What Type of Consultant is Best for a Medium Size Business?

Most Owners and Managers look for a consultant that has had years of experience in their industry. I have found this to be the wrong decision for the following reasons:

The apparent problem in a company is seldom the real problem.

Industry specific business consultants tend to look at a business that they themselves have been part of for years, and zoom in on the apparent technical flaw.  They could miss the real issue entirely because of this.

The real major problem seldom turns out to be a systems, technical, procedural or even an industry specific problem.

This real problem is often related to one of the following:

An unforeseen environmental change that has affected the business.

A particular philosophy or direction blindly pursued by someone.

The inability to see beyond one’s technical skill set.

A group think situation that has developed within the company.

Poor financial management

In most cases a company problem is predominantly people related. Someone overlooked something or did not handle it effectively.

You often hear that a company’s strategy has failed. It’s usually the implementation that is poor and not the strategy, once again a people and not necessarily a skill related problem.

An effective business consultant for a small or medium size company is someone that has been in business for a while, has good business savvy, and works for himself or a small firm.

The consultant you pick must have excellent listening, analytical and diagnostic skills combined with some business operational experience.

The ability to simplify complex concepts is a definite requirement too.

If your consultant “takes ownership” of your problem, you have hit the jackpot. Nothing is more gratifying to a business owner than to be able to interact at a high level with an ally that has the interests of the business at heart.

It takes years to become a really good consultant. Linking up with a credible advisor is probably one of the smartest thing you could do.

The first thing Bernard Kirk tells his clients is that the absolute critical factor in any business is people.

With seventeen years of operational management, twenty two years of strategy implementation for multiple entrepreneurs, professionals and high level businesses across the globe, Bernard is an expert in how people affect outcomes.

Having the right people doing the right things in the right job, is usually the difference between mediocrity and greatness for both the individual and the organization. Bernard’s methods of determining what needs to be done by what type of person and how to select and retain those persons has attracted interest on an international basis. Bernard has consulted in the retail, hospitality, manufacturing, medical, recycling professional and academic fields. He lives in Arizona, USA.