When to hire a consultant

There’s an old joke about consultants: they borrow your watch to tell you the time. And then they keep the watch.

A few months ago, I wrote about When copywriting is not the answer. I just read a very interesting article by Steve Tobak on C/net about When to hire a consultant. It addresses some of the same issues.

He says that you should hire a consultant for:

1) expertise, 2) objectivity, 3) credibility, 4) leadership, and 5) time

I agree and the same things are true of writers (like me). Very often I get hired to break the status quo when marketing managers are unhappy with the quality of the copy that they get from bigger agencies but, ultimately, my ability to help them communicate better comes down to these five points.

I completely agree with his final point:

The bottom line: Just like with lawyers and doctors, working with consultants may be distasteful or even painful, but there are times when you need them if you know how to recognize those times. While trying to go it alone sounds noble or courageous, it isn’t. It can cost your company big-time.