The same holds true for your business. Invest in a qualified business consultant, spend some time on a thorough evaluation and follow a prescription, and you can shore up problem areas and make the most of what you're already doing well. The key, just as with your doctor visit, is seeing the right expert. Business consultants, like doctors, specialize in a variety of fields and treat a range of ills.
Unfortunately, determining just what those specialties are and whether a consultant is genuinely talented is no easy task. It certainly involves more than simply making a phone call. Hiring a consultant and making the most of that person's expertise is a skill in itself, requiring work, knowledge and some patience.
Preparation: Setting your goals
How should you begin the consultation process? Consultants recommend asking yourself a single question: Exactly (not generally) what type of help would I like to get? It's best to start by setting goals. A good consultant will thoroughly evaluate an operation, but he or she needs to know what a parts distributor in particular wants to address — sales, productivity, advertising and so on.
After answering this question, business owners must then address a series of other consultant-related issues. The most significant of these is determining whether they truly are committed to making the changes necessary to improve an operation. Advice without action is useless. It's also wasteful because consultants don't come cheap. Retailers and wholesalers can count on spending at least several thousand dollars, perhaps more. This investment, along with a prime opportunity to upgrade, will be squandered if commitment is lacking.Other factors to consider are minor pain and discomfort. Ownership, management and employees have to be willing to accept constructive criticism. People at your organization, including you, will hear some things they won't like, but it's necessary. Egos are not allowed in this type of environment, so when you are ready to be fully dedicated to change and willing to make the necessary change, you're ready for expert help.
Not all consultants are created equal
If you're like a lot of storeowners or managers, you may have caught the consultant bug after hearing some of your colleagues talk about their consulting experiences. (Why should they have some advantage you don't?) Time to ask for a business card and make a call, right? Actually, that could be a mistake.
Hiring a consultant is much like finding a specialist to deal with a rare medical condition. You need to locate a consultant whose background, skills and temperament are right for your particular business. More than that, you need to find someone with whom you can form what amounts to a partnership.
Where should you start your search? Aside from recommendations from your colleagues, check WD/jobber associations, search phone directory business pages or try the Internet. One of the best ways is to ask your vendors. Suppliers often have lists of preferred consultants who have experience in the industry.
After piecing together a list of candidates, contact each and begin checking for the proper business background. Go beyond general aftermarket industry experience. Find someone with experience in your particular niche — wholesale, retail, high performance, import. There are critical differences in the skills necessary to work in each of these areas. Don't allow yourself to be a consultant's first experiment in working outside his or her field.
Also, make sure a candidate's experience touches all parts of the industry. Your business should be viewed as a puzzle, with the consultant's job aimed at making each piece — each part of the operation — fit. For your consultant to complete this puzzle, he or she must be able to use a variety of viewpoints. You'll therefore want to look for someone with experience in related fields, for example, inventory management and distribution.Following these guidelines, next look for candidates who specialize in a wide range of business activities — operations, administration, marketing. This can be tough because most consultants specialize in a limited number of fields. Never give up and go with someone who offers less than you need. Keep searching. Look to consulting firms because they often have teams of consultants who can cover all the necessary business fields.
After finding candidates with the proper backgrounds, check for a history of achievement. Make sure all your candidates can supply the names of references, retailers and wholesalers where they have produced results. Contact and thoroughly interview the references. Ask them how much time a consultant dedicated to their store and what help they received.
Be wary of certain dubious practices adopted by some consultants. For example, some may suggest short-term solutions like raising revenues by cutting labor expenses. Long term, it could be disastrous. You could lose the loyalty of employees who take their skills elsewhere.
After covering background and practices, find out what services a consultant provides and what you'll pay for them. Note that cost is no indication of value and that consultants use a variety of cost formulas. Carefully check the details of their charges. Some consultants may charge a flat fee for visiting your location and then charge for extras such as meals and transportation. That can get expensive, so obtain a detailed list of potential charges.
Determine what your business evaluation will entail. A thorough evaluation should include an analysis of your financial papers (for example, your profit and loss statements), technical procedures, estimating practices, advertising, marketing and your front office. Find out how much time the consultant will spend at your warehouse or store and if that consultant will perform follow-up work. Follow-up and keeping in contact with your consultant as you implement changes will be critical. While you're considering costs, be aware that some consultants charge extra — sometimes significantly extra — for follow-up tasks.
Similarly pay strict attention to the type and quality of evaluation report a consultant will generate for you. These reports vary from one consultant to the next, but one rule should hold true: A report should reflect your investment. It should be thorough, concise, readable and professionally created. Consultants can differ radically in what they provide clients. Go with a consultant who provides a quality product. Obtain sample reports from all your candidates, and if a consultant can't provide samples, move on.
One final factor to consider is a guarantee. Some consultants offer guarantees on their work. Review these guarantees and what they cover, such as results, quality of work and client satisfaction. Keep them in mind when making your selection.
Ultimately, your choice should reflect a comfort level with a consultant's ability to understand and affect your particular business. The same holds true for the consultant who must share your attitude and be confident in the client/consultant relationship. That being the case, don't be surprised if a consultant turns down your business.
Ethical, high-quality consultants work where they can make a positive difference. That's how they build a successful track record, and in the process, build their reputations and business. They pair their skills with aftermarket distributors they have the greatest chance of helping. That means sometimes saying no to offers if the consultant doesn't believe the client is a good match.
If you get turned down, find out why. A consultant may not feel he or she has the proper skills or experience to help you. Potential personality clashes also can be a problem. Take note of any of these issues. Valuable feedback like this can greatly aid your search for the right expert.
Make the most of your consultation
When you finally settle on an appropriate consultant, you'll need to set aside time for an extended facility visit, evaluation and preparation of a plan of action. Most visits average a week. During that time, make sure the consultant has access both to your financial papers and your workers. When taking care of the former, make sure the consultant signs a non-disclosure agreement (a standard and necessary business practice).
To manage the latter, inform your employees they are being evaluated and ask them to perform their duties as they normally would. Ask them to respond openly and truthfully to any questions. Remind them that the consultant is there to help them perform their work and maintain their livelihood.
Consultants use a variety of methods to evaluate employees and operations. Surveys, observation and verbal queries are all part of the evaluation mix. Some make it a practice to speak to every worker because the most illuminating information can come from the most unlikely places.
Others spend much of their time observing, paying particular attention to management personnel, evaluating strengths and weaknesses in areas such as technical proficiency, business acumen, leadership, tenacity and communication.
Regardless, a lot of the weight of a consultant's focus should be on operational issues. While financial papers and other fiscal barometers reveal a lot about a distributor, fixes must be performed through operational changes. Consultants tend to do their best work when they move beyond fixes that solely address profits. Operational improvements will take care of the bottom line.
Training may be recommended to deal with any shortfalls, whether this means better customer service, better order taking or inventory management.
Other areas to which consultants pay close attention include time management and front office functions — specifically, what processes are put into place after a customer is greeted either over the phone or from behind the counter.
Depending on the size of your location, a consultant may recommend performing an evaluation at least once a year, more often for high volume or multiple-store businesses. Receiving ongoing help makes sense. No parts distributor is ever thoroughly efficient and without flaws. There's always room for improvement. In addition, what's the point of upgrading your business one year only to let it slip into decline the next? The industry experiences change each year. Much like your annual physical, an annual evaluation is the best way to help keep your business in shape.
