You may need to interview many business plan consultants or consulting firms before choosing who to work with. Therefore, it is more important at this stage to ensure you have positive answers to the following three questions below than to simply find the lowest price consultant. The final question should help to expand your search if needed.
Do they listen to
your questions and answer them?
Find the consultants
you speak with who are more interested in selling their services than listening
to you describe where you are with the business idea and the specific help you
need. This situation will not likely change as you move forward. Furthermore,
the consultant's answers to your questions should be clear. If they are full of
industry jargon that the consultant will not explain, beware that they may
produce results that go over your head and you cannot easily evaluate.
Do they explain their
process to you and include multiple points for your input?
Certainly, any
business plan development process will begin with the consultant interviewing
the entrepreneur to learn all they can about their research, the idea, and
their strategy so far. However, be sure that the process will include at least
two opportunities after that initiation phase for you to receive a draft of the
work completed to date and provide feedback on the direction it is taking so
that adjustments can be made. Without these opportunities for your input, the
final plan can run away from you and become a description of a business you do
not want to or are incapable of starting.
Do they care about
the quality of your idea?
If a consultant
doesn't care to find out your basic idea and to get an early sense of its
feasibility before starting work, beware. Successful business
plan consultant speaks highly of
their success in helping clients get funding. If they work on doomed business
plans from the beginning, they will lower that success rate. Only consultants
interested in taking the money and running will not care if you are starting
with a good or bad idea in the first place.
Why stay local?
Finally, with video
conferencing and email widely available, there is no reason to limit your
search to local consultants. If you do not fear throwing a wider net in search
of the best consultant for you, you can use this technology to connect with
individuals you may never meet in person. When you put local consultants in
competition with virtual consultants, you will find the best leverage to
negotiate prices, as long as you are comfortable with virtual collaboration
methods.
For hiring best
business plan consultant we recommend you to get in touch with Maven
Business Plans.
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