There are many types of business consultants however all of them exist for one thing: to help you improve your business and make you more successful.
Each business consultant will have their own way of working however most follow a simple process which contains three phases:
- Discovery or Understanding
This is the initial phase where the consultant will spend time with you and the stakeholders in your business to truly understand what it is you want to achieve and how far away from this you are currently - Planning and Implementation
Once the plans have been created, you and your team implement the agreed strategies and processes ensuring that everyone understands the role that they play in trying to improve the business performance - Review and Course Correct
Unfortunately sometimes plans don’t work as well as they are intended to on paper and a good consultant will identify this early, review the performance, and offer ways to change course to ensure the desired outcome for the business.
The majority of the work done by the consultant comes very early on in the relationship as they understand the business, identify the challenges and create strategies to combat the issues that the company is facing. As time goes on, the aim is that the skills, frameworks and processes that the consultant has helped the business with, can be adopted by the company themselves meaning less need to rely upon external support in the longer term.
Your consultant should always be available to you to the agreed schedule that they have committed to, they should speak in a jargon free manner, and they should always offer realistic and implementable solutions.
