What Does a Business Consultant Do

What Does a Business Consultant Do?

Michael W. Cohen, CPA, CGMA Tax Planning For Businesses, Business Management 26 Comments

strategic business consulting

There may come a time when a small business realizes the limitations of their expertise when it comes to operating their company. Growth and expansion are important, but the process involved may be very intimidating.

A small business may be afraid to make the wrong move. This is when strategic business consulting may be valuable. These professionals can help a small business learn how to run a company more efficiently, safely expand into new markets, resolve problems, and more.


What Does a Business Consultant Do?

Being able to recognize and develop solutions to problems is something an experienced business consultant can provide a small business.

The discovery phase is the first step in business consulting. This is when your consultant, like Glass Jacobson, will learn everything they need to know about your business. This may include an extensive review of your accounting and tax information, in-depth conversations with the owners and employees, and reading the company’s materials—both internal and external communications.

Once this is finished, they will evaluate the situation and identify your business’s strengths and weaknesses, along with any current or potential problems.

The objective observations and recommendations made by a consultant have been able to dramatically improve the operation of many different small businesses.


The Benefits of Strategic Business Consulting

An experienced small business consultant will know how to help a company help itself. They will focus on how a company works and will carefully observe how issues are handled. They will observe group dynamics and the management’s handling of conflict resolution.

Questions will be asked and advice will be offered based on the situation. This is most effective when a company is aware of its problems and is seeking solutions. The small business must be willing to temporarily give up some authority and be open to accepting suggestions.  These are some of the major benefits of using a business consultant.


#1 Cost Effective

Oftentimes, the costs of underlying business problems are incalculable. Trying to rectify issues internally can be time intensive, expensive, and ineffective. The cost of a business consultant is often small in comparison to the need of the business.


#2 Objectivity

A strategic consultant can offer an outside perspective of your company. It's possible for staff and management to be too consumed with emotion or company politics to see things clearly.

Consultants can look past previous issues and provide an accurate vision of how a company can succeed. A business consultant can provide insight into how other companies facing similar situations were able to overcome them.


#3 Key Partnerships

A business consultant will have connections within an industry that a small business may not have. This is because a consultant has probably worked with numerous companies over a long period of time and has connections and a wealth of experience to share.

These partnerships are often able to speed up the resolution of problems, open new doors, and more.


#4 Proven Methods

A strategic business consultant will have experience with successful methods of operating a small business.

When business consulting is used, established methods and processes developed from working with many different companies are made available to a small business.


#5 Insightful Advice

Some business consultants can also provide accounting services, tax planning, and recommendations on how to prioritize and organize your business’ finances. This gives them an even better vantage point to give strategic advice.


Types of Businesses That Benefit from Strategic Consulting

Many times, a new company will hire a business consultant to help them develop their processes, set up accounting, hire staff, and more—right from the beginning.

An established company may hire business consultants because they want to expand into a new industry not similar to its core business. Many companies also use a business consultant if they see problems with their company but can't identify the issues or resolve them themselves.

If you are seeking a strategic business consultant, contact the team at Glass Jacobson Financial Group today.




About The Author

Michael W. Cohen, CPA, CGMA

Shareholder, CFO Learn More>>

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Comments 26

  1. I didn’t know that a business consultant will have connections within an industry that a small business may not have. I am thinking of hiring a business consultant to help with my small business. Thanks for the information on what business consultants do.

  2. It did catch my attention when you said that business consultants have connections within an industry that you may not have, so they can speed up the resolution of problems. This is something that I will make sure to remember because I’m dreaming of owning a business in the future. I’d like to make sure that it’ll be easy for my business to excel and comply with the needs of the technology industry, so it’s important for me to get help in finding companies that I can be partnered with.

  3. We often get contracted to consult for different types of businesses with a focus on the SEO elements of the marketing. One thing I have noticed, time and time again, is that each business has a handful of people doing a lions share of the work load. This it of itself is no big deal, but often, cognitive bias of the management does not see or recognize who the truly valuable people are. Just bringing an outside perspective into a business situation can be very revealing.

  4. Hi, The first step for any business consultant is that to the discovery phase, where the goal is to learn the client’s business, What the clients actually want to be done. Management and strategy are the most considering things by a consultant because Qualified consultants should have a deep understanding of your particular market and bring the best practices from your industry. The minimum qualification required for a consultant that he/she should have a bachelor’s degree. Thanks…

  5. Thanks for pointing out that consultants will be able to pinpoint the problem for you. With that in mind, I will tell my sister to hire one already since they have always been bothered about their connection. One time, they were not able to deliver a lot of their products because the contact was hindered by the problem with their connection.

  6. It got me when you said that consultants will be able to give an accurate solution to previous mistakes to make your business successful. I will definitely share this information with my best friend to help them out. It appears that the country club that they have planned to open has been postponed again due to financial reasons. A consultant can help them out to push through their dreams even with this kind of issue.

  7. Many information I got through this blog in which about Business consultancy I have a lot to be known and which we know are not enough.

  8. You got me when you said that a business consultant has the connections and the experience that they can share to ensure that all your business issues are going to be resolved. I will consider what you said because I wanted to own a business in the future that’s connected to the sports industry. What I want is to get the perfect guidance that I need because I don’t want to make my business’ issues to get worse because of costly mistakes. I will make sure to find a reliable sports advisory firm. Thanks!

  9. It was nice when you said that a business consultant can give you a strategic advice so you can get help in organizing your business’ finances. My husband and I want to own a business in the future. What we want is for our business’ needs to be managed in the best possible way so we can be stress-free. Since we might miss important financial aspects of our business, we’ll be sure to get the help of a pro.

  10. I agree that the cost of problems is often understated. Bringing in a business IT consulting solutions can see problems with current processes that people engrained in the situation can not. This would make the solutions to problems be effective also.

  11. Stunning work of writing here. I like how you discuss and giving your point of views. thank you so much for this insightful thoughts.

  12. I like that you pointed out that having a consultant will be able to reduce costs since they can pinpoint the issue and rectify it immediately. I guess I will be hiring one in the future when I have enough money to start my own business. Someday, I will be needing this for the grocery store that I dream of having as my major source of income and retire early as well.

  13. I like that you pointed out that a consultant will be able to assess your business by checking your accounting and taxes well. With that in mind, it would help a lot when you have a consultant with you to help you grow your business well. I will make sure that my sister will hire one when she finally has the money to start the country club she dreams of since she will have it done on the land that she bought years ago.

  14. A consultant is usually an expert or a professional in a specific field and has a wide knowledge of the subject matter.

  15. I found it interesting that you state that business consultants can help with methods of operating your business. My brother has been wanting to start his own business and wants to do it right. I will send him this information so he can make sure to find a paratransit business development consulting firm to help him.

  16. Good post. I appreciate the information you shared because it may helpful for everyone. Thanks for sharing your idea with us.

  17. I liked the post. it is great to know that business consultant plays key role in the protection of the cyber system. thanks for sharing such a great post with us.

  18. I like how you said that a strategic consultant can offer an outside perspective of your company. My boss seems to be lost and he has been spending time trying to find out how to grow his business. I will recommend him to hire a business counselor so that he can get a different point of view from a professional.

  19. To me, the most meaningful point in the article is that a consultant will help a business learn how to help itself. My friend from high school called me and told me he was starting up a small business this year. We’ll have to look into business consulting services.

  20. It’s really important that a strategic consultant can offer an outside perspective of your company you’re too close to it. An outside perspective can be really useful because they’ll be able to clearly see what you need to improve. I’ll have to get a business consultant so that we can have that clear point of view.

  21. Thank you for pointing out how business consultants are able to recognize and develop solutions to problems for small businesses. My husband and I have a favorite boutique in the area but it has been having some difficulty with production and inventory. I think they should look for a professional business consultant who can help them figure out the most efficient way to run things.

  22. Consulting service providers play a critical role in the development and growth of a small business. So, small businesses should hire a business consulting company to know different types of critical aspects of a business and helps to deal with differing types of risk factors related to that specific business.

  23. Thanks for sharing such an informative blog. Having a business consultancy will not make your company more effective as mentioned here but also create new innovative ideas. I also like how you point that what are the roles of business consultants in our business.

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