Consulting company as a business. Subtleties of business organization. What are you aiming for?

All people who are a little over 19 and a little under 60 are experts in certain issues and topics. But, only certain ones. If you look carefully at other people, it turns out that they do not understand anything about your topic. And you can help them, advise them, guide them free of charge, for 500-600 rubles. And they will gladly pay you. This is consulting, to a first approximation. And now more details.

The indicators being monitored can be related to process input, the process itself, or output. For many processes, the most relevant indicators are those related to their results. It is also important to periodically analyze the indicators. At different stages of development of a process or organization, some indicators may become less relevant and need to be replaced by other indicators that allow evolution and development.

One solution would be to create a separate department that would provide the skills needed to implement the function at the organizational level. Even though the implementation steps may be clear to the organization's leadership, buy-in for the entire company must be achieved. Every employee has a role in at least one of their processes and should be informed about this new procedural approach.

Consulting (consulting) - activities related to consulting executives, top managers, managers and other management personnel. The purpose of consulting is to help the management system achieve its stated goals with the best result.

Who needs consulting?

If you already thought that consulting is the domain of large companies, then this is not so. Consulting, in its truest sense, is suitable for any company that needs a fresh idea, expert assessment, experience and knowledge, as well as a competent opinion to resolve controversial situations in management, to adopt a common opinion, and simply help in completing a large project.

Service options

They will quantitatively translate into lower costs, flexibility and agility in actions and decisions, and employee and customer satisfaction. To ensure organizations remain competitive in business environments where quick changes, they need to explore methods that can provide process differentiation and create a quality customer experience. Working on processes is an indispensable activity for ensuring the progress of an organization. Launching an implementation can be complex and resource-intensive, but long-term results ensure the organization's competitiveness.

As you can see, everyone needs consulting. It’s just that not everyone understands what they need and is at a loss. This is what the consulting business is built on.

Despite the fact that consulting can be done in any area of life and business, there are several top areas that are extremely popular and in high demand. And if you are a specialist in one of these areas, then... why aren’t you still involved in consulting?

If support is requested for construction, renovation, major renovation or infrastructure work, the technical design or project proposals with budget must be submitted along with the application for business support to rural areas. Selection criteria for projects. Estimates are distributed over a longer period of activity in the village, less intensity of assistance requested, more jobs or family businesses, project area, etc. the applicant is located in a rural area of the functional entity that before the date of application: The applicant is a resident of a rural area, according to at least, 1 year declared place of residence in a rural area - 5 points Applicant - at least one year registered in a rural area and at least one year of work in a rural area 5 points Lower support intensity required: support intensity from 20% to 49 percent inclusive - one baht for each percentage point.

Accounting consulting- a legal way to redistribute financial flows in a company, put accounting documents in order, save where possible and, especially, where not. All this lies in accounting consulting.
Financial and legal audit- a broad area in which almost all financial components of a company are used. After all, you can save on everything - from utility bills to large production expenses. That's why consultants work with everything they can.
Business development and expansion- most aspiring entrepreneurs need advice from more experienced colleagues. Therefore, if you have the latter, you can easily advise the former. And the first ones will pay you for consultations. It can be anything. From establishing business processes to developing your own earning scheme.
Tax consulting- the gold mine of this business. For example, in the USA, tax consultants live in penthouses and eat Margot cream whenever they want. Our tax legislation is still very young and not everyone knows it inside and out, so most of us have a real chance to make money from tax consulting.
Legal consulting- a vein that lies somewhere near taxes. Tax advice can be varied - from registering an inheritance to correctly drawing up a marriage contract. Agree, a great job for law graduates from local universities.
Consultations on business ideas and job changes. Timely advice about where to go to work is worth a lot. Professional counseling in building a career, organizing a startup, changing jobs and much more that will affect people for the rest of their lives.
IT consulting. Newest direction consulting. a profession of the future that has become the present. Selecting equipment, software, building effective computer ecosystems, searching and hiring specialists of a certain level and knowledge - all this lies within the scope of this consulting.
"Headhunters". Consulting in the field of personnel search and hiring. This is now for us HeadHunter is a site for finding personnel. However, this term has a completely different meaning. This is the search and poaching of specialists from competitors. The work is dirty, but highly paid. Requires subtle knowledge of psychology. If this doesn't appeal to you, read about the next niche.
Personnel Management. Personnel consulting and supervision. Increasing their corporate unity, proper motivation, retention and protection from headhunters. Consulting managers at all levels on how to work correctly with subordinates.
Marketing. Consulting in the field of global company development. Business planning and ideas for enterprise development.
Public Relations. What needs to be done to make the authority and visibility of the company more significant in society. Non-standard PR, subtleties of brand development. And other things that advertising may be based on.
Advertising consulting. Yes, how to correctly and more accurately achieve your goals in an advertising campaign, what to use and what not. Creating advertising campaigns that will work for a long time.
Gardening and landscape design. It would seem... many people know how to grow potatoes. But not many people know how to grow it with weight gain, and not like this - plant a bucket, collect a bucket. Joke. Garden consulting is a very popular service. Setting up gardens and winter greenhouses, caring for plants, using various irrigation systems, planting a park and planning a garden is not most of questions that people are willing to pay to answer.
Healthy eating. ABOUT! You've encountered this. Detox. Diet for 7 days. We don’t eat raw, we eat cooked and vice versa. Where do legs come from? From healthy eating consulting. Preparing individual diets and workouts is the basis of this niche.
Image consulting. This tie matches your face very well. And it matches the eye color. And what else... thousands of fashion trends, the formation of an individual style, selection of accessories. Shopping support. The beauty of this niche is that it does not require any education, just having taste and the ability to dress with taste.

Certainly, this list very limited and found in any article where the word “consulting” is mentioned. Believe us, in the area where you are an expert, we cannot even advise you, you must advise us. This is the essence of this business.

The project is being implemented in a municipality where the unemployment rate is higher than the Lithuanian average unemployment rate of 10 points. Conducting a family business or licensed activity. The project intends to carry out an activity that involves the applicant and at least one of the applicant's family members or the applicant intends to carry out a licensed activity 25 points The applicant undertakes that the project will develop and the project monitoring period has established new jobs for rural residents: 5 or more jobs in rural residents 25 points 4 jobs for rural residents 20 points 3 jobs for rural residents 15 points 2 jobs for rural residents 10 points 1 jobs for rural residents 5 points Real estate planned to carry out project activities, the applicant owns 10 points Applications complying with horizontal principles:. applicant - an individual or applicant - entity- the main shareholder of which is under 29 years of age 10 points the applicant is an individual or the applicant - a legal entity - the main shareholder of which is from 30 to 40 years old, 5 points the applicant is a woman or the applicant is a legal entity - the main shareholder is a woman 5 points.

Good luck to you in starting this interesting business!

Stop! And money?
- What money? Maybe I can give you the key to the Audi A6 where the money is?

The economic activity of any enterprise should be based on an understanding of business processes, a strategy developed by managers, which includes the definition of the ultimate goals of the enterprise and methods for achieving them. But it is no secret that today entrepreneurs are people who are far from economics, who poorly understand the peculiarities of the functioning and life of a particular business, who only have an idea, but do not know how to put it into practice.

Small businesses very often have enormous prospects for their development; they support a large part of the market and the existence of the entire economic system in which they are involved. public services, all types of enterprises and end consumers. Understand all the connections and features of the interaction of all elements of this complex system Only people who have undergone special training, who understand perfectly what economics is and what it is based on, and who also have considerable experience working with business entities of different types and directions, can do this. Sometimes the help of such specialists is critically needed not only for beginning businessmen, but also for large enterprises that already have their share in the market and relatively well understand the specifics of activity in their chosen field. Often, resolving a crisis is impossible without the intervention of third-party specialists who can impartially assess all elements of an enterprise, identify its weaknesses and identify strengths, and give recommendations to management on optimizing and improving their business processes.

In Russia, the word business and economics are generally misunderstood. Despite the developing institute for training economic specialists, today entrepreneurship is carried out by people without education, who have gained a lot of experience, but do not understand the theoretical intricacies at all. Many organizations still survive due to methods that were developed at the end of the last century, but even more such organizations fail because they cannot adapt to new market demands. The organization's policy, help it get out of difficult situation or simply increase its effectiveness, business consultants, who are those specialists who have undergone training and gained experience, are called upon. One can hardly expect that someday amateurs will completely stop trying to build their own own business, it’s better to learn how to make money from this by offering your help to budding entrepreneurs. In many cases, this will support a unique idea that gives impetus to general development, brings something new to the life of society and supports the much-needed effective development economics of small and medium-sized businesses. This is a feature of capitalism and post-industrial society, when business and free competition, creative development and raising the standard of living of mankind occupy one of the most important parts of modern society.

Today, services for consulting entrepreneurs on existing and possible business processes are called consulting. This word is simply fashionable; at its core, it is consulting, only accompanied by assistance in resolving absolutely all issues regarding business. Consulting is not just recommendations, it is a whole range of services aimed at truly improving the situation of the consulted enterprise. Consulting can radically change the economic activity of an enterprise, and ultimately can affect the situation on the market as a whole. It is clear that only professionals who do not invent anything should deal with it, but act in accordance with economic laws and personal experience. In this regard, opening your own consulting agency is the prerogative of people who understand economics in general and the peculiarities of entrepreneurship in particular.

Profitable franchises

Investments from 570,000 rub.

However, a talented economist can begin his activities in consulting enterprises as an additional expert who, on an equal footing with the company’s top managers, analyzes complex issues, analyzes the activities of the enterprise, finds non-standard solutions, develops and optimizes all areas of activity, acts as a freelance professional, to whom one turns for advice in a difficult situation. You shouldn’t even try to engage in consulting if you don’t have knowledge and experience, or at least talent, a desire to develop and quickly learn everything new. If a layman takes up consulting, sooner or later this will become known to clients, the reputation will be hopelessly damaged, and it will be difficult and uninteresting for the entrepreneur himself to engage in this type of activity.

Consulting can be general and private; consulting on business development issues is general. economic development. Special cases of consulting are consulting only on ecology, finance, training, marketing, IT, HR etc. Consulting differs from outsourcing in that it does not take on the responsibilities of the entrepreneur, but looks for ways out of the situation with him. Consulting does not require the client to understand the issue, but aims to educate one’s own knowledge and provide qualified support; the consultant works together with the company’s employees, often acting as an observer or even a manager. Agency offering consulting services in in this case must conduct general consultations on the business as a whole and on its individual elements, that is, be able to resolve all issues in certain cases of consulting. This is what can be called business consulting. Hence the need to maintain a large staff of employees who are knowledgeable in any field of activity: from accounting to operational management.

A company engaged in consulting services may carry out its activities in accordance with the law Russian Federation without obtaining a special educational license. You just need to register as a subject entrepreneurial activity, and in this case it is more preferable to register a legal entity. In order to be able to use a simplified taxation system, it is better to choose the form of a limited liability company. However, it is worth considering that consulting activities fall under the definition (OKPD 2) 70.22 Advisory services in the field of enterprise management, and the OKVED code is selected in accordance with this. However, you can provide business consulting services by working alone, rather than organizing a large enterprise, and then you can simply register as an individual entrepreneur.

We can say that for a beginner in this type of business, it is better to start by opening a small company, in which only the entrepreneur himself actually works, because a newly opened enterprise does not have the trust of clients, and the businessman is faced with a very serious task of earning his reputation. To start collaborating with large organizations, you will first have to engage in consulting for individual entrepreneurs And small firms. Of course, in this case you will not have to count on large fees, but at this time the entrepreneur earns invaluable experience, learns in practice to understand the peculiarities of running different types of business and independently faces all the difficulties that await entrepreneurs in general. A business consulting specialist is a generalist who will subsequently work with diverse professionals, but the manager must be able to understand absolutely any issue in order to help even his employees in controversial issues.

Profitable franchises

After you have managed to work with a large number of enterprises and entrepreneurs, study different areas of business and encounter various kinds of problems, and most importantly, when you already have a reputation in the consulting services market, you can begin to actively promote your offers for large and successful companies that turn to consulting expecting to receive help and experience from specialists who understand more than full-time top managers. At this stage, the organization should already employ a considerable number of people, each of whom is engaged in his own business and advises on a narrow range of issues.

In this case, the company’s office should be located in the business districts of the city, which helps to increase confidence in the consulting company. The representative office itself will employ employees who are engaged in more auxiliary activities, these are statisticians, analysts, financiers, marketers who study the market for products and services, identify consumer needs in general and find new non-standard ideas for promoting types of products. A separate category we can identify people who develop new concepts, create new products or improve old ones (we are not talking about production directly, but about design). These are people who do more scientific activity than direct consulting. This is necessary in order to offer our clients completely new, unparalleled developments, which is also part of consulting.

In order for consulting services to be as effective as possible, the company needs to conduct a comprehensive study of the internal system of the corporation and the external system that surrounds this corporation. In other words, you need to be able to identify not only the strengths and weaknesses of the company, but also all the factors surrounding it that affect performance indicators and directly affect business processes. We are talking not only about SWOT analysis, but about obtaining the most complete data on all industries and areas of the company. This is exactly what general specialists do, who are directly business consultants. After they have identified the problems and identified the business processes that need optimization, specialists of a more narrow profile come into play, who engage in more detailed analysis and offer solutions.

Thus, consulting is inextricably linked with marketing. Conducting marketing research is critically necessary to obtain reliable knowledge about the external environment; without it, consulting simply cannot be consulting. Moreover, the consulting company constantly conducts marketing research for its client, collects statistics and determines the development opportunities that it provides external environment. After receiving this information, the financial and other capabilities of the enterprise are determined, capabilities and resources are compared, and on the basis of this, methods for achieving the goals are identified. Consulting is always designed for the long term; work with the customer should ideally be indefinite, so research is carried out not only to achieve the goals stated by the customer, but also to improve the entire company’s activities as a whole.

Profitable franchises

Followed by strategic planning business processes of the company, painstaking and thorough development of plans, improvement of organizational structures, improvement of management systems, optimization and logistics, work with personnel. At this stage, consulting begins to resemble the work of training companies and assessment centers. The same principles are used here, training employees, assessing their performance, certification, identifying the level of interest in achieving the company’s goals (motivation), determining organizational structure personnel management, and, if necessary, a complete change in the company’s image as an employer or a change in personnel policy. In order for this stage of consulting to be as effective as possible, the team must include not only HR specialists, but also psychologists and conflict experts.

The further implementation of the task depends directly on the goals set, and therefore various methods can be used to achieve them. Consulting is usually turned to when there is a shortage of new ideas. This includes companies that are expanding their sales market, trying to increase their product range, or trying to attract new categories of consumers; they cannot resist competitors who simply experience stagnation in development or even regression. Start-up companies often need other people's experience and knowledge; a consulting company that has worked in the market for many years can give beginners a lot of valuable information and significantly change their position in the market. In this case, consulting becomes more of a support, an opportunity to receive valuable advice from more experienced specialists.

Profitable franchises

Consulting often acts as a company that can help a customer complete a complex project or complete a task it has accepted from its customer. In this case, it may be necessary to have competent specialists completely different areas knowledge, including engineers, builders, technicians, IT specialists, etc. Here, consulting is more like a professional team of specialists in implementing certain works, from which performance is required, and not consultation directly. In companies with a complex management system or simply imperfect, it is often necessary to attract specialists who can become a link between the company’s departments and resolve administrative issues, as well as teach effective management customer managers. Finally, many large firms need to involve third-party experts who evaluate a completed project or possible risks, based on their assessment, a decision is made by the customer’s management, but the method of expert assessments may not be taken into account in further activities. Here, the consulting company provides experienced experts who come to the project once and do not participate in it anymore.

The pricing system in the consulting services market is quite complex. Currently, there are several types of payment, but everything can be roughly divided into three various types, and also highlight a combined payment, which includes the amount of funds calculated different ways. The simplest is a lump sum payment, in simple terms, fixed. In this case, the consulting company has its own list of prices for certain types of services and offers them to its customers only at the price that was initially set, while various unforeseen factors that can significantly simplify or complicate the task by the consultant are usually not taken into account. On the other hand, this method is used where risks are minimal: training, analysis, certification, and so on. The second type of payment is similar to a lump-sum payment; it is called time-based and is calculated based on the actual time spent on completing the customer’s task. Next view payment is a percentage of the cost of the completed object or depending on the result obtained. In this case, the consulting company is especially interested in the effectiveness of its activities.

It can be noted that today the cost of services of a consulting firm in Russia is significantly lower than in developed capitalist countries, this is due not least to the fact that consulting by many firms is considered a non-priority expense item. It is quite difficult to give average figures, because a lot depends on the task at hand, but in the case of percentage payment, it rarely exceeds 5% of the project cost. Also, many firms today prefer to pay consulting firms through barter or the transfer of shares in their company, and in the latter case, the consulting firm is especially interested in good execution of the order, because the higher economic efficiency increases the value of their shares.

Hello! In this article we will talk about consulting.

Today you will learn:

Definition and types of consulting;
What are the advantages of consulting for doing business?
What are the stages of consulting activity?

Any owner of a business or company, large or small, needs outside consulting assistance. A person cannot know everything, and there are times when a fresh look at an existing problem is required.

What is consulting in simple words

It is not possible for a company, even the largest one, to have several experts in different fields on staff. But if the company’s goal is to develop and conquer the market, sooner or later the advice of such experts will be needed. So what is consulting?

Consulting is the process of advising executives, management personnel and other employees on financial, legal, investment and other issues.

A little history

Domestic consulting as professional activity began to develop in Russia in the 90s. This is directly related to the change not only of the economic system, but also of the political one. In 1991, the number of consulting companies was only about 20.

With the development of market relations, the consulting services market began to experience rapid growth. These services have become more understandable to managers and more professional. Gradually, the level of competition began to increase, large players from the West entered the Russian services market, this put the consulting industry at a qualitatively higher level. new level.

Consulting company - what is it?

Companies of this kind are engaged in providing consulting services to their clients. Most often they are external companies and are related to their clients' companies. They provide assistance in various areas of its activities.

At the same time, they do not bear full responsibility for the result that will be obtained in the end. There is no clear answer to the question of what consulting companies do.

In general, their activities are as follows:

Providing assistance in various areas;
Consulting services;
Plan organizational and management activities.

Operating principles of consulting companies

In their activities, consulting companies adhere to the following principles:

They all use scientifically proven data in their work;
Using tools such as information technology in your work;
Specialists have the right to offer the customer their own scientific idea if it helps in solving the problem that the customer has.

Types of consulting

IN modern economy There are several types of consulting. We will review and give brief description the most common of them.

Financial advisory

It is a set of services designed to build a reliable and functional financial management system. It includes: analysis and audit of the company’s activities, consultations on finances and budget development, implementation of techniques to strengthen the company’s financial system.

Management consulting

Helps determine which areas of the company are most vulnerable and adjusts the company’s activities as a whole.

It, in turn, is divided into several groups:

Strategic – allows you to analyze the market in a global and local sense, and calculate possible risks;
Marketing– helps develop a company strategy and diagnose the target audience. Its main goal is to increase sales, as well as reduce advertising costs;
Personnel – consultations on the selection and training of employees , creation and development of corporate culture .

In addition to everything mentioned, this type of consulting helps solve the following problems:

Improve the functioning of all company management structures;
Master new management techniques;
Develop a system for motivating employees;
Optimize business processes.

Investment consulting

When company managers choose schemes for investing capital, or attracting it from outside, they mainly rely on the recommendations of professionals who can provide the necessary assistance.

Investment consulting functions:

Carrying out interactions with credit institutions, insurance companies and authorities;
Assistance in the development of investment projects;
Legal investment advice.

HR consulting

Consulting with HR specialists is becoming increasingly popular.

Such consulting includes:

Personnel certification;
Personnel accounting;
HR audit;
Analysis of personnel policy;
Document flow analysis;
Analysis of compliance of personnel policies with labor legislation.

Through HR consulting you can:

Form a certain corporate culture;
Conduct a diagnosis of how loyal employees are to the company;
Increase the efficiency of the entire personnel management system;
Develop criteria for evaluating staff performance.

This type of consulting allows management to build work not only with the team as a whole, but also with each employee individually.

Legal consulting

In modern business conditions, it is often necessary to resolve emerging legal situations. But the situation itself can hardly be called transparent; then the manager will definitely need the help of a professional. And if the company does not have a full-time lawyer, then it is impossible to do without hiring a specialist from a consulting company.

Accounting consulting

The goal of accounting consulting is to improve not only the efficiency of accounting. accounting, but also to monitor its accuracy. Typically, such services are provided by highly qualified specialists.

Accounting consulting services consist of:

Services for the development and formation of accounting policies;
Consultations on building an accounting system. accounting;
Assistance in preparing accounting reports;
Assistance in preparing reports to the Federal Tax Service;
Consideration and consultation on controversial situations in accounting.

Educational consulting

The practical significance of this type of consulting is that the consultant:

Conducts seminars;
Organizes lectures and trainings;
Develops teaching aids.

Simply put, consultants train the client’s company’s personnel.

Expert consulting

Its essence is as follows: the client sets a task for the consultant, and he, in turn, using his own experience and knowledge, as well as relying on various sources, provides a ready-made solution. In addition to developing a solution to a problem, an expert can also diagnose the problem.

The client does not participate in developing a solution to the problem.

Project consulting

Project consulting is the joint work of a consultant and company employees, during which a solution is developed on how to optimize the company’s activities. This type of counseling is called long-term.

Internet consulting

This area of consulting activity can include:

Development information technologies taking into account the needs of a particular company;
Maintaining technology at a high level;
Identification of existing problems;
Creation of high-quality information infrastructure.

What problems do consulting companies solve?

Consulting specialists can help in the following situations:

When it is necessary to adjust business process management;
When business reorganization is required;
To restore the solvency of a company or enterprise;
Support of the company merger procedure;
When advice is required on the acquisition of property;
Budgeting;
Development ;
When you need to prepare a financial forecast and so on.

This list of services is not complete; it may be supplemented with other items.

Stages of consulting activities

Any company can be called a living, constantly developing organism. If the body malfunctions, then a doctor is needed. But treatment should be carried out by a professional, not an amateur. That is, the consulting company must have serious practical experience.

1.The customer acknowledges the existence of a specific problem. If the customer realizes that he cannot solve the problems that have arisen in the company without the help of professionals.

Example: The head of a confectionery company set himself the task of increasing production volumes. But a problem arose: the manager himself and the company’s specialists do not have sufficient knowledge for this. To achieve the goal, a decision is made to invite outside specialists. And this decision will be reasonable and justified.

2.Conducting initial consultation and concluding an agreement. When a suitable company is selected, you need to consult with its specialist. Then the contract is concluded.

The contract must include the following points:

The time frame during which the work will be performed;
Full list of services with cost information;
Conditions in connection with which the amount of the consultant's fee may be changed;
Conditions for early termination contracts;
Responsibilities of both parties.

The contract can be concluded either one-time or for a long term. The contract can be concluded in the form or in the form of a work contract.

3. The data necessary for cooperation is collected. At this stage of cooperation, specialists of the consulting company collect and analyze data that will help establish how serious problem. The main thing here is to establish what problem exists, as well as develop a plan to solve it.

4. Process of developing a solution to a problem. This stage can be called the main one. Having identified the problem and its causes, specialists draw up a plan according to which the problem will be eliminated.

5. The process of implementing decisions and monitoring their implementation. All procedures specified in the plan are carried out under the supervision of consultants. It is also possible to train company employees in the process.

6. The process of evaluating the results obtained. An objective assessment of the results can only be given after a certain period of time. The head of the company will sum up the results together with representatives of the performing company.

7. Making final financial settlements. If all the activities were carried out on time, production indicators increased, and the company’s income increased - this is an indicator that the activities carried out were effective, you need to make a final settlement with the consulting company. The amount specified in the contract is transferred to the account of the executing company.

Situations in which consulting is necessary

The company's management and employees lack new ideas, the company has entered a period of stagnation;
The manager lacks certain knowledge or experience;
The company is developing a serious project, but cannot implement it in full due to lack of knowledge;
The company is required to conduct an audit with the participation of independent specialists;
The company needs its management staff to work more efficiently;
The company needs to select a number of qualified specialists.

This list of situations cannot be called exhaustive, since in fact there may be more than a dozen of them.

How to find a serious consulting company

If a number of problems have arisen in your company that are not possible to resolve on your own, the next step is to choose a suitable company that specializes in providing consulting services.

There are criteria by following which you can choose a company and not make a mistake:

Collect as much information as possible about the company with which you plan to enter into an agreement. Look at its official website, find out how long the company has been on the market;
Read reviews about the company’s work in the media and on the Internet;
Ask if the company has a portfolio: each specialist is proud of his achievements and usually records them;
Find out if there are serious businessmen in your region among the clients;
Pay attention to the cost of the company's services; too low should be a warning, as well as clearly overpriced.

It is best to have several companies in stock, and after a personal meeting and communication with specialists, make the final decision.

Requirements for companies and consultants

If the company or consultant has high level qualifications and provide a large range of services, then they must meet certain requirements, which we will discuss later.

The consultant must: have knowledge and skills in strategic planning, be able to analyze and predict the economic situation, master methods for diagnosing the situation in an enterprise, be able to establish contacts with specialists at different levels;
A consultant (or consulting company) should not depend on the rules and unwritten laws, as well as traditions that have developed in a particular company. The consultant's opinion must be free and objective;
The consulting company must provide assistance based on its experience and current legislation;
A consulting company, in addition to consultations, must engage in gaining experience, accumulating, analyzing and processing data;
The activities of a consulting company should also have a learning effect for its clients.

We invite you to familiarize yourself with the table, which presents the main features of professional consultants and those who only consider themselves such.

What is the difference between a professional consultant and an amateur?

Professional consultant	Amateur
Study in advance the activities of the client’s company	Doesn't work preliminary preparation, learns about the current situation from the client
All proposals are prepared taking into account the characteristics of the company	All developed proposals are not informative, but of a general, almost advertising nature.
From the moment the cooperation begins, he gives practical advice and recommendations to the client	Emphatically intrusively talks about his achievements, puts himself an order of magnitude higher than the client
During communication, shows awareness of the situation in the client’s company	Talks about work experience in the same industry
Asks questions, asks for the customer’s opinion	Speaks out without tolerating objections
Able to listen to the client	Prefers to talk rather than listen
Answers questions asked additionally	Ignores additional questions
Always responds to objections raised by the client	Doesn’t take into account the client’s objections, prefers to communicate via email rather than in person

Positive aspects of consulting

It is worth noting that increasingly, not only those who have just joined the ranks of entrepreneurs, but also serious companies that have been on the market for a long time are turning to consulting companies for help. What are the advantages of consulting?

Consultants have a higher level of knowledge than the company’s full-time specialists (which does not detract from the merits of conscientious employees);
Consultants are more experienced due to communication with a large number of clients;
Consultants have enough time to study the problem deeply and comprehensively;
Consultants usually have an unbiased opinion and are guided by the interests of the customer.

A clear advantage of consulting is that company specialists with a fresh look from the outside can identify problems that are simply invisible to company employees.

Consulting and coaching: differences between methods

Before we find out the similarities and differences, let’s find out what kind of animal coaching is.

Coaching is a method of consultation in which the client and trainer jointly look for ways to improve or solve a problem.

Skeptics may say that this technique merely duplicates a number of others that are already familiar. Why invent something else if there are trainings and consulting? But coaching does not repeat all previously known practices.

Coaching and consulting are not duplicative techniques for one simple reason: the coach guides and advises his client until the goal is achieved, and the consulting consultant is limited to making recommendations, giving the client the opportunity to continue to act independently.

Who can consulting companies cooperate with?

Consulting firms can collaborate with:

State and private enterprises that produce any products or provide services;
With foreign companies that operate in Russia (legally);
With government organizations;
With government bodies.

So, dear readers, now you know what consulting is, what its goals are and what it is needed for. If you take advantage of the consulting terms in a timely manner, your business will successfully grow and develop. Your company will survive all crises and become a serious competitor for others.

In which you can achieve success by creating your own business. Each branch of commerce has its own unique characteristics and complexities. This time we will talk about the consulting business. Many have heard this term, but not everyone understands the essence of this type of entrepreneurial activity. Meanwhile, this means a very profitable and popular business.

What is a consulting business

No matter how well and productively any company works, from time to time
time, she may still need outside professional help. We are talking about highly qualified assistance from real specialists in their field. The consulting company provides very specific services. Its employees help clients achieve the desired result in the process of carrying out their business activities.

So what exactly does a consulting company do? Help consists not only of competent and professional advice from the company, but also of practical assistance in the client’s work.

What is a consultant?

In essence, this is a specialist in a certain professional field. As a rule, the knowledge of an employee of such a company is quite narrow, but at the same time deep. Therefore, an experienced specialist from a consulting company will provide assistance in any matter related to the activities of a particular legal entity, as well as give the right recommendations and solve every problem that the client has. Such an employee mandatory must have higher education, as well as positive experience in the required field.

As a rule, we are talking about knowledge of most of the intricacies of marketing, organizational development of legal entities, and management work. In addition, a worthwhile employee in this field simply must have high degree communication skills, be able to find a common language with clients of all levels and areas of business, have lecturer skills, and also understand computers, securities and accounting.

Consulting as a business today. Where does this demand come from?

Why is this particular field of activity so rapidly gaining popularity? The fact is that nowadays there is a real boom in the development of all areas of business. Technologies change, markets undergo a process
globalization, companies are absorbed and merged.

As a result, the need for competent consulting services has increased many times over. As a result, the cost of assistance from highly qualified specialists has increased and the time frame for its implementation has been extended. Long-term and global projects have come to the fore, the cost of which is quite significant for most clients.

If in the relatively recent past consultants could be compared to guests who only visited companies for a short time, today specialists in this field are firmly entrenched in almost every company. Therefore, the type of commercial activity under consideration is one of the most dynamically developing and promising today.

What has the main impact on this area?

Firstly, a general shift to outsourcing (this is exactly what the consulting company does for the most part). Today, an increasing number of services to companies are provided by third-party organizations on the basis of an agreement concluded between them. Of course, all this activity will not be free and disinterested for the customer.

However, the creation of a special division in a company does not always pay off with the scale of production. Or the process of compensation for spent Money tightens enough long time, which is becoming a real problem for many commercial representatives. Selection of competent personnel, formation of a department, creation of jobs, offices - all this also requires serious time investment. Consultants are ready to begin their work immediately after signing the contract and take on even the most complex projects.

Secondly, now all areas of production and any other commercial activity are actively developing. The latest technologies are being introduced, large-scale and widespread computerization is being carried out. If the head of a company does not want to fall behind its closest competitors and wants to maintain a leading position in the market, he needs to use consulting services. Help becomes especially valuable when the situation has already formed in the most unfavorable way.

Consulting is a business aimed at saving other companies. Employees of such a company will not only provide all the necessary information, but will also suggest specific, very realistic directions for overcoming a crisis situation. In this case, all necessary marketing research will be carried out, and costs for the client will be minimized.

Main directions and trends

Consulting is a fairly universal business. This company can provide services in various directions. However, today we can identify several of the most stable and promising directions. Firstly, credit
consulting This is a very popular area for outside help.

If you try to name at least one company that has never used a loan throughout the entire period of its existence and active activity, it turns out that such financial injections are necessary from time to time even for the largest and most economically stable legal entities.

If only because development and expansion require quite large amounts of money that are completely unprofitable to withdraw from circulation. Successful implementation of the project will not only recoup the interest on the loan, but also generate significant income. This is why competent consulting services in the field of business lending are so in demand. And expert forecasts indicate a positive development trend.

First, let's figure it out What is consulting. First of all, it is a service. From English, where this word came to us, consulting means consulting. The service involves paid actions on your part in favor of the client, aimed at researching his activities, determining ways of developing the company, introducing innovations, organizing management and other research. All this is done to increase the productivity and profitability of the client company.

Simply put, a consulting agency for a fee helps take your business to the next level. The objects of consulting are usually commercial organizations and manufacturing firms.

But the consulting agency’s clients can also be individuals who apply for business registration issues. In general, consulting services can include assistance on any business issues.

There are two types of consulting.

- Internal consulting. When there is an employee within the firm who advises others within the organization. In this case, he provides services free of charge, since he is employed and receives wages established by the contract.

- External consulting. When third parties are hired as consultants on business processes. Such companies receive profit from the direct provision of services according to a pre-registered agreement and price list. Standard services include results in increased profitability, lower costs and overall expansion of the firm in its niche market.

Types of consulting agency services

Business diagnostics. This area of customer support includes company audit, performance assessment, quality control, benchmarking and other processes.
Recommendations for improving the company. The conclusions that the consulting firm receives after analyzing the client’s activities form the basis for the recommendations the client receives for reforming the processes, activities and structure of his enterprise.
The holding of trainings. These measures are also aimed at increasing efficiency.
Creation of restructuring projects. Again, based on process analysis, the executing company creates a project to improve the structure of the client’s company. This also includes instructions for creating missing functions, activities and divisions that will subsequently allow the organization to operate with greater efficiency.
Preparing the enterprise for inspections. In addition to the standard putting in order all the necessary documentation, the consulting agency can prepare the client’s company to obtain international certificates.
Development of a business strategy.

Cooperation between the customer and the client is organized in the format of presence in the company where consulting services are required, a specialist from the contractor.

Today, consulting services are used by large organizations and small enterprises that want to gain a foothold in the market for their goods and services. And the field of consulting itself has many branches, each of which is aimed at working with different types of organizations.

There is also consulting in the field of medical care, financial advisory related to the reporting of organizations and attracting cash injections and mergers. Also popular tax consulting, and management consulting and many other types of it.

For example, management consulting includes:

Development of processes for increasing company profits

Adjustment and creation of business plans

Marketing research for effective investment

SWOT analysis

Development of the organizational structure of the company

Concerning HR consulting, then the entire personnel policy is assessed:

Staff are trained and each employee is tested according to professional suitability standards.

The motivating component of the company is being developed

Instructions for employees and rules of conduct within a specific company (clothing, working hours) are adjusted.

Conflict components are regulated, recommendations are given on behavior from both management and staff.

Information technology consulting:

The main methodology is the implementation of the so-called CIS - corporate information systems

DBMS. These are database management systems. The consulting firm designs, develops and implements them into the client’s process.

Automation of production processes.

Special offers that are developed exclusively individually, depending on the specifics of the company.

Business planning consulting:

Selection of organizations for logistics services

Business process research

Project management

Development of processes for interaction with potential audiences

Inventory management analysis

Reducing costs and increasing efficiency

Mentor

A person who works with a client from a consulting firm. A mentor's job responsibilities include many different tasks. First of all, providing working role model for those processes to which the services of the consulting agency are aimed.

Sometimes, the position of a mentor becomes permanent place with a designated person. This usually occurs in large organizations that are faced with higher-order problems, or simply want to stabilize and unify their company's processes. In this case, they do not turn to outside consulting.

But the search for a permanent mentor for the company can also become the main task of a consulting firm. And often the search is carried out directly within the organization, where people who are already familiar with the specifics of a particular company and its business processes work.

Consulting agency clients

Again, depending on the specifics of the consulting and the scope of its focus, the potential audience varies.

In strategic consulting This:

Trade industry

Food industry

Construction business

Mechanical engineering

In Operations Management This:

Heavy industry

Food industry

Trade area

Finance sector

Construction companies

In consulting in the fieldIT:

Energy

Development of oil and gas fields

Heavy industry

Finance

Telecommunications niche

Sphere of trade

Consulting based on conducting trainings and recruitment of qualified specialists:

Trade industry

Food industry

Metalworking and engineering sector

Oil and gas sector

Transport companies

Sphere of communication services and communications

Financial niche

Consulting today

The very concept of consulting is no longer new, even in Russian market. Companies that work in this field are involved in various fields- economic, legal, technological. Therefore, the market is developing and more and more companies are starting to apply for services. And opening your own consulting agency promises good prospects with a high-quality approach and professional provision of services.

Benefits own company in this area will simple formation process and development, as well as comparatively small investment at the start, which not every business can boast of. But, as for any project, a business plan for consulting is an integral part of the starting processes.

AND main directions that should be detailed in the business plan are:

Financial opportunities enterprises
Regional features of the consulting market
Project scope. It is described in the form of step-by-step development planning.

Image of a consulting agency

Company reputation plays a huge role, especially in the consulting niche, where clients need preliminary guarantees of their successful approach to the customer. And the level of professionalism of the company’s employees is put in first place. Together with the financial literacy of the company and the high level of responsibility of the company providing consulting services, a reputational component is built. And only she can create a favorable background for receiving “tasty” and large orders.

Company registration

The first step in starting any business. It is necessary to resolve the issue of the organizational and legal form and registration of your future business in government agencies. For a consulting agency, the most suitable form is opening a limited liability company. But in any case, it is better to find out in advance all the necessary information from special sources, access to which is not limited. Or contact a company that will help you arrange everything necessary documents for a certain fee.

Selected in parallel unique name your organization. Company name It should not only be memorable, which will further affect brand recognition, but also reflect the essence of your activity. In other words, the name of the company should be bright and simple at the same time.

To start a business in the consulting field, you do not need to obtain any licenses. And this is another plus for this niche. However, if you plan to provide services related to property valuation, then membership in an appraisal organization will be required.

Market

For a successful start you will need to carry out analysis regional market and the market in general, so that assess the presence of competing firms and develop a development strategy. After identifying competitors, you can move on to a private analysis of specific companies based on several factors:

- employee qualification level

- price policy

- reputation

- service options

Renting premises

Office- a factor necessary for a consulting firm, since on your territory you will conduct interviews with potential clients. And therefore, business districts of the city will be a suitable area for searching for premises.

If the business starts successfully, you can think about buying out the rented premises. Again, such factors that in other businesses will not significantly influence the activity, in the field of consulting have a positive impact on company reputation.

Rental recommendations are such that the premises will require a size of no less than 90 square meters. A spacious office will increase presentability and will create comfortable conditions both for employees to work and for communication with clients.

Equipment

The purchase of equipment and furniture should also be based on creating comfortable conditions and presentable interior appearance. Each employee must be provided with all the necessary supplies, from a workplace to a personal computer with Internet access.

In addition, consider what should be equipped place for employees to eat and possibly have tea with the client (to discuss cooperation in comfortable conditions). These zones must not coincide.

Staff

As mentioned above, all activities of the company will depend on qualified personnel. Therefore, in the business plan, the search for suitable staff should be given a separate section.

An employee hired for a position in your company must have not only professional skills, but also have broad-minded, knowledge in various fields and especially in those related to business. At the same time, remember that he will have to decide not only highly specialized tasks, but also generally interact with organizations.

To start a small-format consulting agency, it will be enough to first hire 2-3 employees, and expand after successful development. Initial staff coverage should focus on funding and management issues. An employee with specialization in property valuation will also be useful.

Investments by business standards for organizing a consulting enterprise small. According to statistics, this is an amount in the range of 500,000 rubles without taking into account the salary fund. Why without? Because the calculation of the requested salary for each hired employee is purely individual and will depend solely on his professional qualities and experience. Large specialists are valuable in the consulting market, but at the same time they know how to value their services.

* The calculations use average data for Russia

Small businesses very often have enormous prospects for their development; they support a large part of the market and the existence of the entire economic system, which involves government services, all types of enterprises and end consumers. Only people who have undergone special training, understand perfectly what economics is and what it is based on, and also have considerable experience working with business entities of different types and directions can understand all the connections and features of the interaction of all elements of this complex system. Sometimes the help of such specialists is critically needed not only for beginning businessmen, but also for large enterprises that already have their share in the market and relatively well understand the specifics of activity in their chosen field. Often, resolving a crisis is impossible without the intervention of third-party specialists who can impartially assess all elements of an enterprise, identify its weaknesses and identify strengths, and give recommendations to management on optimizing and improving their business processes.

In Russia, the word business and economics are generally misunderstood. Despite the developing institute for training economic specialists, today entrepreneurship is carried out by people without education, who have gained a lot of experience, but do not understand the theoretical intricacies at all. Many organizations still survive due to methods that were developed at the end of the last century, but even more such organizations fail because they cannot adapt to new market demands. The policy of the organization is to help it get out of a difficult situation or simply increase its efficiency, business consultants, who are those specialists who have undergone training and gained experience, are called upon. You can hardly expect that someday amateurs will completely stop trying to build their own business; it is better to learn how to make money from this by offering your help to budding entrepreneurs. In many cases, this will become support for a unique idea that gives impetus to overall development, brings something new to the life of society and supports small and medium-sized businesses that are so necessary for the effective development of the economy. This is a feature of capitalism and post-industrial society, when business and free competition, creative development and raising the standard of living of mankind occupy one of the most important parts of modern society.

Ready ideas for your business

Consulting can be general or private; business development consulting relates to general economic development. Special cases of consulting are consulting only on ecology, finance, training, marketing, IT, HR etc. Consulting differs from outsourcing in that it does not take on the responsibilities of the entrepreneur, but looks for ways out of the situation with him. Consulting does not require the client to understand the issue, but aims to educate one’s own knowledge and provide qualified support; the consultant works together with the company’s employees, often acting as an observer or even a manager. The agency offering consulting services, in this case, must provide general consultations on the business as a whole and on its individual elements, that is, be able to resolve all issues in specific cases of consulting. This is what can be called business consulting. Hence the need to maintain a large staff of employees who are knowledgeable in any field of activity: from accounting to operational management.

A company engaged in consulting services can carry out its activities in accordance with the legislation of the Russian Federation without obtaining a special educational license. It is enough to simply register as a business entity, and in this case it is more preferable to register a legal entity. In order to be able to use a simplified taxation system, it is better to choose the form of a limited liability company. However, it is worth considering that consulting activities fall under the definition (OKPD 2) 70.22 Advisory services in the field of enterprise management, and the OKVED code is selected in accordance with this. However, you can provide business consulting services by working alone, rather than organizing a large enterprise, and then you can simply register as an individual entrepreneur.

We can say that for a beginner in this type of business, it is better to start by opening a small company, in which only the entrepreneur himself actually works, because a newly opened enterprise does not have the trust of clients, and the businessman is faced with a very serious task of earning his reputation. To start collaborating with large organizations, you will first have to engage in consulting for individual entrepreneurs and small firms. Of course, in this case you will not have to count on large fees, but at this time the entrepreneur earns invaluable experience, learns in practice to understand the peculiarities of running different types of business and independently faces all the difficulties that await entrepreneurs in general. A business consulting specialist is a generalist who will subsequently work with diverse professionals, but the manager must be able to understand absolutely any issue in order to help even his employees in controversial issues.

Ready ideas for your business

In this case, the company’s office should be located in the business districts of the city, which helps to increase confidence in the consulting company. The representative office itself will employ employees who are engaged in more auxiliary activities, these are statisticians, analysts, financiers, marketers who study the market for products and services, identify consumer needs in general and find new non-standard ideas for promoting types of products. A separate category can be identified for people who develop new concepts, create new products or improve old ones (we are not talking about production directly, but about design). These are people who are engaged in more scientific activities than direct consulting. This is necessary in order to offer our clients completely new, unparalleled developments, which is also part of consulting.

Thus, consulting is inextricably linked with marketing. Conducting marketing research is critically necessary to obtain reliable knowledge about the external environment; without it, consulting simply cannot be consulting. Moreover, the consulting company constantly conducts marketing research for its client, collects statistics and determines the development opportunities that the external environment provides it with. After receiving this information, the financial and other capabilities of the enterprise are determined, capabilities and resources are compared, and on the basis of this, methods for achieving the goals are identified. Consulting is always designed for the long term; work with the customer should ideally be indefinite, so research is carried out not only to achieve the goals stated by the customer, but also to improve the entire company’s activities as a whole.

This is followed by strategic planning of the company’s business processes, painstaking and thorough development of plans, improvement of organizational structures, improvement of management systems, optimization and logistics, and work with personnel. At this stage, consulting begins to resemble the work of training companies and assessment centers. The same principles are used here: employee training, assessment of their performance, certification, identification of the level of interest in achieving the company's goals (motivation), determination of the organizational structure of personnel management, and, if necessary, a complete change in the company's image as an employer or a change in personnel policy. In order for this stage of consulting to be as effective as possible, the team must include not only HR specialists, but also psychologists and conflict experts.

Ready ideas for your business

Consulting often acts as a company that can help a customer complete a complex project or complete a task it has accepted from its customer. In this case, it may be necessary to have competent specialists from completely different fields of knowledge, including engineers, builders, technicians, IT specialists, etc. Here, consulting is more like a professional team of specialists for performing certain work, from which execution is required, and not consulting directly. In companies with a complex management system or simply imperfect, it is often necessary to attract specialists who can become a link between the company’s departments and resolve administrative issues, as well as teach the customer’s managers how to effectively manage. Finally, many large companies need to involve third-party experts who evaluate the finished project or possible risks; based on their assessment, the customer’s management makes a decision, but the method of expert assessments may not be taken into account in further activities. Here, the consulting company provides experienced experts who come to the project once and do not participate in it anymore.

The pricing system in the consulting services market is quite complex. Currently, there are several types of payment, but everything can be roughly divided into three different types, as well as a combined payment, which includes the amount of funds calculated in different ways. The simplest is a lump sum payment, in simple terms, fixed. In this case, the consulting company has its own list of prices for certain types of services and offers them to its customers only at the price that was initially set, while various unforeseen factors that can significantly simplify or complicate the task by the consultant are usually not taken into account. On the other hand, this method is used where risks are minimal: training, analysis, certification, and so on. The second type of payment is similar to a lump-sum payment; it is called time-based and is calculated based on the actual time spent on completing the customer’s task. The next type of payment is a percentage of the cost of the completed project or depending on the result obtained. In this case, the consulting company is especially interested in the effectiveness of its activities.

It can be noted that today the cost of services of a consulting firm in Russia is significantly lower than in developed capitalist countries, this is due not least to the fact that consulting by many firms is considered a non-priority expense item. It is quite difficult to give average figures, because a lot depends on the task at hand, but in the case of percentage payment, it rarely exceeds 5% of the project cost. Also, many firms today choose to pay consulting firms through barter or the transfer of shares in their company, and in the latter case, the consulting firm has a special interest in performing well on the order because greater economic efficiency increases the value of their shares.

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