Five Signs That You’re Not Ready for a Consultation
For most new entrepreneurs, embarking on your journey to launching the next big thing can be overwhelming. You’ve developed your concept, commissioned the logo, and shared your idea with the three or four supportive friends who have inspired you to take the leap! There’s just one problem…..you know what you want to do. You just don’t know how to make it happen.
This is the moment when speaking with a consultant might come in handy. Commissioning a consultant for your business needs is important for three reasons:
You have access to a subject matter expert who can fix your business’s pain points.
A consultant can see outside of the box solutions that you might not have noticed before.
A consultant can be a less emotional voice of reason when planning your business development strategy.
So you’ve come to terms with the hard part. You know you need help, now you just need to figure out who you need to speak with for said help. What’s next? You’ll need to have your ducks in a row before paying countless deposits for 30 minutes of someone’s time.
Here are 5 signs to keep in mind that you might not be ready for a consultation.
Sign 1: You Don’t Have A Budget.
Before scheduling your first consultation, it’s important to have a budget in mind. This will set the tone for what your consultant can do for you within an affordable price range. It’s important to remember that just like you run a business, so does your consultant. Their craft is to provide a professional exchange of advice or ideas to improve the success of your business in some way, shape, or form. So, just like you expect your business to be taken seriously, please take theirs as well. Any consultant worth their stock knows their worth and will expect you to as well.
Sign 2: You Don’t Have A Clear Focus On Why You Need A Consultation
The number one question that you should expect to hear during your consultation is “why are we speaking today?” It’s important to know the answer to this question because what should be an easy exchange of ideas and solutions for your business needs, could turn into a 30-minute vent session about why you were excluded as a child. Yes, this may seem harsh. But your consultant is not a therapist. They value your business and your time, but they can’t help you if you can’t express what you need in a timely manner.
Sign 3: You Don’t Have A Story
When starting a new business, it’s important to have a story behind it. For example, if a client came to me for PR consultation, the first question I would ask is “what is your story? What makes the public want to relate to them in a way that translates to earned media and possibly sales?” If you don’t have a story, then that makes it harder for a consultant to communicate why the media should care about your business and what you’re trying to say. This also factors into consultations for other services like website designs, paid digital ads, social media, content strategy, and more. It all circles back to a common story and curated message to help introduce your message to potential customers.
Sign 4: You Don’t Know Who Your Audience Is
Before scheduling your consultation for content and brand strategy, it’s important to keep in mind what the demographic of your audience is. What type of clients do you want a consultant to help you attract? Are they between the ages of 25 to 40 years old? Do they make $50,000 or more per year? Are they multicultural, African American, Latinx, LGBTQ? All of these considerations are important because they’ll factor into how your consultant navigates building the right brand and content strategy for you.
Sign 5: Your Business Does Not Have A Concept
Hopefully, by this point in your business planning process, you have a fully mapped out concept and have been a successful business long enough to know your brand’s identity. This is important because a consultant in any capacity will need to know what your business’s brand identity is and what direction you’re looking to take it in. If a consultant wanted to create your company’s concept from scratch, they would have founded the business themselves. So, to avoid confusion, please make sure you’ve passed square one before asking a consultant to take you to square two or three.
