Consultant junction: is consulting in your future?

• Author: Fowler, Mark H.
• Position: CONSULTING SERVICES

You are a trusted adviser. And never has the time been riper to provide your clients with consulting services--or spread your talents to new clients.

In fact, there is at least five times more business within your existing client base--especially your business clients--just waiting for you to develop.

This is even more so if your clients are aggressive in growing their business. Their challenges--from human resources/recruitment to capital infusion to information technology--provide you with substantial business potential.

Consider this example: A company had been in business for more than 40 years with two offices in different parts of the country. It had growth hazards, new product development challenges, succession issues, acquisition opportunities, systems upgrades and more to manage. The CPA was doing a reasonable amount of work with the client, but over a five-year period billed more than 10 times the annual charges by providing consulting services that matched the client's needs.

Once clients see how additional services can advance their business and provide a good return on their investment, they will be eager to expand their relationship with you.

GETTING STARTED

How do you determine what additional services a client needs and values? The keys are better communication, especially listening and the use of open-ended questions, and client education.

Client education includes helping your clients to better understand business development or business life cycles and crisis dynamics.

All businesses go through distinct phases of development, and each shift presents new challenges. Clients often view these challenges as failures, not as rites of passage, not realizing that their cultural dynamic is evolving.

A good example is the entrepreneur who believes that as his company grows, he must bring along all the loyal people who have been there since the beginning. Though this sounds sensible and fair, it can be a big mistake. Rarely can employees function at their highest potential in different business developmental cycles without adequate training.

For instance, the average startup/entrepreneurial employee loves the "everyone working in one room" approach of a budding business. That same employee may do poorly when placed in the larger, more impersonal and more professional environment that emerges when the company moves to a larger revenue base and an evolved culture.

Instead of dragging those people along, you can assist with additional...