When Hiring a Consultant, Look for Trust, Personal Chemistry
Q: I operate a home-based service business, providing costume design and wardrobe services for television and movie studio projects. I now have a few jobs a month and two employees. How would I benefit from retaining professional consulting services? How much does this cost?
--Cynthia Harvey,
North Hollywood
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A: The benefits you would get from a consultant really depend on why you are thinking about hiring one. Before you hire, interview several candidates, ask for referrals and listen to your instincts. Trust and personal chemistry are at the top of the list of credentials in this line of work.
Typically, consultants are hired to address specific business problems and are retained for a finite amount of time. The consultant studies the problem, submits observations, answers and recommendations, and then it’s up to the client to implement those recommendations.
Consultants usually charge an hourly fee that may range from $50 to $350 or more. A good consultant should be able to give you an advance estimate. The best way to find a consultant is to get a referral from someone in the industry you are in. Another good place to start is through a local chapter of a professional networking organization. If you are looking for an expert who will form more of an ongoing partnership with you and your business, you may want to look for a business “coach,” who works with a client to study a problem objectively and plan a strategy to overcome it. The client implements the strategy, but the coach sticks around for accountability reasons to keep the client focused, on target and on schedule, as well as to provide ongoing counsel and encouragement.
A coach usually charges between $150 and $500 a month for up to four one-hour sessions. You can find a professional business coach through the Internet at https://www.coachreferral.com or https://www.coachfederation.org. Both sites list hundreds of coaches by location, specialty and other criteria.
--John P. Delmatoff,
Pathfinder Coaching, Diamond Bar
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Q: We have published Southern California-area bicycle touring books for 13 years and we’ve always dealt with a couple of regional distributors. Now we are publishing a book with a national scope and find we are being contacted by online booksellers who want to sell our book. What is the best source for finding book distributors? What kinds of discounts do publishers give to online booksellers?
--Don and Sharron Brundige,
San Pedro
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A: Your best source for locating book distributors is in a reference volume called “Literary Market Place.” It is updated annually and lists publishers, literary agents, book distributors, wholesalers and contact people. You should be able to find it in a public library.
I’m not surprised you’ve been contacted by online booksellers, because their numbers are growing every day. Of course, the largest and most well-known is Amazon.com, but the American Booksellers Assn.’s Web site (https://www.bookweb.org) lists about 600 members who offer books online. That Web site also contains a list of booksellers alphabetically and by specialty, both nationally and internationally.
As far as publishers’ discounts, they vary from company to company, but legally publishers are supposed to offer the same discounts to every book distributor--online or off. The American Booksellers Assn. is now involved in litigation on behalf of our member stores to defend their rights to get the same discount as anybody else.
--Richard Scott, managing editor,
American Bookseller Magazine,
Tarrytown, N.Y.
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Q: I am a retired RN in my late 60s. I recently bought a photo-developing business from the real estate agent who owned it. I did not research the business because I trusted the owner. Well, I am one of those fools born every minute! I kept her on to manage the business, but recently found out that she kited some money from the company. We parted ways and I am now learning how to run a business that is service-intensive and generates very little profit. I have a new employee who thinks it would be a good idea to expand into creating Web sites and other computer jobs. I am afraid and wonder if I should try it or sell. I hope you can advise me.
--Name withheld
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A: When you buy a business, you should follow many of the same rules you’d follow if you were investing in the stock market. That means you should have a knowledge of the business or industry in which you are investing. I think that your best bet now is to continue learning about your present business while you work to increase your bottom line.
Attending trade shows, reviewing industry trade magazines and visiting similar stores in different areas will help you find new ideas for your company. Make sure you have adequate controls over the cash receipts.
Review your purchasing practices for the products and services you buy. Are you getting the best possible prices? Should you consider other vendors? Will increasing the annual commitment on certain products decrease the per-unit cost to you? Ask your suppliers. If you don’t ask, you won’t get!
Consider ways to better market and sell your current services and products. Evaluate your sales prices as a way of adding revenue, especially if you can raise prices without losing customers. Look into related products and services to see if they would be of interest to your existing customers or would attract new ones. Many new products may have a higher margin and require no increase in overhead to stock and sell.
Keep the faith and good luck. There was a reason you bought this business in the first place.
--Marty Shindler,
management consultant, Calabasas
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Q: I am looking for an order fulfillment business that can take orders and transmit that data to my office. I have been unable to locate many such organizations. Can you tell me where I might find a list of such companies?
--Robert Townsend, Dana Point
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A: Using an order fulfillment service or a drop-shipping arrangement is a low-cost way to do business, especially if you are concentrating on the mail-order market. The advantage for most businesses is that when you use a drop-shipper, you do not take possession of the merchandise; it is shipped by the supplier to your customers on your behalf.
Some of the most popular items to drop-ship are books, tapes and other resource materials. The Book Dealers Dropship Directory (North American Bookdealers Exchange, P.O. Box 606, Cottage Grove, OR 97424; e-mail: marketbooks@juno.com) lists hundreds of drop-ship publishers. You can also send a self-addressed, stamped envelope to the National Mail Order Assn., 2807 Polk St. NE, Minneapolis, MN 55418-2924 for more information and resources.
You’ll want to be sure that the company you deal with is reliable in complying with the Federal Trade Commission’s 30-day mail-order rule (https://www.ftc.com) that governs the timely shipment of products and the manner in which you can communicate shipping information to your customers. Also, before you hire an order fulfillment house, you should request references from other business owners who have relied on the company and make sure they have been satisfied with the service they have received.
--Kimberly Stansell,
entrepreneurial trainer and author, “Bootstrapper’s
Success Secrets: 151 Tactics for Building Your
Business on a Shoestring Budget,”
Los Angeles
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If you have a question about how to start or operate a small business, mail it to Karen E. Klein at the Los Angeles Times, 1333 S. Mayflower Ave., Suite 100, Monrovia, CA 91016 or e-mail it to kklein6349@aol.com. Include your name, address and telephone number. The column is designed to answer questions of general interest. It should not be construed as legal advice.
