Before we proceed to the benefits of hiring external consultants, let’s briefly see who consultants are and what they do.
A consultant is an industry expert who identifies problems within a business, offers practical solutions based on their expertise and experience, and provides critical analysis to support business growth and development.
Their ability to diagnose issues and recommend tailored strategies can help businesses improve performance, streamline processes, and stay competitive in their respective industries.
Whether it’s optimizing operations, enhancing marketing efforts, or improving financial management, consultants bring the insight and knowledge needed to drive success.
There are two types of consultants, internal consultants, and external consultants: Internal consultants are employed by the company.
However, external consultants are independent and are hired on a project-based.
So, whenever a firm or company suffers from a problem and can’t handle it, they hire consultants for practical solutions.
Corporations always onboard consultants to optimize their workflows and business processes; however, small businesses usually hire external consultants for the time being.
Now, the real question is, if you are feeling hurdles in your business growth, should you hire external consultants to help you streamline your business?
For instance, should you consult an industry expert if your sales are stuck and you have no idea where the problem lies?
In this regard, different business owners have different approaches.
Some business owners believe in Lance Lindon‘s theory that consultants would borrow our watch to tell us what time it is.
But I see myself on the other side.
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 play a pivotal role in driving business growth and success, among numerous other contributing factors.
There are huge benefits to employing internal consultants; they keep eagle eyes on your business, but there are some extra advantages of using external consultants that we have debated below.
The following advantages of external consultants will make you acknowledge how significant it is to use outside consultants even when you have employed internal consultants.
Let’s get started.
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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 different organizations, often simultaneously, which boosts their creativity and ability to solve problems efficiently.
Over the course of their careers, they’ve encountered countless challenges and solved most of them.
This means there’s a good chance they’ve already dealt with your specific issue somewhere else.
When market trends shift, many companies face similar difficulties. While the path to solving them may differ depending on business plans, financing issues, or workforce dynamics, the core solutions are often the same.
In the end, hiring an external consultant means tapping into a wealth of knowledge and proven strategies that can help your business not only navigate but also thrive in the face of challenges.
Their fresh perspective and problem-solving experience can lead to lasting improvements, no matter the complexity of the issue at hand.
External consultants have an objective approach:
Most of the time, organizations’ concerns require an objective approach.
You might already have an internal consultant, and if things aren’t going great, that means the consultant isn’t objective. You need an objective approach to identify and resolve the issue.
For example, if a company suffers financial issues and downsizing is essential, the internal consultant might be influenced by internal politics. However, an external consultant can fetch the company from this crisis with an objective approach and fresh eyes.
They use fresh eyes:
“My greatest strength as a consultant is to be ignorant and ask a few questions.” – Peter Drucker
As a human is an emotional animal, a business person can never be emotionally detached or objective. Emotional attachment can blur the crystal-clear solutions to problems. As a result, business owners might not see the solution or be ready to accept it.
In all such situations, an external consultant, who has no emotional attachment to the business, but with business growth will not only diagnose the problem to solve but also convince owners to implement different strategies to get different results.
For example, it’s human nature to see our problems microscopically and not see the bigger picture from which we started.
So consultants hold our hands, remind us of the bigger objectives for which we started, and turn our eyes off the specimen slide.
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.