Being amongst the 21st century in 2017 and living during the biggest technological advancement era in human history, business consulting is more important than ever. As business owners are required to take on more responsibilities and tasks that they simply can’t juggle solely on their own, hiring a consultant becomes more of an inevitability rather than a mere possibility.
A report in 2015 on Forbes stated that “Many Companies Fail to Realize Optimum Value in Consulting Projects”and that “a vast majority of executives say their consulting projects have been a success”. With statistics like this, this service is not something of a secret, few SME owners are just currently unaware of what they’re missing out on.
The truth is, the business environment is radically different than what itwas a decade ago, and is continually reforming. With swift progressions in technology, anyone who is resistant to change will quickly find themselves being swallowed up by the market and the emerging competition.
Being an SME owner, you’re already quite aware that the main goal of your business is to constantly increase profits, consulting won’t only excel this process at a rapid rate, but will sustain it for years to come as they will always be improving as technology advances.
For some of you who are stuck in your old patterns, it can be understandable that obtaining external assistance is intimidating due to its ambiguity, but the ones who thrive in all business environments are the individuals that adapt to change and the new emerging workforce. Consulting is a service that should be utilised by the predominant of SME owners these days for the endless advantages that come with it.
Solutions
“No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it”.
The above quote by none other the man himself Mr. Einstein beautifully illustrates perhaps one of the main benefits of hiring a consultant, which are solutions. Often times businesses will reach out to consultants in times of struggle or worry, and rightly so.
Your team may be thinking that they are doing the right thing and making the right decisions, but results speak for themselves, if you are not getting the results you want, there is an issue with what you’re doing as a leader. When a business has been stuck with the same beliefs and methodologies of doing things, it can be hard to change. If you’re like many of the SME owners out there, one of your main issues is stretching yourself over several different business functions despite your inexperience in some of them, inevitably resulting in poor results for certain departments. The best thing to do in this situation is to allow a new party to become involved and utilize their expertise.
Not only does introducing this new breath of fresh air solve the issue at hand, often-times it opens up the business to a world of insights and ideas that they may have never got before from listening to their own sources.
Performance
Have you ever thought you were phenomenal at something? Until you experienced or saw someone else operating at a level you have never seen before, and your game immediately excelled simply by osmosis and feeling not good enough, this is one of the hidden gems of consulting.
It’s understandable that you think you and your sales team can perform at a high level without the assistance of outside forces, but the truth is, you most likely can’t and will fail to reach your company goals until something fundamental changes.
Although this is a hard pill for some egos to swallow, it’s an essential one. If you’re a leader whose team has been getting the same results and are working with the same people with the same inefficient ideas, getting someone who can teach and lead by example will be the breakthrough that you have been looking for and will no doubt astonish you regarding the speed at which you progress following it.
The alternative is you keep doing the same thing which will manifest the same results and ultimately lead to your business collapsing, and although this is the harsh reality for a lot of SME owners, it does not have to be for you if you take action on this information.
Be sure to read the next article which follows this up with perhaps the two most intangible yet powerful advantages of consulting and how it will revolutionise your business. If you’re strapped for time, create some momentum from the information you’ve already gathered by calling Tony Farugia of Headspace Behavioural Science on 0458 888 756 or email: info@headspacebehaviouralscience.com.au for consultation.