I've got a consultant on retainer but he only comes in so often and if I need more than what we've agreed to it always costs more than I can budget. How often I have heard this statement. It goes back to the question we should have asked in the first place- " What services does my company need and can an individual consultant fill those needs or is there an organization out there that can multi-task ?”

Many companies have to make their managerial staff and/or administrative people take on multiple roles in order to be able to cover everything required of them. Especially in the industries where they have to comply with regulatory issues. Economically it may not be feasible for them to hire a consultant that works on a retainer system or that is actually a Subject Matter Expert limited to a specific area of expertise. They are also dealing with issues of finding the right "fit” with a firm that can offer multiple services under one entity.

In actuality there are many more options out there than most are aware of but to find them and determine whether they fit your specific needs or not requires doing several things. First you must determine as exactly as possible what your needs are. Than come up with a series of questions for prospective service providers that depending on their answers will; satisfy you as to their actual expertise, if they have the ability to handle whatever workload they might agree to, establish at least a rudimentary feeling for reliability and will their philosophy and work ethic mesh with yours.

If (and after) you determine that you can progress further with acquiring a service provider you should ask for fair

ly detailed drafts and/or explanations of what the end results will be when the consultant and/or service provider has completed the tasks you will hire them to perform. Once satisfied with all of these things you than need to look at the economics of hiring an outside contractor.

The reason I have placed the money issues last is two-fold, if you have not accomplished the above described screening process and reached a satisfactory agreement than you are going to more than likely going to spend money and be unsatisfied with the results. If you have completed the screening procedure and you and the provider are comfortable with the working relationship the money spent, even if you think it a bit too much will be worth it because you almost always be satisfied with the results, and if something is not satisfactory you can feel more comfortable with the fact that it will be fixed with the minimum of time, expense and turmoil.

The downside (if there is one) to this process is the time and effort you will be investing up front in order to locate and pre-qualify a service provider. However I feel that that investment is one of the wisest you can make and still accomplish your goals.

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