Before we get into the benefits of hiring external consultants, let’s first understand what consultants do and how they can help your business.
A consultant is a professional with specialized knowledge in a particular industry. They help businesses identify problems, offer solutions, and provide advice to drive growth and improvement.
Consultants can bring a fresh perspective to areas like operations, marketing, financial management, or strategy. Whether you’re a small business, a growing startup, or a large corporation, external consultants offer expertise to help you tackle specific challenges and improve performance.
There are two main types of consultants: internal consultants, who the company employs, and external consultants, who are independent and hired for specific projects or needs.
When a company faces a challenge that can’t be resolved internally, hiring a consultant is often the best way to find practical solutions.
Large corporations regularly bring in consultants to optimize workflows and streamline business processes. However, small businesses often hire consultants on a short-term basis to address specific needs.
Now, the real question is: if you’re facing obstacles in your business growth, should you hire an external consultant to help improve operations?
For example, if your sales are stagnating and you’re not sure why, could an industry expert provide the insights needed to turn things around?
Business owners tend to have different views on this. Some believe in Lance Lindon’s theory that consultants merely “borrow your watch to tell you the time,” offering nothing more than basic advice.
However, I take a different perspective.
Among the top reasons 45% of new businesses fail, #1 is lack of knowledge, and consultants have a knowledge advantage that doesn’t let businesses fail.
Experts and consultants are key players in driving business growth and success, among many other factors.
While internal consultants bring significant value by providing constant oversight and being deeply embedded in your business, external consultants offer unique advantages that can complement and enhance your internal team.
Even if you already have internal consultants, bringing in external expertise can provide a fresh perspective and valuable insights. Below, we’ll explore the key benefits of hiring external consultants and why they are an important asset to any business.
Let’s dive in.
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Consultants are industry experts:
The top reason to hire external consultants is their expertise and extensive experience.
External consultants work with multiple organizations, often at the same time, which enhances their creativity and problem-solving skills. Over the course of their careers, they’ve faced a wide range of challenges and found effective solutions to most of them.
This experience means there’s a good chance they’ve encountered a problem similar to yours before. While every business has unique dynamics—whether it’s related to financing, workforce, or business strategy—the core solutions to many challenges remain the same.
By hiring an external consultant, you gain access to a wealth of knowledge and proven strategies that can help your business overcome obstacles and thrive. Their fresh perspective and experience can lead to lasting improvements, no matter how complex the issue may be.
External consultants have an objective approach:
Often, organizations face challenges that require an objective approach.
Even if you already have an internal consultant, if things aren’t improving, it could be because the consultant is too close to the situation to remain completely impartial.
Objectivity is crucial for identifying and solving problems effectively.
For example, if a company is facing financial difficulties and downsizing is necessary, an internal consultant may be swayed by company politics or relationships.
In contrast, an external consultant brings a fresh perspective and can approach the situation without bias, offering clear, objective recommendations to help the company navigate through the crisis.
They use fresh eyes:
“My greatest strength as a consultant is to be ignorant and ask a few questions.” – Peter Drucker
As humans, we are naturally emotional creatures, and it’s impossible for business owners to be completely emotionally detached from their companies. This emotional attachment can cloud their judgment and prevent them from seeing clear solutions to problems.
As a result, they might overlook the answer or hesitate to implement necessary changes.
An external consultant, on the other hand, is not emotionally tied to the business. Their focus is solely on business growth. They don’t just identify the problem—they also guide business owners through the process of implementing solutions, even if those solutions involve significant change.
For example, it’s common for business owners to focus on the immediate issues and miss the bigger picture.
Take the case of a retail business owner struggling with declining sales. They may be overly focused on cutting costs in the short term, such as reducing staff or limiting inventory, without considering long-term strategies like improving customer experience or investing in digital marketing.
An external consultant can help refocus their vision by reminding them of the broader objectives—like customer loyalty and brand growth—and guide them toward solutions that address both immediate concerns and future success.
An external consultant saves you time:
Let’s say you’re running a small retail store or a service-based business like a consulting firm. There are many areas where you might need expert guidance to improve efficiency.
From managing bookkeeping, implementing digital marketing strategies to attract new customers, to overseeing inventory management, these tasks can quickly become overwhelming.
Trying to handle everything on your own can stretch your resources thin. This is where an external consultant can step in, saving you time and allowing you to focus on more productive aspects of your business.
Hiring external consultants is cost-effective:
Many business owners believe external consultants could be expensive because of their high fees, but that’s not always true.
Some consultancy firms may charge a lot, but you might not necessarily need them.
Any independent consultant with a sound background and profile can be a good fit for you. Independent consultants often charge much lesser than agencies.
Secondly, as it’s a project-based agreement, you can say goodbye once the task is completed.
In this way, you are already paying less than your employees. Secondly, you are not bound to pay them salaries every month.
They get an edge of flexibility:
48% of UK executives who used independent consultants said flexibility was the most significant selling point. Flexibility gives freedom and peace of mind and lowers stress.
So hiring an independent external consultant can bring magical business results because of the consultant’s energetic mind, which no one can get from the stressful political environment of an organization.
They already have expensive equipment you need:
Many business tasks require specialized and costly equipment, which can be a significant barrier for small businesses looking to compete with larger corporations.
Large organizations use these advanced tools to maintain a competitive edge in the market. However, for smaller businesses, the upfront cost and maintenance of such equipment can be a major challenge.
This is where hiring an external consultant can be a game-changer. Independent industry experts often already have access to these high-end tools, which means your business can leverage the latest technologies without the hefty investment.
For example, if you need advanced data analytics tools to optimize marketing campaigns, an external consultant may already have access to premium platforms like Google Analytics 360 or SEMrush, which can give you insights you wouldn’t typically be able to afford.
Or you need SEO services to attract inbound leads, they already have access to premium SEO tools like Ahref, etc.
This allows you to achieve optimal results without the burden of purchasing and maintaining expensive equipment yourself.
They will help you keep the organization running:
Some companies often don’t tend to hire external consultants and want their employees to meet the situation. However, this is not a great idea for SMBs.
Undoubtedly, anyone could be a consultant because no specialization is required to secure the title. Still, if a business starts investing in employees to become consultants, there are three disadvantages a company can suffer.
- It will disturb the running of the business. It will daily disturb routine work.
- It will cost a lot of money to train them and provide them with advanced equipment.
- There are still chances that they won’t become creative to meet the challenging situations.
So if you don’t want to disturb a running business but need a cost-effective solution to identify and resolve the issues; it’s far better to hire experienced external consultants.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
What is the role of an external consultant?
The role of an external consultant in the organization is the same as an internal consultant. Both provide professional coaching to keep the growth of a business sustainable and get it to the next level. However, external consultants are not members of the client organization.
Why do companies hire outside consultants?
The top reason why companies hire outside consultants is their specialization in the field. An outside consultant who has worked with many companies has met hundreds of situations and has excellent exposure to getting results that can be eye-catching for companies to bring them to the next level.