hiring a consultant checklist

Hiring a Consultant Checklist

TonyShapConsulting • Business Development Consultant to America’s Fastest-Growing Companies • www.tonyshap.com

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Whether it's a shipping inventory or new hire paperwork, every business has some form of checklist. Businesses develop checklists because they are a simple and efficient method of getting good results every time.

Good results every time sounds like something you would want if you hire consultants, so we better get to work on that checklist.




The Most Important Thing is a Good Fit

Regardless of what your business does and what you are hiring the consultant for, you must determine that there is a good fit between your goals and the ideas of the consultant.

Each organization is different, of course, so all must develop their own evaluation methods for determining what should be on their company's checklist.




Channel Your Inner Doctor

When evaluating a potential consultant it is best to ask numerous questions and always phrase things in a number of styles. Act like a personal physician does when interviewing a new patient. Ask the same question in different ways.

It is imperative that you and your potential consultant understand each other completely with no misunderstandings. Issues regarding non-disclosure agreements, if such documents are used by your company, should come up near the beginning of a negotiation with a consultant, not near the end.




How Best to Communicate?

This is one of the first questions that you will want to know the answer to when you are evaluating consultants, especially if the process will require multiple interviews. Most consultants will probably ask you what method you prefer -- as the client is ALWAYS right when consulting. Those that won't cater to your communication needs probably won't work out for your company.

Before you deal with consultants, it is best to know what you want. Your checklist will help to define exactly what that is.
