In this guide, we’ll explore what a business strategy consultant does, how they differ from other consulting roles, and the potential advantages of working with one. Whether you’re looking to align your team, clarify your company’s mission, or make more informed business decisions, this guide can help you determine if hiring a business strategy consultant is the best choice.
What Does a Business Strategy Consultant Do?
At its core, a business strategy consultant is an expert who helps business owners and leaders make well-informed decisions and create effective strategies to reach their goals. These consultants bring specialized knowledge in strategic planning, decision-making, and competitive analysis. They work closely with your organization, analyzing your business environment, identifying your goals, and helping to map out a path to reach them.
When you hire a business strategy consultant, they don’t just drop in and offer general advice. They become a partner in your planning process, aiming to understand your unique strengths, challenges, and opportunities. From there, they use a mix of tools and methods—like market research, competitive analysis, and scenario planning—to identify the most suitable strategic choices. Their role is to bring clarity to complex situations, suggest realistic strategies, and support you in making sound business decisions.
Key Benefits of Working with a Business Strategy Consultant
Engaging a business strategy consultant offers a range of benefits that can positively impact your company’s future. Here are a few:
- Focused Expertise: A consultant provides you with specialized knowledge and skills that your team may not have. Whether it’s insights into market trends, competitor strategies, or long-term growth planning, their expertise can save time and improve decision-making.
- Objective Perspective: Being external to your organization, a business strategy consultant can offer a fresh and unbiased viewpoint. This helps in identifying challenges, exploring opportunities, and tackling any blind spots that might be hard for those within the organization to notice.
- Strategic Clarity and Focus: Consultants help clarify your vision, goals, and objectives. By defining and prioritizing what matters most, they help you focus your resources and efforts where they’ll be most effective.
- Efficient Decision-Making: Since they are trained in analyzing data, weighing options, and understanding market dynamics, consultants can guide you in making informed, timely decisions. This can be especially helpful in fast-changing industries.
- Guidance on Implementation: Beyond developing strategies, many consultants help with the implementation process, ensuring that the plans you make are carried out effectively. They may assist with setting up project timelines, assigning roles, and tracking progress.
How a Business Strategy Consultant Differs from Other Consulting Roles
It’s easy to assume that all consultants perform similar tasks, but business strategy consultants stand out because of the level of influence they can have in an organization. Here’s how they differ from other consulting and advisory roles.
Short-Term and Expert-Based Consulting
Some consulting firms, like Gartner or McKinsey Solutions, operate on a project or transactional basis, providing highly specialized insights for specific questions. This type of consulting is known as the “expert model.” Here, consultants bring specialized knowledge in an area like industry trends or consumer behavior but don’t dive into the inner workings of your company. They focus on providing expert recommendations based on market research, industry surveys, and competitive analysis without conducting a thorough internal review of your organization.
While effective for data-driven insights, this model is usually shorter-term and doesn’t provide the deeper, relationship-based support that some businesses might need.
Long-Term, Comprehensive Management Consulting
Companies like Bain & Company and Boston Consulting Group take a more involved approach, building long-term relationships with clients across various industries. These management consulting firms offer broader, more comprehensive services, often conducting full audits and diagnostics of the organizations they work with. They collaborate closely with leaders to uncover inefficiencies, propose changes, and suggest strategic improvements.
While these consultants can make a significant impact, their role as outsiders means that their recommendations can sometimes clash with the existing company culture. They may propose changes that are disruptive to the current way of doing things, aiming for optimal outcomes even if it introduces temporary adjustments.
Strategic Planning Facilitation: An Alternative to Consider
If hiring a business strategy consultant doesn’t seem like the best fit, strategic planning facilitation may be another approach worth exploring. Unlike consultants who bring their own recommendations, strategic planning facilitators focus on guiding your organization through its own planning process.
A strategic planning facilitator doesn’t impose solutions or tell your team what to do. Instead, they act as a neutral guide, helping your team identify goals, create action plans, and align on a shared vision. They ensure that everyone is engaged and that the process stays productive and inclusive.
This approach works well for organizations that already have a lot of internal expertise but may struggle with aligning their team or making the most of their existing resources. Facilitators use structured processes to help organizations clarify their goals and find their own solutions, promoting collaboration and alignment without directly influencing decisions.
Choosing the Right Fit for Your Organization
When deciding between a business strategy consultant and a strategic planning facilitator, consider the needs of your organization and your long-term goals. Here are some questions to help guide your decision:
- Are you looking for expert recommendations or a process that helps your team find its own solutions? If you need specific, data-driven recommendations, a business strategy consultant may be best. If you’re more focused on alignment and teamwork, a strategic planning facilitator might be more effective.
- Do you want a long-term consulting relationship or a shorter, project-based arrangement? For ongoing strategic support, a management consultant who provides regular advice may be beneficial. But for short-term insights on specific topics, a consulting firm specializing in expert reports may be the way to go.
- Is your organization ready for an outsider’s perspective? While a consultant offers valuable expertise, they may suggest changes that disrupt current operations. A facilitator, by contrast, works within your team’s existing dynamics, emphasizing process improvement over new directives.
Final Thoughts
Hiring a business strategy consultant or a strategic planning facilitator can be a transformative decision for your business, providing the insights, structure, and support to help you reach your goals. Whether you need a consultant to shape your strategy or a facilitator to keep your planning process on track, both roles bring value to the table.
By understanding the differences and evaluating your unique needs, you can make an informed choice that aligns with your company’s vision and goals, setting you on a path to long-term success.