What is the buying process for SME companies for consulting services?

4 pointsby BenDevOps2 anni fa2 comments

Hi, I'm new to HN, so I'm not fully aware of the etiquette here.

For context I'm an owner of a new consulting agency providing consulting services in the IT. I'm trying to understand what is the buying process for companies below 200 employees when it comes to IT consulting services.

Any insight on this topic would be helpful. Any articles or experts I could reach out to for consulting services would also be much appreciated.

Edit: Maybe I formulated my question wrong, or I'm going about this the wrong way. If you have any insights about that it would also be appreciated.

2 comments

hasoleju2 anni fa

I have hired or been close to 4 hires of IT consultants so far. Every time the process was very simple:

1. Do we know a company that offers that service?

2. If yes: Hire them.

3. If no: Don't hire.

Of course this is maybe a little bit oversimplified but at least in the cases I witnessed there was no big selection process of multiple different consulting services. In smaller companies the personal connection is much more important than the best offer on paper.

ashraful2 anni fa

Its almost always through personal connections or word of mouth/referrals.

The primary concern for small to medium business is if the consultant being hired is actually capable of providing the service they are claiming to provide.

Hiring someone off of an online ad, cold call, etc. is just unnecessary risk. They'd happily pay more when they know that the output is going to be what they expect.