A small business consultant works with clients on strategy,
planning and problem solving, and helps clients develop business
skills and knowledge. These topics range from designing a business
model or marketing plan, to determining which marketing techniques
to use and how to use them. You'll often help clients learn how to
plan and implement projects. A small business consultant gives
advice, teaches skills, and brainstorms with the client to produce
practical results and enhance strategic thinking.
A small business coach helps clients to create success by
focusing on personal development: time management, self-sabotaging
behavior (like procrastination and distraction), finding clarity,
decision making, and getting into action. When you put on your
coaching hat, you don't give advice. Instead, you help the client
find the answers from within themselves.
There is a lot of confusion between what the ICF (International
Coach Federation) calls a "small business coach" and what the rest
of the world thinks a "small business coach" is. Don't get hung up
on titles unless you want to strictly follow the ICF definition.
You can call yourself a consultant, advisor, mentor or coach, and
most clients will understand that it means you'll help them solve
problems and grow their business. Pay attention to the outcomes the
clients seek. (If it helps, I call myself a "coach-consultant" to
show I use both coaching and consulting techniques when working
with clients.)
You need both consulting skills and coaching
skills in order to be effective and provide real value. I have been
working with micro business owners and solo entrepreneus for over
20 years and I rarely find one that doesn't need both coaching and
consulting. they almost never approach me and ask for straight
coaching. They ask for consulting. They ask for practical advice
and brainstorming. But in the search to find solutions and to map
out a strategy, a small business owners will stumble unless they do
both the personal development work and the business
development work that leads to success.
- Management and strategy. Qualified consultants
should have a deep understanding of your particular market and
bring the best practices from your industry (or even other
industries) to your company. If you're looking to expand your
markets geographically, extend your product portfolio, reorganize
your middle market company to promote efficiency and
cost-effectiveness, buy out a smaller competitor, or increase your
overall capabilities, then hiring an experienced
management/strategy consultant can make perfect sense. Firms such
as McKinsey & Company are famous for helping clients develop
and execute better strategies.
- Operations. Want to improve the quality and
efficiency of your production processes? An operations consultant
such as Accenture can help you create and implement a new way of
doing just that. Some consultants specialize in business process
re-engineering, meaning that they come in and map out your existing
processes, analyze opportunities for reducing the number of steps
in that process while maintaining quality, and re-engineer your
processes in a way that reduces steps and costs. Other consultants
are experts in quality control systems and can help you make
changes that will reduce defects.
- IT. This is a fast-growing area for
consulting, as the demands of new technology are impacting middle
market companies every day. Whether you need to develop a new
system or integrate your old systems so that they work together, an
IT consultant can help. IT consultants such as IBM will enhance
your capabilities and also make your IT more flexible in meeting
the dynamic needs of internal and external customers.
- HR. Need to improve the overall satisfaction
of your employees, recruit top talent, and retain your top
performers? HR consultants such as Hay Group specialize in
developing compensation strategies that align with your overall
business goals, training, and developing your people in areas such
as business communication and leadership. They can help you improve
performance-related feedback and evaluation to your team, making
your employees work smarter.
- Marketing. Whether you need a new logo for
your company, a new market position for one of your brands, or a
new social media strategy to interact with your customers,
marketing consultants can help. Consultants such as The Boston
Consulting Group can offer you a creative spark when your own
people have run out of ideas, letting you see what other companies
have done to attract more customers
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