However, none of us knows everything about growing and managing a business. Sometimes it makes sense to seek the counsel of others, but who is right for you and your business? When selecting a consultant, follow these five simple, but important, guidelines:

1. Unimpeachable character

First and foremost, an effective consultant must be a person of the highest character. He or she must be the consummate professional. The consultant must be willing to put the best interest of the client ahead of their own.

For example, the consultant must be willing to tell clients things that they need to hear, but may not want to — even if doing so means that the consultant loses business. The consultant must care deeply about her or his clients.

2. Solid experience

A good consultant should have experience with the challenges or opportunities you and your company are facing. She or he may not know your specific company or industry, but you and your people know your company and your industry quite well, don’t you? What the consultant brings to the table is experience in addressing the types of issues you face.

3. Creative problem-solving skills

You will want the consultant you engage to be an outstanding problem solver. After all, you are hiring a consultant to help you solve problems (or take advantage of opportunities).

Marvin Bower, the patriarch of McKinsey & Company, essentially founded management consulting and in the process grew the firm from a fledgling enterprise to a global operation.

He outlined his criteria for an outstanding consultant.

“Mental equipment — the successful consultant has outstanding analytical skill and the ability to synthesize his thoughts readily in reaching conclusions,” Bower wrote. “He is a quick and effective learner — imaginative and creative.”

When choosing a consultant, make sure to hire superior problem solvers.

4. Outstanding communication skills

A good consultant should be articulate. He or she should possess unusually strong communication skills, both orally and in writing. Of course, communication is a two-way street. Perhaps more important than her or his ability to speak articulately and write eloquently is the ability to listen.

No matter how smart a consultant is, she or he won’t be able to help you improve your business until they fully understand the challenges you face. This will never happen until the consultant listens to you.

5. Excellent interpersonal skills

Simply put, for any consultant to be successful in helping your company, a trust-based relationship is going to have to develop. You will need to be comfortable revealing the intimate details of your business. The relationship between consultant and client is not unlike the relationship between a doctor and patient.

Without complete candor, the consultant will be hindered in his or her effort to help your business. Chose a consultant with whom you can develop this kind of professional relationship.

The right consultant can create tremendous value. The wrong consultant can destroy value. Following these five guidelines will help ensure that you engage the right firm or individual.

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Post from Entrepreneur

Coaches have great BS detectors that can help us learn where and how we’re lying to ourselves. They’re trained to help people grow. While most successful people work hard, had some luck and are “self-made,” all of us hit plateaus and have blind spots. Many of us have entire areas of potential that we’ve never explored or pursued. A good coach can recognize and help you address that.

Take my client, Arun Apte, CEO and founder of two bio-tech companies in India, PREMIER Biosoft and CloudLIMS.com. His businesses are growing and they are profitable. His customers share their needs with him and it allows him to address those needs and create new products, which results in even more success. Why would a guy like Arun want to hire a coach?

Get an outside perspective

“I hired a coach because I want and need accountability. I want to push myself — and that’s hard to do without someone holding me accountable,” Arun says. “I want an outside perspective. I want to learn from people who’ve helped run dozens of companies, not just two, like me. My coach has worked with hundreds of entrepreneurs over the past 15 years. He’s seen companies come and go — he knows where to look for problems and he has a knack for knowing when I’m slacking off or what I’m avoiding. It’s like hiring a secret weapon.”

Or Jeannette Bitz, chief strategist and managing principal at Engage, who says: “As a business owner, I’m focused and motivated, but I don’t always make time for strategic thinking because I’m busy serving clients.

My coach helps me take a step back and think more strategically about the business and determine how the employees and clients can best address my vision.

In one hour a week, I make significant progress on business issues and the strategies that I believe have a strong impact on the agency. It’s invaluable.”

Arun continues, “I’m often surprised by my coach’s advice and counsel. Once, when I really wanted to put in more hours, he cautioned me to think about my age and how my businesses were running and what stage of development they were in. He told me to take it easy because it’s the only time in my life that I would have the opportunity to travel and enjoy myself. He was right. I took a month off and had the time of my life. When I came back, my companies were still doing great. I’m so glad I listened to him.”

A good coach will ask you questions

Often success is elusive or simply unfamiliar — most people who experience success aren’t ready to slow down or relax because they’ve spent years building a company or a career and they habitually push themselves. A good coach can ask you questions that you wouldn’t think to ask yourself and no one else would dare ask, such as:

• What do you really want?
• What’s most important to you?
• Why are you working so hard?
• When are you going to celebrate your success and how?
• What kind of legacy do you plan to leave?
• What kind of impact do you want to make on the world?

Beyond those questions, after any successful period, it’s important to take stock, re-evaluate and decide what’s important to focus on next. With every level of success there is another level of success just beyond the horizon that requires thought, decisions and actions that a coach can help you accelerate or think through.

Athletes have relied on coaches for years to improve their games. If multi-million-dollar athletes rely on coaches to improve, why shouldn’t entrepreneurs?

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Post from Entrepreneur