Did you know that approx. 20% of small businesses will fail in their first year, and up to 60% of start–ups won’t survive beyond three years? These are sad statistics, especially considering the amount of blood, sweat and tears that goes into the early stages of running a business.
It can be a risky endeavour, so it pays to get a professional onboard to help navigate and tackle challenges when they arise, and put strategies in place to not just survive, but thrive. This is where a business consultant comes in.
Paid to offer personalised advice and streamline operations, a business management consultant’s job is to prioritise, plan, manage and grow. They cover everything from improving branding, marketing and tech integration, to in–depth financial analysis, increasing conversion rates and generating new leads.
Business consultants work with companies of varying size and cover various sectors, from finance, retail, hospitality and health, to advertising, engineering, architecture and technology.
Keep reading to find out more about what they do and how they could benefit you…
Identify Issues & Goals
The ultimate goal of a consultant is to find where a business is failing or stagnating and put plans in place to try and fix it.
The purpose of having an outsider review operations is to look at things with a fresh set of eyes and from a different perspective, as it’s often difficult to determine problems when you’re already involved.
They will offer up a better direction, as well as work closely with the business owner and/or management team to educate and train them on new and improved practices.
Some of the most common, realistic short and long term goals a business consultant can help a company with include lowering expenses and increasing profits, upping productivity, motivating staff and decreasing turnover rates, creating a stronger brand image, sourcing better stockists and reaching more customers and clients.
Plan & Problem Solve
A business consultant is responsible for developing and implementing new ideas and processes.
Their task is to problem solve and come up with practical and proven strategies and solutions. Through careful analysis and evaluation, a consultant can see where the potential is for better outcomes, and plot out the most efficient and effective way of achieving them.
They can use their experiences with other clients in similar industries to justify certain decisions and recommendations too.
Some areas and approaches to consulting include keeping up–to–date with business trends and data, investing in marketing to increase brand awareness and traffic to digital and/or physical stores, reviewing accounting and budgeting methods, being across funding and loan opportunities and checking company policies and protocols.
They can also connect a business to other resources and services that could assist in IT, sales and legal departments.
Monitor & Modify Changes
Just because a strategy consultant and their client have practices underway, doesn’t mean the job is done.
The relationship between a business owner and an independent consultant can last for as little or as long as the pair have agreed, and consultants will send through any updates or new advice as they go. However, new processes take time to work, so it’s important to be patient, realistic and optimistic about expectations and outcomes.
It can take weeks and months for a plan to kick in and for its effectiveness to be measured. Employees need time to adjust to new administrative arrangements or requirements, search engines need time to crawl and optimise new content and edits, and users need time to test out new interactive elements and functions of a website, just to name a few examples.
Ongoing communications should be done face–to–face when possible, with regular phone calls, video chats and emails done in–between meetings.
TR Consulting offers a range of business consulting services. Get in contact with us today to find out how we could help your business grow online!
