Are You Shooting Yourself in the Foot with Process Consulting?

I wasn’t quite sure what to call this post, but I recently had a potential process consulting (I like to call it vision building) client do something that I see happen a lot with small businesses.  It’s one of the reasons that I think business owners that originally had a vision of building a company that made a difference and that ran smoothly without them ends up being a disjointed beast that not only bleeds money but sucks up the owner’s time.

So what did this process consulting client do that was so bad….?

He suggested a different product… (oh, the horror!).

Basically, he asked my opinion on software to use for a particular marketing function because he and his team weren’t sure which to pick because there were so many.

I recommended a product that I use and have had a ton of success with, and 24 hours later he suggests an alternative product based on a slightly cheaper cost.

Why do you want process consulting?

Yes, I know that it doesn’t seem like that big of a deal, but it is.

If you’ve known me for a while you’d know that one of the biggest messages that I preach is leverage.  You want to leverage the knowledge and expertise of other people so that you can take that entire function off of your plate.

Of course, you don’t want to fly completely blind…  But when a process consulting expert of 6 years recommends a $49 product for a process that your company is struggling with and that would add more to your bottom line – it’s probably not the best thing to spend more of your own time Finding a $20 alternative that you’ve never used.

The underlying problem

This is not meant to be a rant fest… far from it.  It’s meant to display a very serious problems that many small business owners face.  A problem that they bring on themselves more often than not.

When you don’t leverage the knowledge and expertise of others, you waste their time and yours.  It wastes your time because the hours you are spending finding an unproven alternative could have been spent on money-making tasks.  It wastes their time because when it comes to process consulting, a good consultant will have to adjust his overall strategy to fit this new alternative piece of software.

In other words, the consultant has to spend valuable time ensuring that 2 years down the road this software doesn’t mess up the overall vision of the client.

More than likely I will not end up working with this client (I’m doing a free trial with them for this very reason – to see how they work).  No hard feelings to them at all, but when my first suggestion that I present to solve a problem gets replaced with a cheaper substandard alternative – it’s just not a good fit.  It will be a bumpy, bumpy road ahead.

Learn to Leverage

This is just one example of not leveraging an existing system, expert, or process.  Unfortunately, most business owners sabotage many process improvements like this.

The consequence is that you’ll never be able to create a completely hands off business that you love and that generates income.

Are you willing to sacrifice $$$ thousands of dollars of new income from process consulting (vision building) for the sale of saving $20?  If the answer is no, great!  But… actions speak louder than words.  Take a look at your business right now and ask yourself if you’ve ever been guilty of stepping on your own toes by not leveraging an expert’s experience correctly?