4 Myths about Business Consultants You Shouldn’t Believe.

Many people are sceptical about business consultants and the reasons for that range from a few unpleasant experiences of working with a self-proclaimed consultant to not knowing how to collaborate with an experienced one.

A lot of the distrust toward business consulting companies or individuals comes from the fact that people don’t really know who we are and what we can bring to the table.

The primary thing to keep in mind is that consultants can add value to your company and augment your business only when you know the right time to refer to them.

Some businessmen regard consultants with contempt as a result of being unaware of the services they provide and the mission they carry out. What is consulting? Is it telling people what they already know or does it actually go beyond the ‘ted talks’ and into real action that brings real benefits?

What is Consulting and How It All Started?

Even though consulting has been popularized in recent decades, the roots of business consulting go deep. Deeper than you imagine.

Back in 1886, Arthur D. Little, an MIT chemist who had discovered acetate, founded the first-ever management consulting company and it turned out big. 

Even a century ago the man felt the need to bring diversity to the field of business and established a company that was specialized in strategy development, operations research, etc. At the time, Arthur Dehon was brave enough to break into the homogeneous industry with fresh ideas and deeds. It must have been rather difficult to be the pioneer in a field as tough as consulting.

After this successful case, several consulting companies emerged, setting the ground for the market that was to grow as big as to reach 188 billion U.S. dollars (2018).

A business consultant, by definition, is “a person that provides professional or expert advice in a particular area, such as management, law, human resources, accounting, etc.”.

With this being said, no definition will thoroughly explain the essence of business consulting and what is the ultimate goal its ‘ambassadors’ serve.

Business consulting is a broad notion. It is of paramount importance to remember that consultants are generally specialized in specific areas of business. Thus, business consulting branches out into the following primary types:

• Management and strategy consulting;
• HR consulting;
• Marketing consulting;
• IT consulting;
• Accounting and financial consulting, etc.

Myths and Misconceptions about Business Consultants

There are many thoughts and opinions on business consultants that are far from being true – farther than you imagine.

The following myths and misconceptions have been moulded with joint efforts of businessmen and consultants themselves. It’s high time we brought an end to all of the fallacies about the problem-solvers of the business industry.

Myth #1: Consultants take your watch and tell you the time.

This is perhaps the most common misconception about consultants. Many people have a strong belief that consultants tell them nothing but what they already know about the business they own.

The thing is, you might know full well what goes into your business and how things flow. Additionally, you may be the one that sees all the problems that you and your employees encounter in not only your day to day activities but in the long run too.

To a certain extent, yes, consultants do tell you what you already know. In companies, employees are perfectly aware of their problems and sometimes even have an idea of how to fix them. But consultants are the ones who come into the business, explore everything and find out the root of all your issues, and above all, bring up the solutions. Solutions, that are well-planned, organized, based on data and a lot of close observation.

Hiring a consultant means that someone else is going to take your problems much more seriously and more formally than your employees would. Consultants study the data of your company and come up with a package that contains not only a ton of text and diagrams but actual working solutions. Have you and your employees thought of these solutions? Perhaps you have. Have you implemented any of them? Probably not. Why? Because you need an outsider to give the push!

Following the ‘guide’ the consultant comes up with is what is going bring an end to a specific problem you stumble across in business procedures.

However, saying that consultants tell you what you already know and nothing more would not be fair, to say the least. The majority of consultants are specialized in a specific area of business. This means that they not only ‘scan’ your business and detect the core problems instantly but they also bring forth the most efficient techniques that you may not even have thought of.

Myth #2: Hiring an outsider to solve your problems is not wise. 

Just the vice versa – hiring a professional outsider to help you overcome your business struggles is what you should do.

Founders usually have a hard time letting someone else get too deep into their business. They do not consider it appropriate to allow an outsider to get into the particulars of their work.

This may be a concern if you are working with a never-heard-of consultant or a company. A reliable consultancy firm, even if it is not one of the big ones known across the world, can be spotted from afar. Doing a little research and talking to the professional that is likely to take your case is all you need to do to distinguish between an expert and a fraud.

Keep in mind that the professional, who is referred to as an ‘outsider’, is the one who has collected vast amounts of data due to working with clients like you. And it is your turn to leverage the power of the data accumulated as a result of cooperating with numerous businesses.

Having an ‘outsider’ show you the right way to solve your problems is the wisest thing to do as they will apply the best practices to help you out.

Another key point in favour of the ‘outsiders’ is that they look at your business and its problems from a new perspective. They are the ones that will look at the big picture and see what’s wrong. Aside from that, the fact that consultants are not emotionally attached to the business helps them come up with solutions that are most fitting at the moment.

Myth #3: You need to have a big company to work with a consultant. 

While business consultants are associated with big companies, startups and small ones need them no less.

Hiring a business consultant at the early stage of developing your business is quite clever. It takes some entrepreneurs years to get into the groove of things and realize what works and what doesn’t. Starting your journey off with a good business plan, strategic marketing activities and all of these backed up with properly conducted market and competitor research is a good investment that you will not regret. You can, of course, start on your own and turn to experts when you need them, but collaborating with a professional from day one will save you a lot of time, effort and resources in the future.

As for the smaller companies, problems are problems, no matter who you are and how big your company is.

So, if you want to refer to a consultant, leave behind the movie scenes where you have seen business consultants in suits entering the open spaces of big companies, and start collaborating when you feel is right.

Myth #4: Consultants don’t stick around once they are done.

One of the biggest concerns of clients is that they might be left with a good package of papers, a strategy plan, and at a loss. Entrepreneurs are often worried that consultants will stop caring for them once the time working with them is up and all the material, suggestions and presentations are delivered.

The truth is, every good consultant sticks around with the client till the end of the journey paying close attention to the plan that has been created to solve the company’s problems.

With reliable consulting companies, clients are always welcome to get in touch and ask quick questions. If the consultant you have been working with avoids giving you support once the final package is delivered, then, sadly, you have been working with the wrong one. Long-term engagement with the client is what is every professional consultant is looking for.

The biggest myths about business consultants are demolished! Now it’s up to you to decide whether your business needs a helping hand of an expert or your boat is steady enough to float on its own.

Copyright, Acquerant, 2019

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