Business Details

BY FRANK A. STASIOWSKI, FAIA

When and How to Hire a Consultant

In his book Trigger Points: The Nine Critical Factors for Growth and Profit, business advisor Michael Kami wrote, "Delegation is a good thing—but it doesn't mean abdication." At some point, most design firms will consider using the services of an outside consultant to help meet specific business functions, such as strategic planning, streamlining processes or identifying promising new markets. To be sure, the insights you get from working with consultants can help you take your business where you want it to go. In order to reap these benefits, you must take care to choose consultants wisely and at the right time, and to understand your responsibility in the process.

When to Use a Consultant

The importance of hiring the right consultant is magnified in smaller, one- to three-person firms that need the advice but cannot afford full-time staff to perform accounting, spec writing, marketing planning and other such tasks. The first thing to understand: watch out! There are a lot of consultants out there promising the world and delivering next to nothing. In addition, consultants are not a cure-all for solving your problems and improving your organization. They can only make recommendations to you. Only you have the power to act within your organization, or to take their advice.

Basically, you should meet all of the following criteria before hiring a consultant or sub-consultant:

• The specialized expertise is not available in-house.
• Time is of the essence. Your in-house staff cannot accomplish the assignment within the required time frame.
• You need a different perspective. Ask yourself: "If a client was paying for this project, would we add a sub to our team?" If the answer is yes, using a consultant will usually prove beneficial.

Evaluating Consultants

Use the following evaluation checklist to be sure you're choosing the right consultant for the right job:

• Are the professionals with previous relevant experience still with the consultant firm, and will they be assigned to your project?
• Does the client know the proposed consultant?
• Does the consultant have experience in the project type and client type?
• Does the consultant have prior working experience with your firm?
• Is the consultant's proposed fee range competitive?
• Will the consultant give you an exclusive agreement to pursue the project and work only with your firm?
• Are there any special considerations, such as MBE (Minority Business Enterprise), WBE (Women's Business Enterprise), Small Business or other intangibles?
• Does the consultant have any conflicts of interest, either actual or perceived?

Be a skeptic when it comes to believing consultants will give you what you are seeking. Give them as much scrutiny as your clients give you. Here's a list of specific questions to ask potential consultants:

1. Why did you leave mainstream practice to go into consulting? Watch for cases of the old saying "Those who can, do; those who can't, teach."
2. Which firms have you consulted for? Develop a profile of each potential consultant's clients and assignments. Is the experience profiled generic, or does it represent a range of sizes and special requirements?
3. How long have you been in practice as a consultant? Look for an endurance and experience level covering several economic cycles.
4. Do you have all the answers as soon as you walk through the door? If he does, send him right back out. He hasn't even heard the questions.
5. Are you known to the professional associations? Do they endorse the consultant's credibility and what she has to say?
6. What's your level of creativity? Does the consultant challenge you and ask hard questions, and is she prepared to suggest nontraditional tactics?
7. Are you published? Has the consultant written any books or articles? Does the writing challenge your assumptions?
8. How many years did you spend in the trenches? What range of positions did he hold? How successful were the firms and projects he managed?

From the Consultant's Perspective

My colleague Richard Bums, president of the GNU Group and a PSMJ Resources consultant, provides excellent advice from the consultant's perspective, based on his successful involvement in consulting for more than 30 years with dozens of design firms. Here are his tips:

Recognize that you're now the person in the selection position. You have a tremendous number of options. It's equivalent to describing the challenges of getting someone to buy your services.

What you're buying can be perceived as a parity service or product. Hence, the selection process must be one of sorting out one consultant over the others.

This breaks down into two basic considerations: expectations and credentials. What are the consultant's credentials, and is there credibility behind what he says he's going to be able to do for you? Can she prove her past effectiveness? Most important, what do you expect from the consultant?

Recognize the importance of chemistry. The success of everyone's ability to deal with each other depends upon it.

Ask yourself some basic questions. That's the straightforward way to go about this. Question one should be your expectations.

Work backwards. Establish the criteria against which to judge the success of the relationship first. This can be measured in terms of the creativity of the solutions, innovation of the solutions, predictability of the solutions or the personality of the people.

Quality of the service can be measured in various ways. It can be measured in terms of hassle factor, attentiveness, efficiency and eventually price. The rules are simple: It's your criteria.

Establish the pricing parameters upfront. Price is the issue that ultimately kills most consulting relationships. Include in your discussions: meeting the price, coming in under budget and how the consultant deals with changes, charges for extras and reimbursements.

Don't overlook the effectiveness of the solution. What is the long-term value? The viability of the answer? Does it solve the problem? How valuable is it to you? That's value pricing.

You need to understand the way consultants work. All consultants have their own personal style. You can get people who can give you everything from very definitive prescriptive answers to options, to broad generalizations, to where the process becomes a product in and of itself. Know what you are buying.

Define the duration of the relationship. Is it a one-time situation or ongoing? This factor alone may affect your answers to the other questions.

Now check the consultant's references. Consider how (and if) they relate to your expectations.

Where to Go for Help

For more information on how to manage your firm's growth using consultants, check out PSMJ's Guide to Building an A/E Firm That Lasts at www.psmj.com/publication/?id=180.

Frank A. Stasiowski, FAIA is president of PSMJ Resources, Inc. in Newton, MA.