When Should Small and Medium Enterprises Seek Help from a Consultant?

When small and medium enterprises want to make their ambitious goals a reality, they often need to seek a consultant. The market is changeable and full of surprises, and for a safe future, sometimes one needs to make bold moves. Due to this, they opt for financial, accountancy, business or management consulting, but also consulting about the development and training of the employees and the improvement of sales.

In practice, however, they often do so late.

– From experience, optimistically speaking, the ratio is 93:7 in favor of late contacting. The consequence is that the number of options (solutions) narrows, as does the possibility of getting the best outcome. Instead, one then chooses between the “lose as little as possible” options – consultant Djordje Djokic says for eKapija.

He adds that, having existed for three years, a company qualifies for consulting services.

– Why three years, the reason is simple. That is the period after which it is clear whether the company has survived its “birth pains” – he clarifies.

He also says that there are two moments when an immediate response is required:

– when we sense that things are going as well as possible;
– when we sense instinctively that something is not OK with the business operations.

Djokic says that companies most often contact them when a company needs to be valuated, whether the company or the business is being sold or bought. Also, when they run into a problem with an accountant, or when they want to take out a loan or a lease. The questions they ask are: “What do I do now?” and “What do I invest money in?”.

Which mistakes do small and medium enterprises make?

He also points out that it is possible to notice similar mistakes that small and medium enterprises make.

– Primarily, it’s the absence of true understanding of what causes success, as well as a lack of strategy and development of three to five potential outcomes on an annual level. Operations are often not based on structurally planned actions, which are based on strategy, so action is postponed until the last moment, when it is certain that they will suffer consequences – he says.

He adds that a lax attitude is present, but also the lack of the development of successors.

– The operations are based on a key person even after 10 years of operations, and companies believe that the price of a (legal) professional, with a solution, is expensive – Djokic says.

Prepare for challenging times

Our interviewee says that business results are managed throughout the year, and the structure of the balance sheet must be visible in October at the latest.

– Understand your business operations, success, partners, purchasers, suppliers and environment. Plan your activities ahead and even when the operations are at their best, prepare for challenging times. Strengthen the company at any moment and meet the (potential) problems halfway. Believe in yourself and your business – says Djordje Djokic.

He also notes that additional work hours, properly arranged, produce results with time.

– When you are choosing the consultant, the best outcome for the company is to hire experienced professionals, not from big companies, or beginners. If you think it’s expensive to hire a professional, you will learn the hard way how much the “cheaper solution” costs you – Djokic warns.

Aleksandra Kekic