As a savvy small business owner, you know that there are times when your knowledge and expertise of your products and services are not enough to reach the number of ideal prospects you need to obtain your sales goals.
Or, you may have some marketing and business know-how, but you don’t have the time to implement the key changes you want to make for your business.
Or, you may not even know where to begin. All you know is that you want to increase sales for your business and what you’re currently doing isn’t up to snuff.
And you don’t want to start chasing all the hottest trends, only to come up empty-handed. You can waste a lot of time and money that way — time and money you may or may not have.
You want to use what works, to get the most bang out of your buck.
So how can you take your business to the next level without a lot of headaches or hassles?
While you’re steeped in your own area of expertise, an outside business consultant can train your marketing department in the most effective ways to drive business to your door.
Marketing consultants have the specialized experience that they can use to apply to your business while saving you time and money.
They already know what works and what doesn’t work, so although there may be some experimentation and tinkering, you won’t spend nearly as long trying to figure out what to do as you would by yourself. You can get down to the business of increasing your sales.
Here are 5 ways you can benefit from a sales and marketing consultant:
1. Your marketing project is complex
Help! You had this great marketing idea, but now the project has now become far too big for your small marketing department. While your team is big and agile enough for routine marketing efforts, this new venture goes beyond your resources.
A marketing consultant can work directly with your company to integrate knowledge and resources efficiently. You’ll be able to find out where you need help, what needs to change, and what needs to be prioritized.
2. You need an objective second set of eyes
Here’s a good example: your marketing director loves using his favorite marketing methods. However, he’s not up to speed on new technology. You’re concerned that you’re being outclassed by your competitors, but you’re not sure what the best marketing solutions would work best for your company.
So you need an experienced, respected second set of eyes to work with and assist your marketing director in trying new technologies. Your marketing consultant can offer outside, expert opinions, based on expert knowledge and experience.
3. You need a more professional tone
You’ve been successful as a small business in a small community. You have a warm, hometown feel to your marketing and advertising. But you’re looking to expand your business and sales, and this folksy tone seems to be turning off your new ideal prospect. So you want to switch to a more professional, cosmopolitan image.
You may have some ideas of how to implement this, but you also know that you’ve had this image for a long time. It feels a little hard to let go. But you also want to be sure that you execute this expansion seamlessly and expertly.
With a business consultant, you will be able to look over several messages and graphics which can help to change your target audience’s perception of your business.
4. You need better follow-through and testing
Due to your company’s small number of employees, some of your advertising efforts do not get the attention that they need. Your marketing team may be small or just one person. And as eager to help as your team is, some marketing tasks continually get mishandled or dropped.
You need some consistent marketing help. You need someone to step in and drive your advertising from start to finish. This can include split testing and tweaking ads for maximum results.
5. You are adding software
Your company is growing and you need to add new business software that you are not familiar with. Employees are moaning and groaning, reluctant to make changes. It’s been hard to convince them that this change will be good for them and the company, especially since you’re not as well-versed about the details.
So how can you make this into a seamless transition, keeping your customers and employees happy while expanding your business?
Hiring a business consultant will allow you to continue to focus on your bottom line while the consultant trains your staff on how the program works and why it is the best move to take your company forward.
The truth is that as a business owner, you cannot be an expert at everything that has to do with your business.
Marketing your business, and ultimately increasing your sales, involves a lot of moving parts that you can’t handle or master all at once.
In addition, there are only 24 hours in a day, and some of them should be spent sleeping, eating, and spending time with friends and family. If you end up trying to wear all the hats in your company, then not everything will be done as well or as quickly as you need.
So don’t be afraid to ask for some help. Hiring a business sales and marketing consulting firm to help you improve your business will alleviate stress at the same time that it improves your business.
Hiring any consultant is an investment of both time and money. And you want to make the best decision that suits your business’s needs. So to help you with this, I’d suggest you ask three questions anytime you hire any type of consultant.
1. Are you using the strategies and systems you suggest in your own business? If a marketing consultant isn’t using their own strategies to promote their own business, that’s an area of concern.
2. What’s their process? You don’t want a consultant that’s just going to “wing it” and figure it out along the way. While a dynamic approach is great, having an established process for solving your marketing challenges shows that the consultant has solved this problem before and will solve it for you. And this process should be transparent and fairly easy to understand.
“Can I see your case studies?” Your marketing consultant should be able to provide case studies that illustrate the problems they solve and the results they deliver. This will help you see how their process comes to life and how they can help your business.
