{"id":10061,"date":"2016-04-24T13:58:00","date_gmt":"2016-04-24T11:58:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cms.munich-startup.net\/?p=10061"},"modified":"2016-04-21T13:59:40","modified_gmt":"2016-04-21T11:59:40","slug":"external-support-consultants-for-startups-are-just-overpaid-know-it-alls","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cms.munich-startup.net\/en\/10061\/external-support-consultants-for-startups-are-just-overpaid-know-it-alls\/","title":{"rendered":"External support \u2013 Are startup consultants just overpaid know-it-alls?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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For almost every startup, it makes sense to seek external expertise and perhaps even operational support from consultants when building their company. In this guest article for deutsche-startups.de<\/a> Christoph Ramm\u00e9 shows under what circumstances and how to separate the wheat from the chaff.<\/strong><\/p>\n

"Management consultants are overpaid know-it-alls who only cause unrest"... I've often been confronted with this or similar statements as a consultant. There's usually no shortage of skepticism, and this raises the question, especially for young companies with limited budgets, as to whether using external consultants actually makes sense.<\/p>\n

In our experience, the \u2013 well-dosed \u2013 use of consultants for startups is worthwhile in three typical situations:<\/p>\n

Team structures and decision-making processes are unclear<\/h3>\n

When several founders come together to form a team, the distribution of roles is not always clear in the early stages. This often leads to a loss of market clout. Dr. Rudolf L\u00fctke Schwienhorst, Consocium member and Managing Director of Partner im Dialog Unternehmensberater GmbH, explains how an external consultant can help resolve unspoken misunderstandings:<\/p>\n

"It was the third meeting with the four founders. The discussions about strategy, marketing, product development, and financing were intense and helpful \u2013 just like the previous ones. Nevertheless, as a consultant, I had the feeling something was wrong and asked the simple question: Once the company is founded, who will be the boss?<\/p>\n

When four arms were raised in the air, everyone in the room knew that a clarification process had to begin. And so, in the exuberance of the founding spirit, it's often necessary for an outsider to ask the obvious questions that would otherwise be overlooked.<\/p>\n

We dedicated the fourth meeting with the founders to precisely these questions \u2013 with the corresponding homework to prepare. In the first step, each person self-assessed their 'caliber of leadership,' which we then aligned with each other and compared with the participants' experiences and their internal attributions of competence.<\/p>\n

After that, the starting lineup for the organization was quickly and consensually clear \u2013 and the personal development programs for the founders were also agreed upon.\u201d<\/p>\n

In one area, the founding team lacks the necessary expertise<\/h3>\n

If a founding team lacks expertise and experience in certain areas, an external consultant can contribute the necessary experience \u2013 or even assume operational responsibility for a phased approach. Bettina Pauck, Consocium member and Managing Director of ConSourcing, shares how she made an online retailer's customer service competitive:<\/p>\n

"At a Berlin startup, customer service wasn't working. Customer accessibility was poor, the quality of responses was poor, and complaints were piling up. There was also a clear problem with the department's management.<\/p>\n

To kick things off, we held an analysis day where I was able to take a closer look at the problem and then present a clear plan of action for improvement. This gave the founding team a good basis for assessing my performance and working methods. This led to the decision to hire me as an interim manager for customer service.<\/p>\n

After the aforementioned measures were quickly introduced (e.g., specialization of employees, technical support via call routing, introduction of a forecasting process), the first changes in the target KPIs were visible after just a few days.<\/p>\n

The skepticism that initially accompanied the consultant's daily rate was forgotten after these successes, as the value of the service quickly became apparent."<\/p>\n

You can find the full article on deutsche-startups.de.<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For almost every startup, it makes sense to seek external expertise and perhaps even operational support from consultants when building their company. In this guest article for deutsche-startups.de, Christoph Ramm\u00e9 explains under what circumstances and how to separate the wheat from the chaff. 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