Finding Good Consultants

Check their references and their expertise

By Barbara Whitaker, freelance writer, none

Consultants can be a valuable tool for small businesses. The key to success is finding the one best suited to addressing the needs of your company. Before beginning a search, business owners should carefully analyze what they want the consultant to accomplish and the skills necessary to do the job.

The most important first steps are:

Identify problem areas.
Examine whether anyone on staff can help address them.
Set an agenda for getting the job done

Several sources are available to help small businesses through every step of the process and many are just a click away on the Internet.

Know what to ask

The world of consulting is a very large place. It can be hard to know where to start the process.
Try: AllBusiness has articles and tips on what to look for in consultants and questions to ask when interviewing them.

Explore options in your area

Agood place to start when considering consultants is right in your own backyard.
Try: Talk with owners of similar businesses to see if they have used consultants and how they performed on those jobs. Check whether there is a U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) Small Business Development Center nearby. The centers provide a wide-range of assistance, including counseling in many areas.

Shop around

When it comes to finding the right consultant, the Web makes it possible to tap into a large database of experts.
Try: To take your search further there are sites like eWorkMarkets, which matches companies with projects, and ExpertiseSearch, which lists consultants by their specialty.

Consider specialists

It may be that your issues are isolated to one area like human resources, information technology, accounting or marketing. If that's the case, it may be best to find a consultant who concentrates in that area.
Try: Small Business Consultants, for example, focuses on providing technology solutions for small business, Microsoft's Small Business Center has a directory of consultants by location and HR-Guide, has a vast directory of listings for consultants specializing in human resources.