Finding and Engaging the Right Expert / Independent Consultant

Most companies face several initiatives a year where they lack knowledge and experience internally to execute effectively on the initiative. They recognize that if they could commit to finding and engaging the right expert or independent consultant who has tackled the same initiative previously, and they’re willing to work on an interim, project or fractional basis, it would greatly improve the likelihood of success for the initiative. However, it is often difficult to engage the right expert quickly to provide the necessary knowledge on a less than full-time basis. Here are four key issues that keep companies from finding and engaging the best experts in the right way.

1. Lack of an up-to-date network of experts with capacity that are willing to take on a less than full-time role.
2. Ineffectiveness in evaluating experts in terms of their problem-solving ability, which leads to engaging experts that aren’t effective. Companies are often engaging the right expert in their area of expertise for the first time and have no previous track record in the area, making it hard to evaluate.
3. Unskilled at “scoping” the effort with the expert, and as a result upon engagement, the expert will not be focused on what matters to the company– leading to wasted effort and excessive cost.
4. Lack of context for negotiating a rate with experts, which leads to paying a much higher billable rate than needed. This is also caused by typically negotiating with the one expert in their network vs. multiple options.

At M&A Executive Search & Consulting, we solicit and attract experts who are in the market for gig work and we maintain a network of over 10,000 experts in almost any expertise area across almost all industries. This enables us to present multiple experts quickly for any need. Due to our evaluation processes and our history of presenting hundreds of these professionals to clients every year, we have a strong understanding of who is the most effective for any particular job. We also work on clients’ behalf to scope the effort and negotiate the best consultant rate. Our focus is to maximize the value that clients get for these short-term engagements, bringing the knowledge and experience clients need in an affordable way.