Retaining An Expert -- What Every Business Owner Needs To Know

As an entrepreneur, hiring an expert can be one of the most efficient ways to turbo-charge your business. However, thousands of consultants flood the Information Highway, and each one promises to positively impact your bottom line. How do you know which expert has the right combination of smarts, skills, experience and personality to move your company in the right direction?

It's no small feat to allow a consultant to make decisions on your behalf. Empowering a consultant to advise changes can bring up feelings of doubt and fear. To help you choose the right expert for you, here are 6 cautionary tips from Kathy Szpakowski, founder of KBS Group, one of the country's most successful, organizational development consulting companies:

1. Make sure the expert has a proven track record for delivering on their promises. Visit the consultant's web site and check on their references.

2. Pay attention to the expert's commentary after you've stated your vision. Do you feel understood? Does he or she "get" it, or do you feel like you need to keep on explaining? If, during the initial conversation stage or in the project outline stage you feel your vision is not completely understood or that there are areas being overlooked or under-valued, consider finding another expert who is more in alignment with your point of view.

3. Observe if the expert incorporates your thoughts and ideas into the conversation. Do you feel a sense of collaboration or do you feel shot down? While working with an expert, there will be times where you might take his or her well-substantiated advice and whole-heartedly agree with certain recommendations, while at other times, you might mildly agree or not agree at all. Based on your discussion, get a sense as to whether this person will be open to a collaborative arrangement, or might be intolerant of feedback or suggestions.

4. Assess if the expert understands the term 'within budget.' Rather than have an expert initially tell you all of the wonderful things they can do for you, then fall over from the sticker shock when you receive their proposal and their terms, tell them the budget you need to stay within. A consultant should not be writing from your checkbook. What is important is your budget; not their price.

5. Agree to a mutually acceptable time frame. In order to ensure that the two of you are on the same page, establish timelines to determine when you want to get started, as well as how long it will take before you can expect to receive recommendations, implement the recommendations, and see results. Make sure there is also a way to measure the results.

6. Trust your instincts. Believe in your intuition. If your instincts and experience in your business tells you to go in a different direction, do it. If you don't feel 100% committed to the recommendations, or have a 'gut feeling' that you and the expert are not on the same page ? Stop. Ignoring these feelings and going along with any recommendations that you are not committed to, or are convinced will not work, will only make you right ? they won't.

A word of caution: after a positive experience with one expert, entrepreneurs often have a tendency to get lax when evaluating additional experts to assist in other areas of their business. When talking with other experts, it can be easy to fail to completely communicate one's vision, the importance of integrating one's ideas, the necessity to stay within budget and on schedule, and the absolute need to know that your new expert 'gets it!"

Hiring the right expert can be a huge asset to your business, however, you are the only one who will know which expert is ultimately right for you. By applying the advice from the tips above, you can minimize your doubts and fears, as well as create a strategy to find an expert who can truly help you maximize your growth.

Kathy Szpakowski has 25 years of professional experience in sales, marketing, training, organizational and personal development. She is the founder of KBS Group and the creator of "Performance Management Plus" a turnkey solution that has helped entrepreneurs achieve phenomenal results worldwide. www.BetheBest-KBSgroup.com.

Kathy Szpakowski has 25 years of professional experience in sales, marketing, training, organizational and personal development. She is the founder of KBS Group and the creator of "Performance Management Plus" a turnkey solution that has helped entrepreneurs achieve phenomenal results worldwide. http://www.BetheBest-KBSgroup.com

---

Loyalty, Motivation And Work-Life Balance

Managers who aren't loyal to their people can't expect loyalty... Read More

Overcoming Perfectionism

Perfectionism can get in the way of building or marketing... Read More

Building Bridges of Communication

Building a 'bridge of understanding' between parties is... Read More

Five Tips for Analyzing an Income Statement

In today's article, we'll be looking at the income statement,... Read More

Learning To Let Go

If you have the entrepreneurial spirit (which clearly you have!),... Read More

Firing Someone Without Resentment

Firing, sacking, letting go or terminating people is unpleasant. There... Read More

Effective Email Communication

Email, when used properly, can generate additional direct sales and... Read More

DIVERSITY is a BIG word -- With A HUGE Business IMPACT

Second thought! Just in case. YOU or someone you personally... Read More

Negative Self-talk is Too Expensive

I'm always fascinated by the people who lift huge weights,... Read More

Steps to Build ISO 9001 Compliant Program

Implementing an ISO 9001 system represents a major effort. However,... Read More

Empowering Others - Giving Them Some Control

It's been a pretty good weekend around the place -... Read More

Five Defining Characteristics of Great CEOs

1. Personal insight. Great CEOs are great leaders. They know... Read More

Organisational Culture for Continuous Improvement

I have been working with leading Business Improvement guru, Tim... Read More

Five Problem-Solving Success Tips

The ability to solve complicated problems quickly is more important... Read More

Do the People in Your Organisation Dress For Success?

What really amazes me, with all the personal and professional... Read More

Do You Really Care What People Think?

You had better care! Because what people think usually leads... Read More

Turbo Charge Your Career With The Most Powerful Leadership Tool Of All: The Leadership Talk: Part 2

In Part One, I described the Leadership Talk and how... Read More

On the Road to Assertiveness

Learning to be assertive takes time, courage and the ability... Read More

Five Habits of Highly Effective Conflict Resolvers

Steven Covey had the right idea. There are discreet skills... Read More

Reprimanding Marginal Employees

THE MARGINAL PERFORMER: Every manager must, from time to time,... Read More

Important Communication Tips For Managers

The following tips will help you communicate more effectively with... Read More

When Politics Prevent Innovation - Or? Still Fighting Battles and Losing Wars

The objective is to beat the competition and make money.... Read More

The Walmart Cult

The CultBecoming a part of the Cult, consists of being... Read More

How to Hire the Right People

One of the biggest challenges any business owner or manager... Read More

The ?Better People? Fallacy

It's easy enough to convince your own staff that better... Read More

The Challenges of Human Resource Management

IntroductionThe role of the Human Resource Manager is evolving with... Read More

Never Wrestle with a PIG

The business books at the library and book stores fill... Read More

I Cant Use This Approach Unless My Boss Does - Power, Accountability, and Consequences

People who work with us often struggle with this dilemma:... Read More

Time-Wasting Problems - One Question to Move You Forward

In any organisation, progress is frequently impaired by the time... Read More

The Red Phone - Management Consulting in 30 Seconds or Less

Modern business faces complex problems; management often calls upon highly-specialized... Read More

Tales From the Corporate Frontlines: Managerial Influence

This article relates to the Manager/Supervisor competency, commonly evaluated in... Read More

Knowledge Management - Lessons Learned and How To Identify Them

Many organisations use the term "lessons learned" to describe the... Read More

Using Outlook to Count Responses

Here's a productivity tip that will save you a lot... Read More