultant can work on projects that cross multiple departments or responsibilities without getting caught in “office politics”. Finally, sometimes you need someone who can be “the bad guy” without being a bad guy.  3.     You have internal business services that can be more cost-effectively handled outside the organization.You have on-going services that are necessary for your business, but you lack the internal skills or infrastructure to support it (ie. customer service documentation, marketing and sales support services). Additionally, proper outsourcing may make better financial sense as opposed to hiring more staff.Solutions: One of the benefits of outsourcing to consultants is that a wider-range of high-level skills can be accessed than what would be expected from individual hires. 4.    You need an outside perspective to help you figure out the next steps forward.Leading a company is often a lonely business. Figuring out the next steps for your company is an art form, not a science. Sometimes you have a clear choice in what you need to do, but usually you have a multiplicity of opportunities, liabilities and potential scenarios running through your head.Solution:  A consultant can bring experience across numerous companies and multiple industries to help you figure out the correct steps to your organizations. 

Self-Selecting: Why This Job May Not Be For You

In 2002, I decided to be a commercial real estate broker. I had had some success as an independent consultant and figured commercial real estate would be a fun, exciting way to learn more about business and score some giant paychecks (you know, like all commercial real estate people do…).It’s safe to say that the next two years were some of the most stressful of my life. Within the world of commericial real estate, I floundered for months. I constantly found that nearly every avenue to find clients and build a business went to naught. I faced nearly constant derision by senior partners, and got screwed out of a payday by the head of my firm two weeks before Christmas. I told myself over and over that when I was more experienced, I would treat junior agents better than I was treated. There had to be a better way, I thought.After two years at my firm, I met one of the most successful real estate brokers of the past decade. He was looking for help in developing land deals, and agreed to hire me.I lasted a day. Or, actually 6hrs. Within an hour of arriving, he decided I was the wrong guy for the job. Actually, he decided I was the wrong guy for any job. I sat in his office stunned as he explained in a cold, calculated voice about how I was wrong for this business, how I would never be successful in it, and he was doing me a favor from kicking me out now.So, I left. I told myself I was out of real estate. One of the best brokers in the business had told me that I was hopeless. My time in commercial real estate had been brutish, horrid and vicious. I hadn’t made any $$$ in comparison to my efforts. I would get out, focus on my consulting clients and move on with my life.And the two days later I went straight back to my old real estate firm.It took me a while to understand why I went back. As tough as the experience had been, the simple answer was that I liked real estate. I liked working with clients, I liked deal making, I liked negotiating contracts and the thrill of sales. I realized that it didn’t matter that I hadn’t made any money, or that I was screwed over by my mentor (a time-honored tradition in real estate circles) or that Mr. Superbroker thought I wouldn’t make it. I had selected myself for this work.I stopped talking about being nice to new brokers or how the industry needed to change. I realized that it didn’t matter. Commercial real estate was its own animal and there were a lot of people who were invested in its take-no-prisoners business process. People were either suited for the business or they weren’t.I’ve realized that a lot of business industries are like that. You are either like working in sales/ accounting/ movie producing/ entrepreneurship or you don’t. If you do like it, go for it, take no prisoners, and feel grateful that you’re doing something that you love. If you don’t, it’s ok. It doesn’t mean you’re a bad person or a failure if you don’t like it, it just means your skills are suited elsewhere.On a final note, I should state that I did leave commercial real estate several years later when I determined that I had learned everything I was reasonably going to in that environment and I had been financially successful enough to walk away with my head held high. The reality was my self-selection for the real estate industry wasn’t forever and just as I had been compelled to stay in before, I was ready to leave once it started to feel stagnant. Always keep that in mind when transitions in your own career are imminent.