Outstanding consultants provide good prodinst – but, Be Careful!

Consulting services can benefit any company. By using outstanding consultants, companies can greatly increase their prodinst (increased value through productivity) by designing and completing tasks that both cost and time effectively. In essence, an outstanding consultant can significantly increase productivity and the bottom line.

Conversely, consultants who are unable to do the work can cost a company time, money, good will and severely impact on project schedules and completion. In these situations, the cost of re-working a project can sometimes exceed even the initial cost of the project. In short, poor consulting work generates a low prodinst.

Unfortunately, there are incompetent specialists in every field. My father went to a dentist - a friend of his – twice a year for several years. One time, just before my father left for a long trip to Florida, he had a toothache. Unfortunately, his dentist friend found nothing wrong despite an oral examination and an x-ray. While still in pain, but now in Florida, my father visited a new dentist. This dentist looked at my father’s teeth and exclaimed, “Why haven’t you seen a dentist in the past ten years”? In short, my father had an abscess that was causing the pain and a year of painful and costly dentistry in front of him with several dentists and specialists to fix his teeth.

The point of this story is simple: Know what you are looking for in a consultant. Often, companies are dismayed when they discover that many consulting firms are much better at selling services than actually providing them. Friends or personal referrals are not always the solution. It is therefore important to determine and strongly adhere to key criteria when evaluating and selecting consultants.

Although the criteria used may vary from between companies, several key criteria are usually considered. These include: experience, knowledge and the quality of the consultant’s references. Often trust is an important consideration. Highly rated, outstanding consultants by their clients are usually a good indication of consultants who provide excellent prodinst.

Whatever criteria you decide to use, make sure that you apply it to all consulting candidates – not just to those who aren’t friends or personal referrals. Otherwise, you too may find yourself having made a painful and costly mistake.

Bruce Newman invites you to complete a short, anonymous survey ranking key consulting criteria http://consultingsurvey.prodinst.com and consulting background factors. Bruce is the Vice President at The Productivity Institute, LLC. which provides excellent prodinst by matching the specific needs of companies to the expertise of rated outstanding consultants. Any company that wishes to improve their productivity can sign up for this free service and be contacted by up to five rated outstanding consultants. Additional product and service information is available at: http://www.prodinst.com/