A company hires a consultant when it needs something it does not have on staff and does not need forever. That covers most of the good reasons. The bad reasons are worth knowing too, because they cost the same.
What are the good reasons to hire a consultant?
The ones that pay back:
- Skills you need for months, not years. A brand, a website, a system rollout, an AI plan. Hiring full-time for a nine-month job leaves you with a person and no job.
- An outside view. Your team has been inside the business too long to see what a customer sees. Someone new notices the broken step on the first day.
- Speed. A senior person who has done the work before skips the months of learning it.
- Someone who has done it before. The second time through anything is cheaper than the first. A consultant brings their second, tenth, or fiftieth time.
- A decision you need defended. A board, a lender, a franchise owner, or a partner wants to hear the reasoning from someone with nothing to gain from the answer.
What are the bad reasons?
Two show up often:
- To delay a decision. "Let's get a consultant to study it" can be a way to not decide for another quarter. If you already know the answer, make the call and spend the money on doing it.
- To have someone to blame. If the point is cover, you will get a report written for cover. It will be long, careful, and of no use.
A third one is quieter: hiring a consultant to tell the team something the owner will not say. Sometimes that works. Usually the team can tell.
How do I get value from a consultant?
Four habits:
- Write down the question. One sentence: what do you need answered or built? If you cannot write it, the first job is figuring that out, and it should be a small one.
- Name what you will be holding at the end. A plan, a working system, a brand guide, a website. Something you can point at.
- Give them access. The people, the numbers, the customers. A consultant working from a summary gives you advice that fits the summary.
- Put one person on your side in charge of it. Somebody who can answer "who decides this?" in a day.
What to ask before hiring a consultant has the questions for the first call.
How do I start without a big commitment?
Start with a small, real job and see how the person works. My start-small list, from the services page:
- One-hour second opinion: $150.
- "The AI you already pay for," a 90-minute on-site session: $450.
- Google Business Profile setup: $600.
- One-page AI policy: $750.
- One-page website: $1,500.
What you pay for a start-small job comes off a bigger job if you hire me for one within 90 days. If the small job is all you needed, that is fine too.
When should I not hire a consultant?
When the work is permanent and daily. If you will need the skill every day for years, hire the person. A consultant can help you write the role and interview for it, but should not be holding a job that belongs on your payroll.
Also skip it when you cannot give the work an hour a week of your own attention. A consultant with no access and no decisions comes back with a document you do not read.
Answered by Jared Lukes, Minneapolis. Twenty-five years in brand, UX, and technology, currently holding fractional AI and technology seats at three companies. About Jared.