Using a consultant

Is the output you are expecting tangible, or is it going to be a set of new ideas?

Who will deliver the end result - the consultant or your own team?

Which publications are you aiming to get coverage in?

What end result do you expect from the coverage and how will you measure this?

Does your whole team agree with the objectives? Will your employees willingly help the consultant to achieve them?

What sort of coverage might you achieve?

What is a reasonable timescale? When is the first item of coverage expected? What should your expectations be after that?

Consider which tasks are best done in-house and which are best done by a consultant.

Consider the alternatives.

For example, you could pay a consultant �1,000 to advise you on doing your own payroll. But a payroll bureau might be able to do the actual payroll for �700 a year.

One early goal for the consultant might be to suggest a more effective way of reaching the ultimate objective.

For example, if the objective is to boost sales and you are planning an advertising campaign, the consultant might advise you to use telemarketing instead.

Often, consultants are willing to give advice that puts them out of a job.

You may have to comply with fixed deadlines. For example, in relation to new health and safety regulations.

Even if the timescales are more flexible, always set deadline dates - and always build in a few days' margin, just in case.

The consultant may need facilities in your office, such as a desk, a PC and a phone.

Access to key people - directors, specialists and customers - may be essential.

If the consultant must keep certain information confidential, or may only contact certain customers, make this clear.

This may involve a formal event, such as a successful Investors in People assessment or ISO 9000 certification.

More often, it will be marked by the successful completion of an activity. For example, meeting production targets or the sale of a subsidiary company.

Within a firm of consultants, agree which individuals will do the work. Avoid trainees and veto anyone you do not want to work with. Try to work with people you like.

Milestones are vital to get the project moving forwards and to keep it on the right track.

Set up one early milestone, at the end of a clearly defined initial phase. This gives you a chance to test the viability of the project and adjust your plans if necessary.

For example, ask the consultant to present the project proposal to interested parties.

Use a formal reporting schedule to monitor progress between milestones. This should state what must be reported, in how much detail, when and to whom.

The price should be lower if you are making stage payments.

Include an option to terminate the contract, if appropriate.

Agreed milestones provide the opportunity to compare performance with promises.

What will happen if the project's aims are not achieved within budget, or on time?

These may include access to data, retention of commercial information and the ownership of information gathered in the course of the project (eg market research data).

If there is a problem about allowing the consultant to publicise the fact he or she has worked with you, make this clear.

Bear in mind that once a project has begun on a daily rate, the meter is running. Any problems that slow down completion will cost you money.

Do not pay for work that has no benefit.

For example, a grants consultant may suggest reviewing what grants are available, but he or she should know this.

Difficulties arise if the project goes over budget. The consultant may claim you have caused this by changing the brief.

Fixed fees can tempt consultants to take short cuts. For example, re-hashing old work.

One danger is that in achieving the stated objective, you sacrifice another objective which is more important.

For example, a cost reduction consultant could help you switch to cheaper suppliers. But the new suppliers may prove to be less reliable than your previous ones.

Some consultants will take a success fee in the form of an equity stake. For example, if helping to buy or rescue a company.

Try to limit it to just travel (but usually not first class) and any other specific out-of-pocket costs, all backed by receipts.

For example, a marketing consultant may buy advertising space for you, or a security consultant may purchase equipment.

Specify that you must receive the benefit of any discounts received.

Isolate each stage, such as preparation, analysis, proposals and implementation.

For an IT project, save time by giving the consultant details of existing equipment and software and who uses what.

Otherwise employees may resent the intrusion and the additional work it causes. (See Managing change, HR 15.)

For example, a successful marketing project will create extra enquiries.

Make the calls and meetings quick and constructive. Identify any hold-ups or problems and help to solve them.

Be flexible. Keep the focus on objectives, rather than how they are achieved.

Some consultants keep hourly log sheets.

You may learn more than you would just by reading the consultant's report.

You may need to amend the brief and adjust the fees at any of these points.

At the worst, these are the opportunities to abandon the project.

If mistakes emerge later, the consultant's first defence will be that you approved it.

Query any differences. For example, the sudden involvement of another person.

Those on the outside feel excluded and thus feel justified in undermining it.

The client asks for extra little bits of work, without agreeing the price. When the consultant charges for the extra time, the client is shocked.

A consultant who spent �30 on a meal was amazed at his client's reaction. He had believed that if he spent the client's money as if it were his own, there would be no misunderstandings.

Is the consultant late for meetings, avoiding you or failing to return calls?

Is there a lack of optimism about the project?

Poor quality of early work, or no evidence of progress at all, should ring warning bells.

If the problem is the brief, agree a better one.

If the problem is the consultant, review whether the project should proceed any further. Often you can then re-negotiate the contract, or terminate it.

Some consultants belong to professional bodies, which may offer dispute resolution or mediation services.

Your ultimate sanction is to refuse payment and risk being sued. If you have paid already, suing for breach of contract is unlikely to be cost-effective.