Is Your Consultant Working For You Or The Real Customer?

Source: Wikipedia*

A client described an issue he had with a consultant recently. The consultant was hired by the state of Connecticut to handle applications for a state-funded program. The application required the applicant send in transcripts which my client did from two different universities, Receipt of the transcripts was to be posted to a page created by the applicant. Four months after the transcripts were sent the transcripts still didn't appear on the web site. My client telephoned the state agency and was connected with the consultant in question who insisted the transcripts were never sent. The client checked with both universities and received receipts from each showing the transcripts were sent four months earlier. He contacted the consultant again and emailed the replies from each university. The consultant said they might have arrived on a weekend when no one was in the office and, if a signature was required, were probably sent back to the post office. This is nonsense as the post office will try several times before returning the letter to the sender. But the client played nice and asked when they might check the post office for the transcripts and similar pieces that arrived on weekends. The consultant replied that her office didn't do that. The client persisted until the consultant offered to accept a scanned and emailed copy. The transcripts eventually were posted to the clients application web site.

Granted, this was a government run institution. Not a lot of accountability there. But this experience has implication for the real world. Consultants are a tremendous asset to many ventures. They bring specialized experience and spread the cost of doing business in their specific fileds. But hiring one doesn't mean you've handed off that part of the job. Like any employee, they have to be monitored and trained to represent your business. They may consider you the customer and your customer a nuisance. NEVER allow any outside firm to act as a wall between you and the customer. They should instead act a cog in your business's customer centric machine. It would serve you, the founder, well to act as a customer and test your employees AND your consultants. Call your call center or tech support line and visit your retail establishment. I'm pretty sure Ray Kroc bought a burger or two at McDonald's.

* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Interior_view_Pantigo_Windmill_East_Hampton_Suffolk_County_New_York.jpg