Before you hire a consultant.

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In a recent nationwide survey of consultants to the financial industry, all agree that there are a handful of preparatory actions that will lead to an effective and even enjoyable collaborative experience.

To get the most out of your third party consultants you need to prepare your company.

Here are things you need to do to maximize the effectiveness of your third party consultant.

5

Emotional and knee-jerk reactions to revenue gaps may lead you to assume your current staff lacks the skill set or resources to address problems in your operation.

Hiring a consultant to address a problem area best resolved with people or systems already on board, may lead to a waste of time, money and more importantly - your credibility.

Find the Gap.

#1

Once you and your team clearly identify and define the target best addressed by an outside firm, compare how the outcome of this endeavor will affect your P&L statement. Any positive aspect of the engagement should be directly linked to the bottom line.

Be sure what fills the gap goes directly to the bottom line.

#2

What do you hope to get from a consultant that we can’t deliver?Are we being fired? Are you sure this is the right thing to do? How much time am I going to spend with these folks? What is my role? How do I react to the consultant? Who is in charge of them when they are here? What are you spending on this consultant?How long are they going to be here?What do I give them?

Answer questions before they are asked.

#3

Get ready! These are only a few of the questions coming your way.

Understand the departments and staff members neededfor the engagement and make note of the personalitiesand qualities of the outside consultants. Cooperation andcollaboration are the keys to success and a harmoniousenvironment is advantageous to everyone involved.

Prepare the landscape.#4

Secrecy is no good. It gets people worried, it gets people talking and many of those comments may be detrimental to your success.

Tell everyone.#5

The success of any consulting work may depend on the willingness of just a few key members in your company.

Using the five basic rules, you will get more “buy-in” from more of your company stake holders who will work together to ensure your decision to use a consultant was the right move.

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