Purchasing Consultants

Businesses operate in circumstances which are caused as a result of macro- and micro-economic factors. Macro-economic factors are due to myriad forces such as political stability and unforeseen natural calamities upon which businesses have little or no control. For instance, businesses have little control over oil price hikes caused as a result of war in certain parts of the world.

Micro economic forces are those which act upon the industry or firm. Businesses may react by seeking and allocating internal resources to prompt a strategy to solve them. In most cases, a business may not have the resource as the firm itself runs with optimal resources. Management consultants pitch in for such situations with their valuable expertise and resources. They have resources according to the industry and function. Purchasing consultants have expertise in the areas of supply chain management of different industries.

In most of the organizations, purchasing reports to operations. Hence most of the management consultants who have operations expertise consulted on problems related to purchasing. Purchasing consultancy evolved from the need for IT in purchasing function and the transition from tactical to strategic function. As IT was integrated into the business functions, firms needed to know the level of automation and the different systems available in the market.

Globalization and competition forced the purchasing from a transition role to a strategic role: from cutting costs to managing suppliers, from confrontational behavior to collaborative. This necessitated strategies to engage the suppliers, evaluate them based on the new criteria, and help firms formulate strategies to go global.

Manufacturing firms spend more than half of their operating costs on materials and parts. Hence most of the consultants focus on manufacturing industries. For instance, the automobile industry with many tiers of suppliers for parts and modular supplies presented great scope for cost reduction and supplier involvement in new product development. They provide consultancy in contract management, ecommerce strategies.

The cost of consulting prohibits small and medium enterprises to hire consultants. There are online services to post the problem so that consultants are pulled to the firms, thereby eliminating search costs.

What Can A Small Business Marketing Consultant Do To Help You Grow Your Business?

Think back to the time you started your business. Chances are it was because you enjoyed being in a particular industry – you had a passion about your product or service, and wanted to share it with the world. But did you ever stop and say to yourself, “I can’t wait to market this business”? Probably not. That unfortunately is why many of today’s small businesses fail. The owners try everything they can think of to save their business, yet they miss out on the one opportunity that can turn their business into true success: hiring a small business marketing consultant.

A small business marketing consultant specializes in learning the top ways to market a business; creates strategies that will help businesses double, even triple their current profits; and teaches the most effective methods for increasing the bottom line of any business.

In today’s business world, there are two types of small business marketing consultants:

* Traditional small business marketing consultants

* Online small business marketing consultants

A traditional small business marketing consultant can help you create a marketing strategy using traditional tools. They understand how to advertise your business. They understand the importance of branding. They can help you write copy, and create dynamic promotional pieces. In short, they understand how to marketing your business well in the traditional environment.

But if someone has been in the marketing field for a number of years, and understands traditional marketing venues well, what they may not be good at is making the transition to the online world. And there is a world of difference between traditional and online marketing.

An online small business marketing consultant understands the same strategies used in traditional marketing. They understand advertising. They understand branding. They understand the importance for creating dynamic promotional pieces. But from there is where the differences begin.

An online small business marketing consultant realizes that you sell differently online than you do off. It takes different strategies, different copy, and different promotional materials to succeed online. Not only should a consultant provide you with traditional methods, but they should make sure these methods feed the online world as well.

For example, a postcard sent out direct mail has always been a successful tool. But if you send out that postcard asking for the reader to take one action step – heading to a website to sign up for a free report – you success rate for that postcard will improve dramatically.

While this technique may seem simple, there are many techniques just like this that can bridge the traditional and online world together, and make your business stronger and more profitable. It’s all in what you know – and whom you ask to help make it a possibility.

How To Become A Successful Internet Marketing Consultant

If you are knowledgeable about e-business in general and the way the online market place works, then you may want to consider a career as an internet marketing consultant. Even if you are relatively new to the online world, but have a marketing background to call on, you can actually still become an internet marketing consultant. All it needs is just a little bit of work. But that’s true for any career. But to be a consultant you need to make sure your knowledge is varied and is solid.

In order to turn yourself into an internet marketing consultant and be able to market yourself, you need to first take stock of your internet marketing skills and knowledge. Figure out where your strengths are and what you need to improve. From that information, put together a plan that will allow you to educate yourself and improve your weak areas. If you find that you are weak in some areas, begin to work on those areas and brush up on them. Once you develop your skills and feel confident, you will be ready to embark on your internet marketing consultant career.

You must be prepared fully, because as an internet marketing consultant you will be called upon to help a number of varying clients. Your clients will vary from being completely “green” to seasoned veterans of their fields. You will have some that know almost nothing about business or the internet and are looking to you for everything. You will have to take them under your wing, so to speak. On the other hand, you may have clients who are essentially marketing gurus, but have no idea how to market on the internet. As an internet marketing consultant, it is your job to help all levels of client. So be prepared.

Perhaps you feel that your strengths are heavy towards just one area of expertise. You may then want to consider working as an internet marketing consultant within that niche. You can specialize in fields like search engine optimization, email marketing, ezines, or even newsletters. Identify the niche you are strong in and make sure you are up to date on it. There are a number of areas where you can work in internet marketing if you do choose to go the way of niche expertise. To identify which niches are “hot” simply type in a typical question into your favorite search engine and see what comes up.

Becoming an internet marketing consultant can be rewarding work. If you enjoy business, marketing, and the internet it may be a career direction you may want to take. All you need to do is take stock of your knowledge and skill, educate yourself, and be ready help all levels of customers. If you think you are more suited to one aspect, then you can always go the way of the niche consulting role. How you choose to function in your internet marketing consultant role is really up to you.

The Management Consultant Stories: Culture. A major obstacle?

Culture, a Major Obstacle To Business

Morale was high at the US based contracting company. They had just been invited to join a consortium of companies that had pre-qualified for a big public works tender in Central Asia. The offer came via e-mail. After concluding the initial round of correspondence with their counterparts, a two man team made up of one senior engineer and one business development exec were sent to Europe to meet up with their potential partners and sign the consortium agreement.

The trip started well, as they were well received by their hosts at the airport, guided to their hotel and were pleased to see that a well planned itinerary awaited them. Two mid- level managers took them out to dinner that night, and a jovial relationship was established.

The next day, still dazzled by the late night and effects of jet lag the US team met with the senior execs of the consortium and gave a strong power point presentation as to their capabilities, past business performance and key deliverables. Everyone was all smiles at lunch, and things were very cordial in the afternoon during the contract negotiations. The US team e-mailed back the tentative consortium agreement late afternoon and was treated to a special evening of entertainment and fine dining “Asian” style by the corporate execs.

Next morning, they received confirmation from the legal department at corporate that the agreement was acceptable and that they could go ahead and sign. The agreement was signed, pictures were taken and small gifts were exchanged. After having generated so much good will in such a good time, it was decided that the new consortium partners should visit the government office which was organizing the tender in order to introduce the US company.

Up to that time, the whole process had been text book perfect. The meeting with the government authorities went ahead as planned, but it was not possible to gauge the results of the meeting from the US company’s point of view. They had also received some conflicting news from the Government officials. The pre-qualification for tender had been cancelled, and the process would start over again.

Their new partners assured them that this was a normal occurrence for this part of the world. Other disturbing news started to trickle down as comments of the need to make facilitation payments arose. The US team automatically countered with their need to abide by the Corrupt Foreign Practices Act, but their hosts assured them that it would be they who would take care of things, not the American’s, but that the American’s should know that such a arrangement had to be entered into as they were a part of everyday life if you wanted to do business in this part of the world.

The trip was concluded with a lavish good bye dinner and further entertainment, “Asian” style. The team was in a jovial mood when they arrived back in the US and were congratulated by the CEO for their accomplishment.

Their Asian counterparts meanwhile prepared for the new pre-qualification process and asked for intensive documentation. A project team was established for the Central Asia project and earnest work began to supply their consortium partners with the necessary materials to win the pre-qualification bid. At the same time hints that certain facilitation expenses were being made to Government authorities were being relayed to the American company over the phone. But, never in writing. After a while, these vague remarks became very much clearer as their foreign partners started to talk numbers.

The US stance was the same. We cannot be involved, we don’t want to know about it.

Two months after the signing of the consortium agreement, the new pre-qualification bid was held, and their consortium failed to qualify.

Their Asian counterparts blamed them in part for not assisting them in paying up the facilitation fees, and claimed that they would have won had the size of the payment been larger! They vowed to have the pre-qualification tender cancelled and the process renewed. Which they actually managed to do! But by this time, the American company had lost faith in their partners, and having allocated resources freely against the promise of lucrative rewards, decided to withdraw from the project.

The Asian partners accused the American’s of being short sighted, inflexible, and shallow. The American’s accused the Asian’s with being untruthful, slow, and not results oriented. Both sides threatened each other with law suits and asked for damages. Lawyers wrote letters back and forth, but even they had problems communicating. The cost of litigation would have been too expensive, so both sides refrained from going to court, but wrote letters of complaint to their respective embassies.

The communication gap between the cultures played an important role in how this project went bad. Communicating across cultures can be extremely difficult. What is the beginning for one culture can be the end for another.

ATN Management Consulting offers “Cultural Leadership” coaching programs to bridge the gap between cultures and to facilitate effective communication with the aim of delivering results in the International arena.

Morale was high at the US based contracting company. They had just been invited to join a consortium of companies that had pre-qualified for a big public works tender in Central Asia. The offer came via e-mail. After concluding the initial round of correspondence with their counterparts, a two man team made up of one senior engineer and one business development exec were sent to Europe to meet up with their potential partners and sign the consortium agreement.

The trip started well, as they were well received by their hosts at the airport, guided to their hotel and were pleased to see that a well planned itinerary awaited them. Two mid- level managers took them out to dinner that night, and a jovial relationship was established.

The next day, still dazzled by the late night and effects of jet lag the US team met with the senior execs of the consortium and gave a strong power point presentation as to their capabilities, past business performance and key deliverables. Everyone was all smiles at lunch, and things were very cordial in the afternoon during the contract negotiations. The US team e-mailed back the tentative consortium agreement late afternoon and was treated to a special evening of entertainment and fine dining “Asian” style by the corporate execs.

Next morning, they received confirmation from the legal department at corporate that the agreement was acceptable and that they could go ahead and sign. The agreement was signed, pictures were taken and small gifts were exchanged. After having generated so much good will in such a good time, it was decided that the new consortium partners should visit the government office which was organizing the tender in order to introduce the US company.

Up to that time, the whole process had been text book perfect. The meeting with the government authorities went ahead as planned, but it was not possible to gauge the results of the meeting from the US company’s point of view. They had also received some conflicting news from the Government officials. The pre-qualification for tender had been cancelled, and the process would start over again.

Their new partners assured them that this was a normal occurrence for this part of the world. Other disturbing news started to trickle down as comments of the need to make facilitation payments arose. The US team automatically countered with their need to abide by the Corrupt Foreign Practices Act, but their hosts assured them that it would be they who would take care of things, not the American’s, but that the American’s should know that such a arrangement had to be entered into as they were a part of everyday life if you wanted to do business in this part of the world.

The trip was concluded with a lavish good bye dinner and further entertainment, “Asian” style. The team was in a jovial mood when they arrived back in the US and were congratulated by the CEO for their accomplishment.

Their Asian counterparts meanwhile prepared for the new pre-qualification process and asked for intensive documentation. A project team was established for the Central Asia project and earnest work began to supply their consortium partners with the necessary materials to win the pre-qualification bid. At the same time hints that certain facilitation expenses were being made to Government authorities were being relayed to the American company over the phone. But, never in writing. After a while, these vague remarks became very much clearer as their foreign partners started to talk numbers.

The US stance was the same. We cannot be involved, we don’t want to know about it.

Two months after the signing of the consortium agreement, the new pre-qualification bid was held, and their consortium failed to qualify.

Their Asian counterparts blamed them in part for not assisting them in paying up the facilitation fees, and claimed that they would have won had the size of the payment been larger! They vowed to have the pre-qualification tender cancelled and the process renewed. Which they actually managed to do! But by this time, the American company had lost faith in their partners, and having allocated resources freely against the promise of lucrative rewards, decided to withdraw from the project.

The Asian partners accused the American’s of being short sighted, inflexible, and shallow. The American’s accused the Asian’s with being untruthful, slow, and not results oriented. Both sides threatened each other with law suits and asked for damages. Lawyers wrote letters back and forth, but even they had problems communicating. The cost of litigation would have been too expensive, so both sides refrained from going to court, but wrote letters of complaint to their respective embassies.

The communication gap between the cultures played an important role in how this project went bad. Communicating across cultures can be extremely difficult. What is the beginning for one culture can be the end for another.

ATN Management Consulting offers “Cultural Leadership” coaching programs to bridge the gap between cultures and to facilitate effective communication with the aim of delivering results in the International arena.

Culture, a Major Obstacle To Business

Morale was high at the US based contracting company. They had just been invited to join a consortium of companies that had pre-qualified for a big public works tender in Central Asia. The offer came via e-mail. After concluding the initial round of correspondence with their counterparts, a two man team made up of one senior engineer and one business development exec were sent to Europe to meet up with their potential partners and sign the consortium agreement.

The trip started well, as they were well received by their hosts at the airport, guided to their hotel and were pleased to see that a well planned itinerary awaited them. Two mid- level managers took them out to dinner that night, and a jovial relationship was established.

The next day, still dazzled by the late night and effects of jet lag the US team met with the senior execs of the consortium and gave a strong power point presentation as to their capabilities, past business performance and key deliverables. Everyone was all smiles at lunch, and things were very cordial in the afternoon during the contract negotiations. The US team e-mailed back the tentative consortium agreement late afternoon and was treated to a special evening of entertainment and fine dining “Asian” style by the corporate execs.

Next morning, they received confirmation from the legal department at corporate that the agreement was acceptable and that they could go ahead and sign. The agreement was signed, pictures were taken and small gifts were exchanged. After having generated so much good will in such a good time, it was decided that the new consortium partners should visit the government office which was organizing the tender in order to introduce the US company.

Up to that time, the whole process had been text book perfect. The meeting with the government authorities went ahead as planned, but it was not possible to gauge the results of the meeting from the US company’s point of view. They had also received some conflicting news from the Government officials. The pre-qualification for tender had been cancelled, and the process would start over again.

Their new partners assured them that this was a normal occurrence for this part of the world. Other disturbing news started to trickle down as comments of the need to make facilitation payments arose. The US team automatically countered with their need to abide by the Corrupt Foreign Practices Act, but their hosts assured them that it would be they who would take care of things, not the American’s, but that the American’s should know that such a arrangement had to be entered into as they were a part of everyday life if you wanted to do business in this part of the world.

The trip was concluded with a lavish good bye dinner and further entertainment, “Asian” style. The team was in a jovial mood when they arrived back in the US and were congratulated by the CEO for their accomplishment.

Their Asian counterparts meanwhile prepared for the new pre-qualification process and asked for intensive documentation. A project team was established for the Central Asia project and earnest work began to supply their consortium partners with the necessary materials to win the pre-qualification bid. At the same time hints that certain facilitation expenses were being made to Government authorities were being relayed to the American company over the phone. But, never in writing. After a while, these vague remarks became very much clearer as their foreign partners started to talk numbers.

The US stance was the same. We cannot be involved, we don’t want to know about it.

Two months after the signing of the consortium agreement, the new pre-qualification bid was held, and their consortium failed to qualify.

Their Asian counterparts blamed them in part for not assisting them in paying up the facilitation fees, and claimed that they would have won had the size of the payment been larger! They vowed to have the pre-qualification tender cancelled and the process renewed. Which they actually managed to do! But by this time, the American company had lost faith in their partners, and having allocated resources freely against the promise of lucrative rewards, decided to withdraw from the project.

The Asian partners accused the American’s of being short sighted, inflexible, and shallow. The American’s accused the Asian’s with being untruthful, slow, and not results oriented. Both sides threatened each other with law suits and asked for damages. Lawyers wrote letters back and forth, but even they had problems communicating. The cost of litigation would have been too expensive, so both sides refrained from going to court, but wrote letters of complaint to their respective embassies.

The communication gap between the cultures played an important role in how this project went bad. Communicating across cultures can be extremely difficult. What is the beginning for one culture can be the end for another.

ATN Management Consulting offers “Cultural Leadership” coaching programs to bridge the gap between cultures and to facilitate effective communication with the aim of delivering results in the International arena.

Culture, a Major Obstacle To Business

Morale was high at the US based contracting company. They had just been invited to join a consortium of companies that had pre-qualified for a big public works tender in Central Asia. The offer came via e-mail. After concluding the initial round of correspondence with their counterparts, a two man team made up of one senior engineer and one business development exec were sent to Europe to meet up with their potential partners and sign the consortium agreement.

The trip started well, as they were well received by their hosts at the airport, guided to their hotel and were pleased to see that a well planned itinerary awaited them. Two mid- level managers took them out to dinner that night, and a jovial relationship was established.

The next day, still dazzled by the late night and effects of jet lag the US team met with the senior execs of the consortium and gave a strong power point presentation as to their capabilities, past business performance and key deliverables. Everyone was all smiles at lunch, and things were very cordial in the afternoon during the contract negotiations. The US team e-mailed back the tentative consortium agreement late afternoon and was treated to a special evening of entertainment and fine dining “Asian” style by the corporate execs.

Next morning, they received confirmation from the legal department at corporate that the agreement was acceptable and that they could go ahead and sign. The agreement was signed, pictures were taken and small gifts were exchanged. After having generated so much good will in such a good time, it was decided that the new consortium partners should visit the government office which was organizing the tender in order to introduce the US company.

Up to that time, the whole process had been text book perfect. The meeting with the government authorities went ahead as planned, but it was not possible to gauge the results of the meeting from the US company’s point of view. They had also received some conflicting news from the Government officials. The pre-qualification for tender had been cancelled, and the process would start over again.

Their new partners assured them that this was a normal occurrence for this part of the world. Other disturbing news started to trickle down as comments of the need to make facilitation payments arose. The US team automatically countered with their need to abide by the Corrupt Foreign Practices Act, but their hosts assured them that it would be they who would take care of things, not the American’s, but that the American’s should know that such a arrangement had to be entered into as they were a part of everyday life if you wanted to do business in this part of the world.

The trip was concluded with a lavish good bye dinner and further entertainment, “Asian” style. The team was in a jovial mood when they arrived back in the US and were congratulated by the CEO for their accomplishment.

Their Asian counterparts meanwhile prepared for the new pre-qualification process and asked for intensive documentation. A project team was established for the Central Asia project and earnest work began to supply their consortium partners with the necessary materials to win the pre-qualification bid. At the same time hints that certain facilitation expenses were being made to Government authorities were being relayed to the American company over the phone. But, never in writing. After a while, these vague remarks became very much clearer as their foreign partners started to talk numbers.

The US stance was the same. We cannot be involved, we don’t want to know about it.

Two months after the signing of the consortium agreement, the new pre-qualification bid was held, and their consortium failed to qualify.

Their Asian counterparts blamed them in part for not assisting them in paying up the facilitation fees, and claimed that they would have won had the size of the payment been larger! They vowed to have the pre-qualification tender cancelled and the process renewed. Which they actually managed to do! But by this time, the American company had lost faith in their partners, and having allocated resources freely against the promise of lucrative rewards, decided to withdraw from the project.

The Asian partners accused the American’s of being short sighted, inflexible, and shallow. The American’s accused the Asian’s with being untruthful, slow, and not results oriented. Both sides threatened each other with law suits and asked for damages. Lawyers wrote letters back and forth, but even they had problems communicating. The cost of litigation would have been too expensive, so both sides refrained from going to court, but wrote letters of complaint to their respective embassies.

The communication gap between the cultures played an important role in how this project went bad. Communicating across cultures can be extremely difficult. What is the beginning for one culture can be the end for another.

A Different Spin on Consultative Selling

Consultative Selling and its cousin, SPIN selling, are newer generations of the “Needs Selling” of the 1960′s. They have been in vogue with salespeople for almost two decades – with good reason. In today’s business climate, Information Overload isn’t just a buzzword; people are overwhelmed with data. They may welcome assistance in tuning out the noise in order to tune into a viable solution to their problems. A concerned, helpful salesperson may understandably be embraced as an Advisor or Consultant.

The Consultative Selling Process appears well-suited to the needs and challenges of today’s customers. Yet, in my opinion, consultative selling is most often implemented in such a way that it’s merely a new name for the same old manipulative sales games.

Let’s start with nomenclature: A salesperson who refers to her- self as an Advisor or Consultant is essentially misrepresenting her true agenda – to earn a commission. A salesperson’s primary objective is NOT to ‘help’ her clients and customers- she wants to make money. If receiving money for her sales efforts were not possible, she would be doing some other kind of work.

Real consultants and advisors charge a fee for their advice. Good advisors make *their client’s* best interests paramount. How many salespeople frequently advise their clients not to buy their product or service, or to buy from their competitors?

By implication, advising encompasses full disclosure, including warnings about the ‘down’ sides of choosing an option. Most salespeople are very good at explaining the features and benefits of their products and services. How many salespeople disclose the detriments as well – without a prospect’s prompting? Those salespeople say that their job is to emphasize the positives. Some even acknowledge that they are telling “half-truths”. However, it is deceptive and unethical to “lie by omission”. For the typical salesperson, it’s just “part of the game.”

This same old sales game is often dressed up as “Probing for Problems and Solutions” in order to help the prospect. In reality, anything we sell must meet some of the prospect’s needs. It may be an explicit business need, such as reducing the volume of paperwork, or an executive’s implicit want, such as possessing the latest “must-have” gadget. There’s nothing wrong with selling something that someone wants to buy. However, it is deceptively manipulative to “probe for hidden problems” and “identify hidden pain” without disclosing your intentions, which are to *persuade* a prospect that your product or service will alleviate their newly discovered Pain. Furthermore, it is a very difficult and ineffective way to sell.

There is no probing for hidden needs in High Probability Selling. We won’t even give prospects an appointment if they merely know what their needs are, and are “really interested” in meeting with us. In High Probability Selling, we distinguish between Want and Need.

A small portion of the universe of businesses and/or people will need our product/service in the relatively near future. Those that want our product/service- right now- are High Probability Prospects. We will schedule appointments with them now.

Those who will want our product in the future are part of the viable prospect universe. Many of them will become High Probability Prospects in their own time, for their own reasons. The essential difference between Consultative Selling and High Probability Selling is that we don’t attempt to persuade, convince, or manipulate those prospects into Wanting. Selling that way almost always results in low closing averages. Although many may need what we’re selling, most will not buy until they decide they Want It Now. It’s not just semantics- a prospect either wants what we’re selling, or they don’t.

Another distinction between High Probability Selling and “consultative selling’” is Total Disclosure. In HPS, honesty and transparency are core tenets of the sales process. We trust and respect prospects, and require that prospects treat us with trust and respect as well. Practically speaking, we divulge the detriments as well as the benefits of our product/service. In turn, prospects must fully disclose their Wants, or requirements for doing business. At each step of the sales process, the prospect explicitly states their conditions for doing business, and agrees to purchase, if we can meet their requirements.

Ironically, salespeople who implement High Probability Selling usually act as advisors. Like a trusted advisor, High Probability salespeople practice total disclosure, divulging both the strengths and weaknesses of their offerings. Because we never pressure prospects into becoming buying customers, the selling process is relatively stress-free, as dealing with a trusted consultant should be.

What kind of salesperson are you? If you’re still pressuring and manipulating, this is probably reflected in your low closing rate. You may be playing the same old sales game while dressing yourself up as a Consultant. Maybe it’s time for you to get real about who you are and what you do.

High Priced Consulting – Latest 5 Secrets to Breakthrough With High Priced Consulting

Being a consultant means helping people or organizations in improving their performance by analyzing their weaknesses and by developing a plan of action that can take them from point A to point B. Being a consultant is surely not the toughest job on earth especially if you are truly an expert on your chosen niche and if you have people skills.

Here’s how you can breakthrough with high priced consulting:

1. What can you offer? You need to know exactly what you do and what you can offer to your prospects before you sink your teeth into the consulting business. Some people offer services in human resources, sales and marketing, web creation, computer programming, and even in personality development. Knowing your strengths, trainings, education, and skills can help you figure out what type of assistance and information you’ll offer to your target market.

2. Be an expert. If I am the client, I would definitely go with somebody who knows what he’s doing and who is considered the best in the industry. As a consultant, you will need your target market to believe that you have what it takes to serve their needs. So, establish your expertise online by joining trade organizations, getting certifications (if needed), and by hosting seminars where you can share a slice of your expertise.

3. Make it easier for your prospects to find you. Even if you are talented and very knowledgeable on your chosen niche, you won’t possibly convince people to do business with you if you give them a hard time in getting in touch with you. I recommend that you build your own business website and promote it incessantly. It would also help if you can build your online portfolio and if you invade relevant blogs and forums to promote easy recall among those people who are most likely to buy from you.

4. Check on your competitors. Find people who are offering similar services and know how they run their business. How much do they charge? What services do they offer? What are their strengths and weaknesses? Knowing all of these things and more can help you adjust the elements and techniques that you are using in order to outplay these people.

5. Expand your network. Setting up a consulting business is relatively cheap as you don’t need to spend thousands of dollars for your initial investment. After all, you just need to provide information and assistance to your clients. However, if you want to land more work, you’ve got to expand your network. Tell your family, friends, and colleagues about what you do. Give them an idea as to what you can offer. These people may not do business with you but they might know somebody who will.

Using A Credit Repair Consultant

Many people find themselves in serious debt sometime during their lifetime and are unsure how to begin repairing their credit score. If you’ve found yourself under a pile of debt because of your credit card use, you may want to consider hiring a credit repair consultant to negotiate with your lenders to manage your payments and get you on the road to a better credit score. Meeting with consultants can show you your options when it comes to repairing your financial situation. While there are definite benefits to this, you must be careful and ensure you are dealing with a legitimate and reputable organization before you enter into any agreement.

First and foremost, you want to check out your credit reports to see where your financial situation lies. If you have a lot of debt, with payments that are out of your control it may be time to speak with a credit repair consultant who can help get your life back on track. Once your consultant speaks with your lenders and gets your financial situation under new management, you will ideally be able to make smaller payments, possibly free of the accumulated interest and finance charges. Consultants can also help you in creating a budget you and your family can stick with and still manage to get by.

The innovative service a credit repair consultant can offer consumers with poor financial standing can go a long way in repairing your credit score and lead you to a debt-free life. In addition to working directly with lenders to get rid of interest charges, consultants can also consolidate your debt into one easy to manage payment, with lower interest rates than you’d be paying on each individual debt. If you do decide to hire a consultant, it’s important that you deal with a well known organization with many years in the field. Soon enough, you’ll find managing your credit debt can actually be done.

What Makes a Successful IT Consultant

So you’ve decided to go out on your own as an IT consultant? Perhaps you want to be your own boss, work when you want, and of course there’s the money. You’ve got the skills and experience to do the job. Is that all you need? Not quite!

The scary thing is now you have to go out and find some clients. You may belong to an agency that supplies consultants, but you’ve still got to persuade the client that you’re the best man or woman for the job.

A business relationship between a consultant and a client is like any other relationship – it needs to be based on trust. To achieve this you need to build rapport with the client: smile, be friendly and professional, and show him or her that you can achieve their business goals in the timeframe required.

Never take on work you don’t have the skills for, and don’t take on too much work at one time. If you say you are equal to the job, you must be able to complete the project in the required time and with the highest quality. If you find you can’t do this, once you’ve started a project, you may need to subcontract someone to help you. Clients want results, not excuses.

Also make sure the project specification is absolutely clear and unambiguous. If you have any doubts, ALWAYS ASK. Both you and the client should sign it.

If the client changes the scope of the project, you are entitled to change the deadline and charge more for your services.

An IT consultant needs to be a good communicator. You should have excellent communications channels with the client to identify any unforeseen problems as soon as possible, to avoid delays in project completion. Perhaps there’s a hardware or software problem that isn’t your fault – you need to alert the client.

To be successful as a consultant you need regular cash flow. To achieve this you need to have a number of projects at different stages. Some clients take longer to pay you than others. If they take too long to pay you, seek legal advice.

You also need to understand any contract that you’re going to sign, as it is legally binding. Read it carefully. If you don’t fully understand it, seek legal advice before signing.

Don’t overcharge or undercharge clients. Undercharging is bad for you and the industry. Find out what other consultants are charging by checking their websites.

Get a good accountant. Ask your friends and associates if they can recommend anyone. An accountant can assist you with good recordkeeping, making sure you claim on your tax return everything you’re legally entitled to claim for, and GST. Remember, if you earn more than $50,000 dollars per year, you MUST charge GST.

You must also have an ABN to operate as a business. To apply for an ABN go to [http://www.abr.gov.au/ABR_BC/].

If you don’t have a website, build one. You’re an IT professional! Look at adapting your current site to your business.

Consultants need to be proactive. Software is changing all the time and you need to keep up to speed with it. Do relevant courses; attend conferences. You can claim theses costs on your tax return. A proactive consultant is a competitive consultant!

Greg Fitzgerald

[http://www.getsomebodynow.com.au]

How Do You Pick the Right Technology Consultant?

How do you pick the right technology consultant? It is not the kind of party game that is going to catch on with your family at Christmas, but it is a pastime that could decide your success (or failure) in crucial aspects of your business.

Take the public sector, where £2bn a year is spent on employing consultants and agency staff in Whitehall. A Cabinet Office study showed that it cost an average of £100,000 a year to employ each consultant and at a time of constrained public spending, over-expenditure on non-permanent workers will not be tolerated.

Things are no simpler in the private sector. One recent report suggested that there are now half a million management consultants globally (see further reading). Finding external expertise is never easy, but how do you pick the right needle from the consultancy haystack in such cost-constrained times?

More specifically, what expertise should you look for and what guidelines and services will create consultancy that works for your business? Your selections should be based around four guiding principles: knowledge, partnership, commitment and experience.

First, look for a consultant that understands the technology you are about to implement. Do not simply employ the same consultancy every time. Each job has a different requirement and the non-permanent nature of contractors should give you the option to be choosy.

Then make sure you look for a service team that will be able to work with your existing in-house team. There is no point upsetting trusted permanent staff by contracting ‘know it all’ external experts who actually know very little.

Also pay attention to the breadth of a particular consultancy’s service offering. Big is not necessarily best and you should concentrate on the firm that will be able to provide a long-term commitment across crucial areas, such as design, migration and deployment.

Finally, trust experienced service providers and always select a firm with best practice references. Advanced Business Solutions is able to boast more than 512 man years of experience and over 100 specialists across various consultancy teams, for example. It is this kind of expertise that can mean selecting a consultant does not have to be a painful process.

Tips to Motivate You When You Want to Start Consulting

Do you want to start consulting? If so, congratulations, consulting is a great career. With so many possible career choices in this field, you are bound to find one that you’ll love.

A lot of people want to start consulting but are often confused as to how to start. From personal experience it is best to start planning any possible career moves while you still have a job and steady income.

While still working for someone else start by reading as many consulting books you can get your hands on. The more you understand what you are getting into the better off you will be.

One thing to think about early on in your decision making is what type of services you want to offer when you start consulting. Many people when they first start off, make the mistake of offering too many services.

The mistake of offering too many consulting services it that it is hard to look like an expert in all areas. It is much better, and will be much easier for you when you try to focus on offering only one or two specific services to a specific industry.

One of the best parts of being an independent consultant is that you get to set your own fees. You can determine how much you are going to charge and how you are going to charge. Are you going to charge an hourly fee or a per project fee?

In my experience it is always easiest to charge in the manner the client is most comfortable with, since they have the money to spend. Most clients prefer hourly fees, as this is what they are used to. If you are going to charge per project fees, it is very easy to underestimate how much time you are going to be putting into the project, and end up undercharging yourself.

Finding good consulting jobs when you are first starting out may seem like a needle in a haystack sometimes. This is somewhat true, because most consulting jobs are not advertised at all.

This is why you need a proactive marketing campaign to get your message out. Now it could be as simple as calling people you know in the industry or doing a mailing of brochures.

As you can see when you make the decision to start consulting, you have many options to consider which makes this a great career choice. Starting this career can seem almost impossible at times, but start planning your move now, and you will be well prepared for anything that happens in the future.