Getting the Most Out of a Consultant

As a business owner you are facing a daunting challenge to survive, let alone thrive. Unlike earlier days when running your HME seemed simpler, today there is no way you can do it all or know it all. Enter the consultant.

Consultants can be used for a variety of reasons. They can:

Educate and Validate

These people read, research and track trends and subject matter you probably have neither the time nor desire to tackle yourself. Take advantage of it. Not only can you benefit from their experience but also from the experience of their other clients. That knowledge can help to support a direction or project you’re thinking of undertaking.

Corroborate and Accelerate

Consultants can reinforce ideas you’ve been contemplating. Because “the meter is running,” they can instill a sense of urgency, perhaps a good thing considering the need to respond to the industry’s fast-changing, competitive market.

Facilitate

Consultants are used to coordinating brainstorming sessions, focus groups, strategic planning meetings and management retreats. They have the ability to focus on objectives and not on the hidden agendas or politics that can lurk in the sharing of ideas.

Negate

In some situations, the experience and knowledge of an outsider can draw attention to the destructive behavior, thinking or direction an organization is contemplating. Objective perspective and experience can prevent a lot of costly false starts and misdirection.

Consultants also come in every size, shape and fee level, from highly specialized local, one-man shops to international general firms. Finding the one that’s right for your needs is critical. Consultants aren’t inexpensive. Aside from their fees, your investment of time and energy with the project can be tremendous. Here are four things to consider to get maximum benefits from working with a professional consultant:

Function

What is the purpose for engaging the consultant? Is it to evaluate or re-evaluate a process or function? Is it to explore a new idea or project? Is it to provide a perspective on something in trouble and dying or growing and expanding?

What do you need? Do you need someone with expertise in one area such as billing, staffing, product development, clinical assessment, finance or accreditation? Or do you need a generalist in business growth, operations, market development, industry outlook, general law, etc.?

Fit

Chemistry is as important as any credentials. Many consulting engagements can require intense interaction at a number of levels within the company, so interpersonal style better exist. When you are giving access to confidential and proprietary information, there also must be a level of trust and confidence.

Freedom

Since access to people and confidential information is often critical to perform his or her function well, the consultant must be trusted to gather, analyze and work in an environment of full disclosure. Depending on the nature of the issues to be examined and the company structure, the information shared may include personal as well as business insights. The more closely held a company, the greater the need to align personal and business goals.

Final Outcomes

What are the end results to be? Beyond the action steps or reports, is the consultant to come and go or stay and implement? Is the goal a one-time assessment and recommendation, or do you seek to establish an ongoing advisory relationship?

Consider these things before you begin to search for a consultant. There are a lot of good consultants; the key is finding the one that’s right for your business.

Vince Crew is a strategic business growth adviser and founder of REACH Development Services, Naples, Fla., and the author of Keeping the Very BEST (Lighthouse, 2003). He speaks and consults with health care providers and related professionals on competing successfully in crowded markets. He may be reached at [email protected] or by phone at 239/455-0816.