Hostetler begins by explaining: "The first ‘criteria filters' will be the judgments that are made on the consultancy candidate's technical abilities. This stands to reason, because you cannot consider asking an advisor into your business that presents anything less than stellar credentials. Most people might think that the second most important criteria less important because personalities should play no part in a decision of this nature, but I beg to differ with this mentality. You have to consider that you're going to be, literally, living with this person (or persons) for months and, quite possibly, years so the choice of who is by your side during this extended period of change is important, to say the least. So the boiled down fundamental criteria should be: (1) Ability and (2) Personality." Although these two decision-making approaches come from almost opposite directions, they are much more complimentary than they appear, and should be coupled together before any decisions are made or actions taken.
Hostetler goes on to say: "Many, or most, of the decisions based around business issues are standard issue and don't change much from the core activities of entrepreneurship. So bringing up your problems in a confused, incoherent manner spells out "sitting duck" to a consultant and is NOT what I would prescribe. You need to be specific in regard to what tangible outcomes you expect and leave the design of the solution to the consultant. You cannot expect to tell them what you want and how you want them to accomplish it. It doesn't work that way. After all, if you knew how to accomplish what you wanted out of your business, why would you need a consultant?"
Another point that Hostetler makes regards human resource and emotional hiring. He elaborates: "Hiring a consultant is completely different than hiring an employee. The rules don't even resemble one another in that the decision-making processes must be based on a tougher, more critical set of criteria."
The points that are listed below are by no means comprehensive, but they should provide a useful set of "pointers" that, with time, practice and familiarity, will help you decide how and whom to hire as a consultant.
Dollars. Be able to judge the validity of the findings so as to make certain that they are "real" results and not "manufactured" results and, after this has been done to your satisfaction, judge the value of the consulting services based on the benefits of the solution rather than the cost. An hourly, daily or weekly rate will not tell you the whole story – a consultant with a nigh hourly rate may produce value more quickly than one with a lower rate. Going for the cheapest fix (or rate) is often a false economy, especially when one considers that the consultant will be tinkering with, and probably making major changes to, the inner mechanics of the single largest asset in your life. The most unqualified consultants are, unfortunately, the most available and the easiest to afford. Larger companies may charge more per on-site consultant but many times what is not seen (the home office research and support) provides tremendous additional value and comes with the consultant at no charge.
The benefits, or ‘savings', should be the focus of any Consultancy decision. They need to be concrete, verifiable and should cost-justify the project. ‘Pie in the sky' savings that are not documented, specific and proven (with supporting evidence) should be discounted at face value and given no consideration whatsoever.
The Presentation. Don't make your decision based on fears of what will happen if you don't solve your problems, and don't be swayed by business-babble. Attempts to impress you with an extensive list of acronyms and niche industry-speak often hides a superficial understanding of the real issues to be addressed. Instead, look for a company that offers empathy, a company that has produced a presentation or pitch that is both specific and sympathetic with your company's objectives, not just one where they have performed a "find and replace company name" from a previous document. Above all, look for a company that listens to you. Only by truly listening to you will a consultant really understand what you want and what your needs are. You want to find a consultant that is more interested in serving your needs than theirs. The job of a good consultant is to understand your objectives and then design a solution that will help you to achieve them, not to push a "one size fits all" solution on you. Typically, the consultancy that addresses your problems, rather than your symptoms, is the one that will give you a lasting cure.
The Consultancy Candidate. Big is not necessarily better. Larger consulting companies can many times lack flexibility in dealing with clients and are more governed by their internal processes than the well-being of their clients. They may have a larger labor pool to choose from, but you'll need to make sure that you find out the qualifications of the person that will be on-site in your business doing the work, which is typically NOT the well-spoken presenter. On the other hand, a one-man shop can dry up and blow away overnight leaving you stranded with important, half-finished work. Plus they lack the additional resource that larger companies can supply. A happy medium can be found in mid-sized boutique firms, but beware of firms with little or no history, awards, testimonies or internet presence. Ask for some measure of assurance that they've done satisfactory work in the past but keep in mind that confidentially agreements, that most legitimate consultancies insist upon, may keep you from speaking directly to a former, or current, client.
Consultancies that have copyrighted, trademarked, service marked or trade-secret protection on their processes are typically the candidates that offer the most to their clients. When they have gone to the lengths, and costs, to protect their proprietary intellectual property, you can be relatively assured that it is valid and sought after. Make sure that they are the authors of the protected processes and own the rights to it. If they are leasing the systems, they may not have a full understanding of how the systems work which could denigrate the integrity of the installation.
The On-Site Consultant(s). Be it one consultant that's in your business or five, you have to make sure that you're comfortable with their ability to get the job done as promised. One criteria, that is not considered a valid measure of a consultant's technical ability, is their social savvy. Many of the best consultants in the business are socially awkward, and yet they're able to create Drucker-level business solutions. The relationship manager is the one that you should be able to communicate with and you must make sure that there is enough chemistry between you to be able to handle problems as they arise because, believe me, they will arise. They always do. You need to make sure that you have enough rapport with the relationship manager in order to overcome these inevitable problems as they arise. This is an important cornerstone of a successful consulting engagement and not to be underestimated.
At the risk of overt repetition, the point needs to be made and understood, that the consultants should be measured on the results that they provide, not on the typical questions that are employed during a job interview. You should not have an interest in such issues as: "Will this person fit into our company culture?" (The fact is they will not be there long enough for it to matter and, many times, it is more efficient to ‘Change Management' from a frame of reference outside the company culture); or "Can I get along with this person socially?" (Your consultant may be a genius disguised in a nerd's costume. Forget the relationship with the consultant and, instead, examine your rapport with the Consultancy's ‘Relationship Manager').
The point is, let the Consultancy choose their on-site personnel, based on what they need to get the job done, without complicating the process for them. They won't appreciate your throwing in additional social obstacles that have nothing to do with accomplishing the goals and objectives that you have agreed upon and it will do nothing but elongate the engagement, costing you more in the long run.
Honest and open dialogue can happen, and even flourish, without your becoming fast friends with the consultants. You need to make certain that you don't confuse your social judgments with your intellectual ones and this might call for breaking some decision-making habits that many of us have had for the majority of our professional lives. The emotional ‘gut feeling' will probably need to be overridden with the more cerebral ‘it makes sense' more times than one.
Track Record. Successful experience in consulting is paramount but not to be confused with specific experience in exactly your industry vertical. You need to have a Consultancy that can demonstrate that they accomplished their mission as promised and can produce evidence of it. However, requiring that your Consultancy candidate possess experience in your ‘exact' niche is foolhardy and unnecessary. To do so narrows your playing field of candidates, without merit, and may cause you eliminate your best shot. Many times the fact that the Consultancy comes from outside your industry can breathe creative energy into a project that can give the business entity new wings and launch it to new heights. After all, the organizational, operational, reporting and accountability issues that they will be working on are not all that different from each other, industry to industry. Just make sure that they can accomplish what they promise, and can demonstrate that attribute to your satisfaction, and you'll be fine.
Accountability. Make certain that whomever you consider has a documented, verifiable process in place that will keep you apprised of progress in regard to the short and long term aspects of the project, and the cost of the project. Any Consultancy that does not automatically explain their processes and procedures for these pre-scheduled progress events should be discounted. Their accountability, in other words, should be built right into the relationship that they offer to you and any Consultancy that does not offer this as a built-in feature should be suspect of trying to sell you an open-ended invoice.
Contracts. Read the contract(s) thoroughly to make sure that you understand what you sign and that it is reasonable. You will need to make certain that you can get out of it, at any time, if you are dissatisfied with the work and that the relationship between you is clear and fair. Remember, your Consultancy candidate is presenting a contract that they have probably used many times so they've worked out all the ‘kinks' in it prior to presenting it to you. You'll probably not be successful at trying to swing the favor of the contract to your side, but at least you can make sure that it is fair to both sides. This issue is important but should not be, and rarely is, a show stopper.
Agree to the expected outcomes. Consulting is an intangible purchase so it is easy to allow soft interpretations of expected outcomes stay that way. Don't do it! Get as much in writing as you can before you move ahead with any project. Companies that offer written documentation, as a part of their relationship with you, are usually more accountable and results-oriented. Those that do not offer written documentation are typically not. A great deal of the work that will be done in your business is documentation, so you can use what you have seen prior to your decision to move ahead with a project as an accurate indicator of what's to come.
What about "post installation"? After everything is designed, implemented and your people trained in the use of your new system, what becomes of your relationship with the Consultancy? This is an important question because your project will definitely require ‘tweaks' and ‘updates' as time passes. If you don't establish what this ‘post project' relationship will be before you move ahead with the original project, you'll probably be out of luck when you need help down the road. Don't expect the help for free, but there should be some sort of reduced rate or special arrangement (including phone counseling) that should be made available to you. The best Consultancies offer a built-in post project relationship because they want a long-term relationship with you, not a short-term one that finishes when the budget has been reached.
In summary, Hostetler explains: "Hiring a Consultancy can be as difficult or as easy as you want to make it. However, there are no shortcuts and anyone who tries to save time or economize haphazardly runs the amplified risk of causing great harm to your business. Take the time to consider each of the recommendations that I have offered in this article. There is not one that I believe can be deemphasized or eliminated and they do not take long to utilize considering the importance of the decision to be made. Combine your intellect and your emotional feelings making sure that one does not override the other and your evaluative senses are balanced and unbiased. Remember, consultants are not robots that need programming to function. Many of them have owned their own businesses or have held C-level positions that have qualified them to be able to say, "been there, done that" and say so with the knowledge of what to do rescue businesses from their calamitous conditions or what to do to avert imminent disasters. One final, more global, criteria that can be used when making a decision such as this is not, "What will it cost me to hire a Consultancy?" but, rather, "What will it cost me NOT to hire a Consultancy?"
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