How to Choose a Business Consultant

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StrategyDriven Managing Your Business Article |Choose a business consultant|How to Choose a Business ConsultantSelecting a business consultant who meets your needs as a company can be challenging. It’s critical to know where to start and to go step by step until you find the perfect fit. Whether you’re seeking assistance with high-level strategy requirements or a specialized, problem-solving expert to enhance your SEO or product-sourcing operation, here are a few tips to guide you.

1. Use the Networks You Already Have

Using your current networks can speed up the search for a business or management consultant. Generic evaluations or reviews are less trustworthy than a referral from a coworker, partner, or another business owner who was in a comparable situation. Inquire with your contacts to find out if they know of any specialists in the area who can help with your particular issue.

2. Look Into Specialized Markets

Check out specialized online marketplaces that can help you find consultants by area, topic, and budget. There are plenty of helpful websites. Use social media sites like LinkedIn to expand your search. Usually, a consultant’s expertise can be determined by how many referrals they have received. Look closely at the top results after searching for terms associated with your problem.

3. Ask Questions

Do not be afraid to ask questions about your consultant’s experience, methodology, and—most importantly—the results of their consulting work. Your consultant may give you a unique perspective on the long-term effects of adopting their recommendations. They help you look beyond the immediate benefits.


4. Ask About Their Background and Credentials

Examine the consultant’s résumé, education history, and industry-specific credentials. If they are eager to research new learning opportunities and update their skills, that’s a positive indicator. Ask about their practical experience. Do they know anything more than you if they are a consultant who just graduated from college? Consider seeking advisors who have effectively owned or managed small firms, large corporations, or relevant departments.

Make sure their background relates to your industry. Even though a former bank CEO may seem impressive, do they have the skills and background necessary to make your cupcake shop a successful small business? They might, but this consultant might be a better fit if your company is also looking at a former restaurant owner who now earns a living helping small eateries grow. Look for experts who have experience with firms and your industry.

5. Check Out Their Track Record

You want a consultant who has succeeded with businesses similar to yours, not just one with the necessary experience. Request references and ask for the consultant’s portfolio or list of the companies they have worked with. Find a consultant with experience in growing businesses that are very similar to yours or helping businesses overcome the types of issues you are facing. You can then get in touch with those firms to find out if they were happy with the consultant’s services.

6. Create a Contract

Once you have the right person for the job, you must ensure that you have a defensive contract. A good contract must entail the following:

    • The start and end dates
    • Work and payment milestones
    • The consultant’s activities in detail
    • The level of support after the end of your engagement
    • Reasons to void the contract
    • Options to extend your contract

If you’re looking for a business consultant, take advantage of the above tips to find the right one. While there are many options in the industry, they aren’t always suitable for you. You must research before signing a contract.

Outsource for Proactive Business Solutions

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StrategyDriven Managing Your Business Article |Business Solutions|Outsource for Proactive Business SolutionsYou know who you are. You are an entrepreneur. A great idea has taken hold, and you cannot shake it off. The realization that you are onto something big has begun to set in. Now it is time to innovate and ideate to create something special – a company of your own. To move towards a profitable endeavor, however, you will need to find your helpers and partners to grow, especially at the outset. Here are some tips to help you get started on your path to great things.

Outsource What You Can

When you are just starting your business you probably do not have a lot, if any, employees other than yourself. Perhaps you have a business partner. Regardless, you are not in the position to tackle it all by yourself. There simply is not enough time in one day to do everything required of you. In addition, you need to have specific skill sets to accomplish certain tasks. Do not fret, however, there is a multitude of tasks you can outsource to professionals. Here are a few:

  • Payroll – As you are expanding your business, you will be adding employees to your staff. You know that you need to pay them, of course, but do you know the intricacies of payroll taxes, IRS forms, Social Security Administration rules, and withholdings, to name a few? If the answer is no, then your solution is to engage in payroll outsourcing. Payroll outsourcing consists of a third party providing services for compliance and the administrative tasks involved with paying your employees (and you, too). They do everything mentioned above in addition to handling direct deposit or paycheck printing, calculating time sheets, and accrued vacation time, etc.
  • Legal – When drawing up your new company’s business plan, some legal necessities and questions will undoubtedly arise. When this occurs, will you be the authority on business law who can provide guidance? Probably not. You do not want to run afoul of the law at the inception of your company or miss out on proper procedure and opportunity due to a lack of understanding on your part. Outsourcing legal advice is advantageous because you do not need to stay on top of the latest changes in laws that may affect your business. The third-party legal team will do that for you. It is their role to do their due diligence and stay up to date on laws related to the scope of your business. They will advise you on any needs you require if you choose to expand or change the course of your company, as well.
  • Cleaning – If you have a small office, it may not seem prudent to hire a cleaning service. Before you dismiss the notion, consider whether you have time to keep your space sanitary and looking like it should. If not, hiring a professional cleaning service will afford you a clean space to work in and meet clients.


Your clients and staff do not want to work or sit in a grimy breakroom. No one wants to use a dirty bathroom. The options are for you to clean the office and bathroom yourself, for your staff to do it, or to outsource. First impressions and employee satisfaction matter, especially when it comes to cleanliness.

Watch this video for some pros and cons involving the outsourcing process.

Outsourcing is a viable and practical solution when you are growing your business. Find the companies that will benefit you most and take tasks off of your plate so you can focus on the business at hand – your business.

Energy Conservation Strategies Every Business Should Adopt

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StrategyDriven Managing Your Business Article |Energy Conservation|Energy Conservation Strategies Every Business Should AdoptThe times look very uncertain for many business owners. Inflation appears to be soring, affecting the cost of many business supplies and necessities, including energy. And the last thing any business owner wants is for energy costs to eat too much into business expenses. And that is why energy conservation is more important now than ever. Conservation energy is different from finding ways to reduce energy usage. The latter limits your energy usage, while the former helps you to save more energy. Here are some effective energy conservation strategies every business should adopt.

1. Check to see if you’re wasting energy

Before anything else, you want to ensure that there are no connection issues or malfunctioning draining energy. You can also consider getting an audit conducted to assess your consumption. Aside from an energy audit, you can also work with commercial electrical services if you have very high energy consumption. Such services can help you identify if your business’s electrical system is malfunctioning and pushing excess power down the drain. Because commercial properties are usually wired differently, only an experienced commercial electrician can properly identify and fix connection faults.

2. Establish energy efficiency practices at work

Your workers will play a key role in ensuring that your company does not waste energy. So, take the time to create and implement energy-saving practices. For example, suppose your energy utility company has high and off peaks during the day. In that case, you can consider effective ways to use only excess energy during off or low-peak times. You can combine this example with other energy-conservation strategies like investing in energy-efficient equipment. Before you lease or purchase any equipment for your office, check to see if it has an energy star rating. Also, read the rating specifics indicated.


3. Think outside your office space

Find other creative ways to save energy by thinking outside the box, or in this case, thinking outside your office space. For example, consider making it more energy-efficient if you’re in charge of the landscape around your business premises. For instance, you can plant trees to provide shade and improve aeration outside your office. This way, you can enjoy a fresh breeze during summer days and lower your heating needs. And during winter, wind-blocking trees can help reduce your heating needs.

4. Prevent your business from energy scammers

Believe it or not, many energy consumers lose considerable amounts of money to energy scams. The scammers use a very simple but effective trick to coerce consumers to panic using various intimidation tactics. For example, an energy scammer may inform a business or consumer that they only have a short period to pay for their energy consumption before getting disconnected. Most of these scammers may claim that they represent the energy company and hasten the consumer into purchasing prepaid energy through different payment platforms.

To prevent your business from becoming a victim of such scams, know your energy and utility provider, safeguard personal information, and report to your utility provider whenever you receive calls or emails pressurizing you to provide personal information.

5 ways to increase the efficiency of your business

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StrategyDriven Managing Your Business Article |Increase Efficiency|5 ways to increase the efficiency of your businessEfficiency is one of the most crucial aspects of any business, as it is all about getting the most out of your available resources. You should achieve profitable results by investing less money and time.

In addition, if you are executing daily operations without making any costly errors, then it will also count as a good business efficiency practice.

But still, there are many tactics companies are unaware of that can help them improve their business operations and efficiency.

As a business owner, you should detect the gaps in your business model that can potentially drain your business efficiency. These gaps can threaten your business progress, so you should fill them up to ensure nothing goes off track.
Without further delay, let’s find out some ways that can help you increase your business efficiency.

1. Keep your Documentation Organized

The most effective way to improve your business efficiency is to keep your documentation organized. The first thing you should do is to get rid of unnecessary paperwork.

You should analyze your current business needs and take steps accordingly. For example, you can keep the important files of your current customers and discard the old records.

Getting rid of the documents that are unnecessarily clogging up your space will positively impact your operational efficiency.

Next, you should convert your important files into a digital format to make your records more secure.

You should look for the relevant service providers in your state or city who can do the job for you.

Let’s say if your company is based in Minneapolis, you need to look for a reliable and experienced company of document scanning in Minneapolis. It will help you convert your files into any digital format that you want and make document management easier.
In the current digital landscape, it is more convenient to manage digital files rather than to deal with piles of papers.

Also, once your records are properly managed and secured digitally, it will make the execution of daily tasks faster and more efficient.

2. Automate your Workflow

Another way to improve business efficiency is to automate your workflow.

For instance, you can automate particular tasks by leveraging project management tools or software. It will help you utilize your team’s time efficiently by allowing them to focus on tasks that require critical thinking or human involvement.
Also, you can assign tasks in advance to your team for the next day so they can be mentally prepared for them.

You should have a sufficient budget for automation to invest in particular tools or software as it will give you outstanding returns later.

Analyze what processes you need to automate that can help you grow your business. You can discuss it with all the stakeholders to figure out how you can implement any aspect of automation.


3. Appreciate Face-to-Face Communication

One of the primary reasons that businesses lack efficiency is that employers do not encourage employees to communicate in person.

You need to ensure that your team is comfortable in raising their concerns. It improves the coordination between different departments and positively impacts business efficiency.

Also, when your team can communicate with you directly, it will reduce misunderstanding and miscommunication. It will allow employees to develop good ideas and share them with the management for further improvement.

For example, if your staff is comfortable raising their voice, they can identify your workflow’s flaws. This way, you can take the right steps to streamline your processes to improve your business efficiency.

Additionally, you can not only identify the issues in your business model but can also get a feasible solution through your team’s efforts.

4. Limit Interruptions

Unnecessary interruptions can affect the entire workflow, making you miss project deadlines, eventually leading to poor efficiency.

One of the major causes of interruptions is daily meetings. It can consume time for employees, making it difficult for them to focus on daily tasks.

To address this issue, you should have a meeting on a specific day of the week. You can have important discussions and set weekly or monthly milestones for your team. It will not only reduce interruptions but also boost your team’s efficiency and productivity.

On the other hand, constant chat notifications and email alerts from your management software can also cause distraction.

To fix this issue, you can use relevant tools limiting email notifications. It will ensure uninterrupted workflow, enabling your team to meet deadlines and focus on tasks more efficiently.

5. Encourage Single Tasking

Some employers promote multitasking in their companies, thinking it will help them use time more efficiently. But in reality, it has the opposite effect, as it can lead to more mistakes that will add zero value to your business.

One of the ways to increase business efficiency is by promoting the culture of single-tasking. It can reduce the chances of any errors and ensure the successful delivery of projects with excellent quality.
Sometimes we think of ourselves as great multitaskers. But you should understand that the human mind is not designed in such a way to focus on multiple things at one time.

Some businesses look to enhance their customer base with limited resources by having a “multitasking” mindset. It compromises the quality of their services and makes them lose their credibility among their target market.
Therefore, you need to encourage single-tasking and prefer quality over quantity. It will not only help you to enhance your business efficiency but also positively impact your growth.

Conclusion

Business efficiency can play a key role in helping you accomplish your business goals. Technological advancements have made it easier for businesses to improve their operational efficiency.

Using relevant tools and software can help you streamline the entire workflow. It can help you attain maximum results with minimum effort.

In addition, you need to pay attention to different areas that can help you improve the quality and efficiency of your operational matters. From organizing documentation to reducing interruptions, you should focus on every single factor to make your workflow more efficient and fast.

Hopefully, this article will help you understand how to increase your business efficiency.

Top Logistical Mistakes of SMEs

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StrategyDriven Managing Your Business Article |Logistical Mistakes|Top Logistical Mistakes of SMEsWhen you run a small or medium-sized enterprise, there is no doubt that you need to be thinking about every single individual element in a high level of detail as this will really make all the difference in ensuring that everything goes smoothly and you can get one up on your closest rivals. There are plenty of logistical mistakes that are commonly made along the way, and the following blog post will discuss what these are in a higher level of detail.

Failing to Choose the Right Partners

While some companies handle all of the different logistical elements themselves, many seek to outsource as and when they are able to. With this in mind, it is certainly going to be worth taking your time to seek out the right partners rather than simply going to the first ones that are readily available to you. So, you should be checking out the likes of www.strlogistics.co.uk to make all the difference. You need to build up the type of strong working relationship with them that is going to yield results.

Not Automating Where Possible

While smaller businesses do not have the same type of budgets that can stretch as larger ones do, it is certainly going to be worthwhile automating where at all possible. In this manner, more of the work that is repetitive and potentially slow can be sped up and done with a higher degree of accuracy. This does not have to be achieved at the expense of your staff members, however. Instead, it should be done to make their lives easier, doing more to free them up to concentrate on other aspects of their job roles.


Failing to Get a Grip of Your Costs

Of course, this does not only expand to the logistical part of your company, but there is no doubt that any smaller business needs to get to grips with its costs in a way that makes sense. Otherwise, there is every chance that these are simply going to start to spiral out of control, which inevitably means that you are going to be struggling in other areas. This means working with a high degree of accuracy and not simply allowing everything to be guessed along the way.

Not Making Improvements Based on Feedback

Along the way, you are bound to see that there are some improvements that need to be made in certain areas. As well as this, you should also expect and be open to receiving feedback from others. You need to react to this in the correct manner and recognise that, in most cases, the feedback is constructive and intended in a positive way. There is simply no point in assuming that all of it can be easily dismissed and not taken into account. You should be making improvements based on what is being fed back to you, especially by customers.

If you avoid all of these logistical mistakes, you make it much more likely that you are going to be running the type of well-oiled machine that yields results.