John B. Wilson discusses types of business consultants and what they do and why you might need one in this in-depth presentational blog. For more information, please visit JohnBWilson.org!

1. John B. Wilson
TYPES OF BUSINESS
CONSULTANTS:
WHAT THEY DO AND
WHY YOU MIGHT
NEED ONE
Prepared by JohnBWilson.net

2. Introduction
Business consultants almost never use the word “problem”.
Instead, they talk about opportunities to enhance value. Ask
any consultant what they do, and they’ll likely say “I’m in the
solutions business.” Despite criticism that’s sometimes leveled
at business consultants, they truly can add value to your
middle market company, but you need to know when and
why to use them. There is a huge range of business issues that
consultants can provide solutions for, and different types of
consultants bring different ideas to the table.
Consultants come in many forms. Most businesses are
familiar with the “big four” adult firms:
PricewaterhouseCoopers, Deloitte, Ernst & Young,
and KPMG. These big-name firms are most likely out of a
mid-market business’s price range, which will lead mid-
sized companies to work with smaller boutique firms and
even individual experts to hire. J O H N B W I L S O N . N E T

3. J O H N B W I L S O N . N E T
Qualified consultants should have a deep understanding of your particular market and
bring the best practices from your industry (or even other industries) to your company. If
you’re looking to expand your markets geographically extend your product portfolio,
reorganize your middle market company to promote efficiency and cost effectiveness,
buy out a smaller competitor, or increase your overall capabilities, then hiring an
experiences management/ strategy consultant can make perfect sense.
Management and strategy

4. J O H N B W I L S O N . N E T
Operations
What to improve the quality and efficiency of your production
processes? An operations consultant such as Accenture can help you
create and implement a new way of doing just that. Some consultants
specialize in business process re-engineering, meaning that they
come in and map out your existing processes, analyze opportunities
for reducing the number of steps in that process while maintaining
quality, and re-engineering your processes in a way that reduces steps
and costs. Other consultants are experts in quality control systems and
can help you make changes that will reduce defects.

5. IT
This is a fast-growing area for consulting, as the demands of new
technology are impacting middle market companies every day.
Whether you need to develop a new system or integrate your old
systems so that they work together, an IT consultant can help.

6. J O H N B W I L S O N . N E T
HR
Need to improve your overall satisfaction of your employees, recruit
top talent, and retain your top performers? HR consultants such as
Hay Group socialize in developing compensation strategies that align
with your overall business goals, training, and developing your people
in areas such as business communication and leadership. They can
help you improve performance-related feedback and evaluation to
your team, making your employees work smarter.

7. Thank You!
For more information
Please visit
JohnBWilson.net