The present-day business world is very complex and hard to navigate – even more so if you are a new business owner just starting the first gig. That is perfectly normal because even the big corporate players often find themselves hitting the dead-end unable to move forward without external help.
Recognizing such situations makes the first step in making meaningful progress. The next logical step usually involves hiring a third-party consulting agency that will conduct a thorough company-wide audit and present actionable solutions for moving from a standstill.
Does every obstacle you will encounter down the road, however, require such a drastic move? Well, there lies the answer to whether your actions will eventually pay off or not. Let us take a look then at some of the signs that unequivocally suggest external consulting is needed.
Lagging behind the latest industry
This is an incredibly common problem since modern technology is developing at a lightning speed and new disruptive trends are popping up seemingly over the course of the night. How can consulting help with this situation? Well, an expert with enough experience in your industry will easily identify the weak spots within your organization and suggest quick fixes that will get your business back on the radar. Even more importantly, professional consulting can introduce the culture of creative thinking and innovation in your company and help it to become a disruptive force itself instead of always running behind.
Lack of effective leadership
Good leadership can manifest in various forms. Bad leadership, on the other hand, almost always bears the same results – lack of workplace discipline, unclear or changing objectives, micromanagement, lack of motivation, and bad communication are some of the most obvious examples. If you notice these signs manifesting in your organization, you should strongly consider hiring a professional consultant that will conduct thorough leadership training and make the senior staff of your company up to the task. Even if you don't face such problems, these seminars are always a good opportunity to expand your personal skillset.
Underwhelming marketing results
Modern marketing is a very technical and exact affair. If you are experiencing any kind of problem in this regard, the chances are that you are going through a brand identity crisis or simply tackling the wrong market rather than using subpar marketing strategies. Here lies one of the greatest advantages of professional business consulting – a professional third-party expert can help you get a better grasp of your brand identity, conduct thorough marketing research, refocus the branding and push your company into a new direction. These things are very hard to conduct without an impartial perspective.
The company is not meeting the set goals
This is yet another instance where you can benefit from an impartial opinion and a broader view of the industry at hand. For instance, the COVID-19 pandemic sent huge ripples across the global market and caused price rises that, in the case of the US, went up by as much as 7%. The consumers’ response to this new development was to simply stop buying non-essential goods. The problems of such magnitude can't be solved with quick one-time fixes and require a much more comprehensive long-term strategy. Of course, implementing such solutions is much easier with a help of an experienced third-party consultant.
Lack of in-house expertise
Every business owner has a unique set of professional strengths and weaknesses. Some entrepreneurs may excel in negotiations, others in strategic planning. No one, however, can reach proficiency in every possible field necessary for running a company. Because of that, a business consultant can serve as a sort of temporary mentor or a partner that can help inexperienced business owners to bridge these skill gaps and move forward. Even though this may sound like a rather menial problem, a lot of owners tend to postpone important decisions because they feel uncertain in some areas. Don't make such a mistake.
Working on a time-sensitive project
Last but not least, we would like to mention that although every company should aspire to the highest level of self-sufficiency some time-sensitive projects simply don't allow enough time to develop sufficient in-house resources and be able to tackle the challenges that lie ahead. Much like in the previous example, hiring an experienced consultant can serve as a quick patch that should allow your company to engage in such projects while still having enough time to grow and branch out at its own pace. The agility and new business opportunities you get as a result more than justify the expanses you are asked to make.
We hope these few considerations helped you realize just important third-party consulting can be for the development of your company. Running a business means experiencing countless obstacles and growing pains. These are facts you simply can't avoid. What you can influence, however, is how are you going to deal with these problems and how severely they are going to affect your organization. Asking for help from a professional consultant won't magically solve all these problems but it makes a step in the right direction.