There is no shortage of consultants. You’ll find the guy who used to work for a famous company, the gal who bought a well-known franchise and a bunch you’ve never heard of. So how does a business owner choose the right consultants for their needs?

Here are 7 suggestions to help you make the best decision.

Define your goals

Do you need strategic planning to set your course for the future? Executive coaching to increase effectiveness and leadership capacity? Assessments to reduce turnover and improve performance? Leadership training to turn B players into As? Work with one person or the entire leadership team?

Start the process by defining exactly what type of assistance you need. You’re looking for results, so be clear on what your expectations are.

Look at experience

The best consultants have been around the block a few times. You want to leverage their broad experience with other people, companies and industries to maximize the impact on your situation. Great consultants have the ability to see patterns and bring both proven approaches and outside-the-box thinking to your challenge.

Make sure you connect

The consulting relationship should be a very close one. That only happens when there is an open and positive rapport. Spend the time to get to know your potential consultant.  Look at it this way: the two of you are going to embark on a long road trip together. Make sure you are compatible so you enjoy the ride. You’ll get where you’re going faster.

Ask for references

Good consultants have a long list of happy customers. Talk with current and past accounts to learn more about what the experience was like and how effective it really was.

Read the fine print

Some consultants charge by the hour. Others require a lengthy commitment. Make sure you understand what you’re getting into so there are no surprises at the end of the month.

Understand their approach

There are consultants who use a scripted methodology as dictated by their franchise affiliation. Others assess each unique situation and draw from a wide variety of tools to create a customized solution. Make sure your consultant uses an approach that rings true to you.

Commit to the time

Some consultants meet face-to-face for an hour, twice a month. Others meet for a few hours at a time, once a month. Some use video calls to eliminate travel and simplify meeting times. Regardless of the format, make sure you commit to not only the meeting time but also the time needed to work on new skills.

Certification under a quality management system such as ISO offers numerous benefits to small business owners.

Your business generally becomes more efficient and productive, giving you an edge over your competitors. You can also enjoy marketing benefits from ISO certification because you can reassure customers that your business follows the highest quality standards.

Here are some of the other key advantages:

• All your processes are evaluated, standardized and explained to personnel
• Training new employees is much easier
• Problems are detected more quickly and solutions are improved
• Improved customer satisfaction
• Better understanding of customer needs
• Better perception of your company
• Suppliers become more like partners
• Overall communication is improved
• Better knowledge of your company by employees
• Improved participation of employees

Internally, it helps you define clear objectives and obliges you to review them. It also improves communication by defining your processes and helps to reduce nonconforming products. Reducing nonconformities sometimes frees up capacity. ISO helps to reduce inventory through better communication and follow-up with suppliers. It also helps you address the causes of existing or potential problems through corrective and preventive actions. Overall, ISO improves task definition (who does what), motivates your employees to improve the system and mobilizes them around objectives.

Before you can get certified, you will first have to develop and document your production processes and implementing the correct procedures to ensure you can maintain your quality standards.

Here are the four essential steps to becoming an ISO-certified business.

1. Develop your management system

• Identify your core or business processes.
• Document processes with the involvement of employees.
• Review, approve and distribute the documents to those who need access to the information.
• Identify and analyses the risks and opportunities for business

2. Implement your system

• Ensure procedures are being performed as they are described in your documentation.
• Ensure employees are trained properly for the tasks they are performing.
• Create effective reporting systems to cover inspection, testing, corrective actions, management review meetings, monitoring of objectives, statistical techniques and so on.
• Monitor the effectiveness of your processes through the use of measurable data, where possible.
• Review and take action to improve in the areas required.

3. Verify that your system is effective

• Conduct the audit and review the processes and system for compliance and effectiveness.
• Observe, interview people and look at sample records.
• Identify and report strengths and weaknesses of the management system.
• Take corrective or preventive action as required.

4. Register your system

• Select the appropriate auditing body for external registration.
• Submit your management system documentation for review to ensure it complies with the applicable standard.
• Prepare for review by an external auditor to confirm that the system’s requirements are being satisfied and that the management system is implemented effectively.

As in any other field of activity in ISO certification and consulting, there is a large number of companies trying to gain as much share on market by different methods.

It is important not only choosing a consulting firm in implementing ISO, but choosing a certification body ISO, being an essential part of the ISO certification process.

Top Consulting offers its clients assistance in selecting the certification body, taking care that it meets all legal requirements, international and customer needs (sales market, spoken language, qualification of auditors, etc.).

The final decision in choosing the certification company belongs to the client, therefore in addition to recommendations of consulting firm is well to consider the following advice in the choice of ISO certification body:

• Firstly it should not be a conflict of interest, neither with your company, nor with the consulting company, nor with any other interested party
• Secondly you need to know if the certification body is accredited by an association / organization competent to accreditation. If a not accredited company gives ISO certificate, it is not valid and therefore participation in auctions is not possible. Any certification body may issue an ISO Certificate, but only those issued by bodies accredited are recognized and are therefore valid. In selecting the certification body, it should be required the proof of its accreditation by a recognized accreditation body.
• Thirdly chosen certification body must demonstrate that is accredited in the areas requested by the client in order to issue valid certificates. Accreditation means that a certification body was officially recognized as competent to perform the certification in certain fields of activity, by an accreditation body. Do not be misled by well-known names.