Business Managing Consultant

So you’re considering hiring a management consultant? This guide will provide you with advice on what they are all about and what to look for when hiring one.

What is a Management Consultant?

Businesses benefit greatly from the expert objective advice and support of an experienced Business Management Consultant, who can help the business ensure financial stability, identify areas for improvement and grow.

Considerations when hiring a Management Consultant

Expertise

No one person can be an expert in everything. If you are looking to solve a specific challenge, like expanding your IT systems, then a small specialist consultancy would be best. If you are looking for general business support and help growing, then a straight forward business management consultant can help, just bear in mind that they will have limitations. Many consultants will be able to refer you to specialists, usually in return for a referral commission. Also bear in mind that while business consultants are business educated, they may have limited business experience.

Options

The Big Four & other multinationals

The Big Four (Deloitte, EY, KPMG and PwC) are the four largest professional services networks in the world. They are comparable in size relative to the rest of the market, and considered equal in their ability to provide a wide scope of professional services, which can be beneficial for large companies with complex needs and significant resources, but may not be the best choice for small or medium sized businesses. They will tend to work on a project basis, so there will be limited flexibility, and they generally work with bigger companies with big budgets.

National consulting companies

These tend to offer a number of services including on-call business consultancy, though there can be monthly fees or contracts involved. Some examples are provided below:

We Grow Business charge a monthly fee of £250 and then an hourly fee of £125. The monthly fee includes one free meeting and is a rolling monthly contract.

Professionalisation offer consulting and all other business services in-house, managed by a Virtual COO (marketing, bookkeeping, admin, etc). They charge on average £24 per hour with no contractual obligation or minimum spend, making them the most economical and flexible option.

Business advice Line charge a £450 sign-up fee, followed by £236.40 a month on a fixed 12 month contract. In return you get unlimited telephone support from business consultants. They also offer ad-hoc business advice and consulting services for £250 an hour without a contract.

Individuals

Steady Consulting and The Virtual COO are examples of individuals who provide business advice and typically charge around £100 – £150 per hour for their services.

Alternatives

As an alternative to a business consultant, you could consider a Virtual COO (Chief Operating Officer).

VCOO’s are becoming more and more popular as small to medium businesses in particular are realising the benefits compared to business consultants.

Virtual COO’s are senior executives that tend to have more practical business experience than consultants, with expertise in managing business operations, finances and growth. They work remotely on a flexible, as-needed basis, which is particularly useful for small businesses that may not have the need or resources to hire a full-time COO.

Virtual COO’s seek to work with the business long term, much like an employee, offering both advice and action so business owners and managers can delegate tasks to them. This mitigates any issues of lack of business experience, familiarity and accountability, that you face with a business consultant.

Currently, the only VCOO services in the UK are provided by Professionalisation and The Virtual COO.

Another alternative would be to hire a Virtual Assistant (VA).

Zellor Management are a good example of an ideal VA. They offer to work in your business like an employee, much like a VCOO. The idea of a VA is quite simply someone to provide admin support, virtually. This is suitable for businesses that need support, but not necessarily the requirement or funding to employ someone full-time or even part-time. Zellor’s hourly rate is £28, or they can work on a monthly retainer of £216, with a minimum 8 hours included (which works out at £27 / hour).