Top 10 Benefits of Hiring a Business Strategy Consultant

Businesses go through many transformations as they move from the usual path of self-employment, small business, to a medium-sized business and beyond. Each phase has its challenges and skill requirements that the previous one doesn’t have or need. For this reason, the business strategy consultant is an ally to your business. Here I will outline ten ways a business strategy consultant can help you, but this is just the beginning. At the bottom of this article are three faqs including how much a consultant receives for services rendered.

1. Assess business operations including marketing position and competition

One of the areas a business strategy consultant will help your business is by analyzing your market position as follows:

I . Marketing

Are you getting your business leads at the lowest cost possible? An analysis of your lead generation methods is an important element to success. The business strategy consultant will also assess online and offline lead generation methods and their effectiveness. They will provide solutions to improve your overall marketing efforts and ensure that they are working together to produce increased results for your business.

II. Sales

Are you obtaining a good sales acquisition rate compared to your incoming business leads? Every sale counts in a business and a business strategy consultant can review your sales strategies and provide you with actionable feedback to increase your sales without decreasing your profitability.

III. Human Resources

Your employees are your greatest asset or can be the reason why your business stays where it is. Again, the business strategy consultant will review your human resources and provide valuable analysis on everything from your hiring practices to retention programs, compensation packages, training and development, business culture, and more.

IV. Operations

Waste in a business is one reason why many businesses don’t excel and grow. Analyzing the operations of the business including purchasing, inventory, quality systems, and process efficiency is important. Most businesses have a 20%+ in inefficiency. The business strategy consultant can identify the waste and provide options to reduce or eliminate it.

2. Create Short-term and Long-term strategies

A business strategy consultant will review and assess the business and provide you with short-term and long-term strategies. These include a 5-year strategy and then breaking them down into yearly and quarterly goals. The consultant will be determining the rate of past business goals achievement and combined with best practices and improved processes provide a comprehensive and doable action plan that will be challenging but achievable.

3. Clarify Business Goals, objectives, and milestones

A business without goals and objectives is like a boat without a rudder. The business consultant will analyze and clarify your business goals and turn them into actionable objectives and milestones that will assist you in achieving your next level of success.

This will include reviewing your business meeting effectiveness, and their productivity to ensure that you get to where your business deserves to be.

4. Market Positioning

To understand your market position, you must review your strengths, weaknesses, external opportunities, and external threats. The business strategy consultant will start here and go well beyond to provide you with a market analysis that will assist you in crafting a winning strategy for your business for years to come. They will also identify market opportunities and solutions to take advantage of them.

5. Change Management

The business consultant understands that change can be difficult if it is not executed properly. Whether change is in restructuring a company or a single position, it is important to have a well-structured plan that addresses all aspects of change. This includes the objectives, stakeholder engagement, risk management, change implementation, and monitoring. The consultant will assist in navigating through the transformation and into the clients’ change objectives.

6. Create Business Dashboards and KPIs

One of the most important management tools for a business owner regardless of company size or business executives is the business dashboard. It must be comprehensive and yet not overwhelming. It must be concise enough to tell what is going on but detailed enough to keep control and make the right decisions for the business. The business management consultant can assist with the creation of such dashboards, ensure that best practices are being exercised, and make sure that it can identify when the business is going in the wrong direction.

7. Risk Management

Part of what a business strategist consultant does is assess the different types of risk your business has, from internal to external company risks. The consultant will also provide you with proposed solutions that you can implement to reduce the identified risks.

8. Growth Strategies

Company growth is important because if you’re not growing your competitors certainly are. Identifying growth opportunities is an important aspect of a good business strategy consultant. The consultant will look at internal inefficiencies and provide solutions that result in cost savings that can be reallocated to marketing, or other opportunities identified that will grow the business.

Here are five growth proposals that a good consultant can propose after a robust assessment. This is a short list; a good consultant may propose others as well:

I. Market Penetration

Increase market share by employing aggressive and smart marketing tactics, pricing strategies, and methods to attract more customers.

II. Product or Service Development

Produce strategies to introduce new products or services that increase sales and revenues.

III. Diversification

Propose solutions to diversify with complementary products or services, or even unrelated products or services that lead to new markets.

IV. Franchising or micro-franchising expansion

Guide expansion through brand licensing or franchising to expand market reach, sales, and revenues.

V. Market Development

Expand the company to new geographic regions and customers, including adjusting your products or services to local needs or preferences.

9. Assist with Implementing Strategies & Initiatives

Provide actionable plans and assist in their implementation. Assisting with identifying possible obstacles and solutions. The methodology includes the 8 steps mentioned below:

•   Action Plan (What, When and How)
•   Communication Plan (who)
•   Training Plan (who)
•   Business Systems Plan (what)
•   Resistance Plan (Action strategy)
•   Transition Management (who will lead)
•   Readiness Review (assessment)
•   Escalation Process (sensing behaviors & how to deal with negative behaviors)

10. Provide Ongoing Support

The business strategy consultant will not only provide you with a detailed plan addressing ‘how’ you will get to your business goals but also provide support to ensure that you get there. After all, we all know that a plan is great as it provides direction and focus, but the execution of that plan is what will make it successful. Many businesses opt for a hybrid methodology of compensation to the consultant so that the consultant has an incentive to assist in producing the results from their plan. This is a combination of a reduced hourly rate with a commission structure based on the results they and their clients achieve. Please see below for a more detailed explanation of how business strategy consultants are paid.

One Destination Scorecard

Download this free One Destination Scorecard and answer the questions honestly. There are 20 questions each question has five marks. After completing you can measure your organization’s strategic goals. If you score low you can consult with a business strategy consultant.

One Destination Scorecard

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Why Trust My Advice

I have been a business strategy consultant for more than 33 years. The advice provided to you in this article is to inform you of the many areas a business consultant can assist you in achieving your business goals and advancing your business. In my experience the professional business consultant will provide you with at least a $1 to $10 ratio in ROI, meaning that for every dollar you spend on consulting you will receive at least $10 back in savings and net profit or increased revenues. It is something that big business takes advantage of but small and medium-sized businesses don’t know about.

Summary

A business strategy consultant assists a business in many ways including the ten mentioned above. They will also help with business model innovation, organizational design, supply chain optimization, enhancing customer experience, mergers and acquisitions, regulatory compliance, and branding and differentiation to name a few more. Once you structure the initiative properly with the right compensation method for you and your business, hiring the business strategy consultant is a decision that will propel your business forward and one that you will be happy with the outcome.

FAQ’s

Why Do You Need Business Strategy Consulting?

A business strategy consultant provides your business with a customized strategy solution that will help you achieve your next level of success. This is done by a thorough analysis of your business as it is currently operating, competitive and market research and gap analysis, and providing you with actionable steps to achieving your business goals, typically providing you with a 5-year plan and breaking it down into quarters that are challenging but achievable.

What are the business strategy advisors?

Business strategy advisors an experts in business management and efficiency. They review how a business is operating and provide actionable solutions that catapult the business towards leadership in their market. They do this by analyzing your business as well as your market, and with their expertise and experience, present a roadmap on how to get to the next level of your success. You can hire them for research and planning through the execution of the blueprint that they propose for your business goals.

How Much Does it Cost to Hire a Business Strategy Consultant?

There are three main ways a Business Strategy Consultant is compensated.

• Hourly rate: A business strategy consultant can be paid on an hourly basis. The rate can range from $120/hr to approximately $1,500/hr and depends on the consultants’ experience and firm. Larger firms typically charge on the higher end while smaller boutique firms charge much less.
• Commission: A business strategy consultant can also be paid on a commission basis as a percentage of increased gross revenues. The percentage ranges from 5 to 20% on average. It is a good way to reduce business risk as it is tied to performance.
• Hybrid: The third typical method of compensation for a business consultant is a hybrid of hourly rate and commission based on increased gross sales. This method ensures that both sides have an incentive to perform and is an effective method for hiring business consultants. With this method, the negotiated hourly rate is reduced, and the amount of commission is also on the lower side providing the incentive for the business strategy consultant to perform as well as the management of the business.

What is the role of Enterprise Strategy Consultant?

Enterprise strategy consultants assist businesses with all aspects of their business. This includes talent management (H.R.), Operational efficiency, Marketing and Sales, Financial and Strategic Growth, Change Management during transitional periods, and more. These consultants understand the complex matrix that forms an organization and can assess and assist organizations reach their next level of success.