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Not enough time to do everything? Could do with some strategy advice? If this sounds familiar, don't be surprised. Many small and medium sized businesses need the help of a strategy consultant but they are afraid to look for it. I have written this guide to help break down these difficulties.

Organizations need to hire a strategy consultant for a variety of reasons. In some cases, they face a situation where they need some expertise that they don't have internally to grow. They may need advice from an expert in a specialist field such as market research. In cases like this, you should look for the advisors with the best, blue-chip experience that you can find. People in larger companies are highly trained and they are exposed to extensive specialist techniques and knowledge. In other cases, there may be several strategic choices facing a business, and no clear agreement about which route is best. If this is your issue, then an external advisor can take an objective view of the alternatives and then come up with a rational recommendation about which choice will deliver the best results. Make sure that the strategy consultant that you choose has enough consulting experience to do this type of work as it requires a lot of human skills as well as technical knowledge. The third main type of strategy consultancy engagement is where the business is facing a large project and does not have enough resource to manage and drive the project to completion. Your primary consideration in this type of project is to find advisors who have a strong track record in delivering projects like yours. This will usually equate to them being willing to roll up their sleeves and get involved at every stage.

Strategy consultants usually work closely with the board of a company and they should have a suitable track record of achievement to have credibility at this level in the organization. This usually means grey hairs as well as a strong reputation. Some experience of broader business issues such as corporate finance and mergers, acquisitions, and disposals can often be useful. No one person can bring the full range of experience necessary in all situations, so most strategy work is best done by consulting businesses rather than individuals.

No matter what your reason for hiring a strategy consultant, there are some things that you should always look for:

1 The consultant should be able to quickly understand your strategy problem and to begin to talk in terms of solutions.

2 Ask for practical examples of where they have solved similar issues.

3 Ask for a proposal and expect it to be delivered in 2-3 days.

4 In the proposal, how long does it take for the advisors to get working, and are you paying for this warm-up time?

5 Will you be working with the consultant that you have been talking to or will a junior team take over?

6 Is the work broken into stages, with breaks at each stage? If you are not sure whether to proceed or not, ask for preliminary stage with an early review. That way, you can sample the work of your strategy advisors, and make sure that you are happy before you proceed to a full commitment.

At the end of the day you want clear choices and direction from your business. However to make the best use of the strategy consultancy, you must make sure that they transfer their knowledge of strategic planning to you and to your team.

At the end of the day you also need to consider the working environment in your business as well. Are you and your staff working too hard and feeling the pressure? If this is the case then you need to design the strategy consultancy engagement so that this pressure becomes more bearable. After all there is no point in loosing a key member of staff just as you have found your ultimate strategy consultant.