By nature, most small business owners are hands-on DIY types that prefer to be involved in every aspect of their business, from deciding on the type of coffee machine to doing the company tax returns. Statistics show that most business owners find it difficult to delegate tasks to employees or outside consultants. However, if as a business owner too much of your time is being spent on non-core business activities it is probably time to ask the question - does your small business need to hire some small business consulting services?
In the startup or early growth phase of a business being a jack-of-all-trades business owner is often necessary due to financial or other constraints. However, as a business matures there are many needs of a temporary nature that are better served by experts in the discipline. The ever-increasing complexities of information technology, the tax code, and the regulations and other legal aspects surrounding a business can be very difficult for a business owner to stay abreast of.
You know how sometimes when you’re dealing with an issue in your life, you turn to friends and family for their opinions? Companies often need this, too, especially when making tough decisions. Often times, clients have a perspective on how to solve the problem they are facing but want to make sure that what they’re thinking is correct (or that they aren’t so close to the challenge that they’re missing the obvious answer). So, they turn to consultants to come in and provide their opinion.
But this isn’t just any opinion: Because consultants often work with many different companies and may have worked through this problem in the past with someone else, they can really provide a perspective based on what they’ve seen work (or not) before. And given this experience, they can often bring new and innovative ideas or possible challenges to the table that clients probably wouldn’t have been able to see on their own.
Sometimes the problems companies need solving are really important, but they don’t necessarily have the manpower to focus on them. Companies still have to focus on their day-to-day operations, after all, and new projects typically require reprioritizing employees’ core job responsibilities. But hiring new employees to fill these gaps doesn’t always make sense either, seeing as many of these projects are one-offs. Whether it’s a cost reduction program requiring a dedicated team of six for a year or even a post-merger integration that requires a team of 100 for a month, clients might struggle to get the teams in place to do this critical work.
In instances like this, consultants basically serve as temporary, highly skilled employees. We’re not full-time employees of the company, so it is often cheaper to use us than hire someone new. Because we switch around companies often, we’re used to the fast learning curve, and onboarding us is easier. And, by using consultants, companies don’t have to pull their employees away from their actual jobs.