When is it a Good Time for Your Business to Seek Help or Advice?

Should you wait until your sales drop? When a competitor enters your region? When a supplier goes out of business? When you are ready to export? Or do you think you need to talk to someone when your revenue and profit are the highest in the last several years? Or is it when you have full market potential?

We have found that it is always a good time to talk to someone. However, that person does not need to be a high paid professional who will charge you for his or her time. There are groups of people who will listen to your concerns and may give you advice on your particular situation. Some of the most successful people are the ones who are not afraid to ask for help on issues or problems they are having.

A good place to start is with your local chamber of commerce, if you belong to one. The president usually has a fair amount of business experience. He or she may or may not have an answer to your specific problem, but he or she can point you towards someone who will help you. Also within your chamber of commerce, there may be other companies who are experiencing similar problems. If it is a local or regional issue that business owner could discuss his or her challenges with you, and may even team up with you to solve the issue or problem.

There are also government agencies and non-profits that may help you too. State and federal agencies, like The United States Department of Commerce and U.S. Commerce Services may be able to discuss the challenges with you. SCORE is a nonprofit that teams business owners with retired executives. The retired executives can work with you to help you solve veracity of problems. The Small Business Administration also offers help to small businesses.

Another place you can turn to are trade associations. There are thousands of them and they work with businesses within a particular industry. If you do not belong to one, you may want to look into joining one. They solve problems for the common good of their members. Some trade associations have conferences each year where members can network with others within their industry. These members may be your competitors, but they will talk with you. Your competitors may be having a problem that is affecting them and they want to learn from you how you handle the situation or what they are doing about it.

As an example of competitors working together to reach a common goal, we only have to think a few weeks back. When GM was eliminating dealerships, the closing dealerships came together to fight the process. While they were unsuccessful, they had a better chance of fighting GM together than they did by themselves. Some dealerships even combined their locations so they could stay open. These dealers combined staff, inventory, and sales. Competitors became allies and the businesses were stronger as a result.

You might even be able to talk with a friend or mentor. The person does not necessarily have to be in the same line of business as you. In fact, it may be good to talk to someone who knows nothing about your industry. They may see the situation in a different way, and help you find the solution you need.

Many of these resources are free, so you can get helpful advice without much of an investment. On the downside, because these resources have no cost associated with them, they may take up a great deal of your time. If you need immediate solutions, you might want to think about talking to a paid consultant.

There are few things to remember when asking for paid consultants help. Always ask for their fees are up front. Ask them what industries they have experience in, and always ask for references . Always read the fine print before you sign anything, and have some one else review the contract too. The consultants should be honest with you and if they can’t help you they need to tell you that. If you are talking to a consultant and they are selling you a product or service before they hear your problem, hang up the phone and look for some one else.