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Consulting Opportunities Growing, Especially in Human Resources, Marketing, Public Relations
February 27 , 2006
The Business Report & Journal
By Jennifer Putnam
Savanna, Georgia, February 27, 2006
The current growing business climate and advancements in technology have made it easier than ever to enter the consulting business, say local business consultants.
Tony O’Reilly, president of Savannah’s Small Business Assistance Corp., said that he has found an increasing number of consultants in every type of field.
“Selling know-how is a growing industry all around, I think,” O’Reilly said. “It seems to me that no matter the industry, no matter the field, someone is out there selling their expertise.”
O’Reilly said that the growth of the consulting industry is being spurred both by the entrepreneurial spirit of consultants and by industry’s need for expertise and willingness to pay for advice.
“The intellectual value of someone’s education, expertise and ability to apply it is becoming a very valuable resource,” O’Reilly said. “A lot of this expertise is not something that they need all the time, but when they need it, they need it now and are willing to pay for it.”
Savannah consultant Jim Farley, who started Cardinal Consulting and Training 10 years ago and has worked with many different consultants on various pharmaceutical, chemistry and management contracts, said that he has found that new consultants loosely fall into one of three groups – those that are between jobs due to downsizing and are trying to make ends meet; retirees who are trying to supplement their incomes or stay in the loop; and full-time entrepreneurs.
“All three are proliferating,” Farley said. Farley said that he thinks that the increasing ease and speed of communication through fax, FedEx overnight delivery and e-mail is fueling the consulting industry.
“It’s more amenable now than ever to make contacts and communicate more readily,” Farley said, adding that he has done work in England, France, India and Germany without setting foot in those countries. “Twenty years ago you couldn’t do it. This facility of communication by various modes has made more people know that they can enter the field.”
Jim Lansing, president of PATCA and owner of the San Francisco Management Group, said that one of the reasons for the growth in consulting work in general right now is that companies are preparing for future growth. An outside consultant lends a higher level of expertise and can analyze a company’s weak spots and establish systems that later can be maintained by additional staff.
Consultants can be added on a project basis, Lansing said, until a company can justify adding more staff and companies don’t have to worry about laying them off. Lansing said that the areas with the most growth for consultants are IT, human resources, marketing and public relations.
Lansing explained that as the tech industry grows, it requires more of everything including consultants. But he said that, from his experience, the growth is slow right now. He said that tech consultants he knows are busier this year than last but aren’t swamped.
The growth in human resources, marketing and public relations is another indication that the economy is growing, Lansing said. He said companies are spending more to develop their employees, spending more on their marketing budgets and holding more events that they want to publicize.
Lansing said that the number of women consultants also is increasing, especially in training, marketing, public relations, human resources and legal services.
Savannah consultant David Harper is one of those consultants focused on human resources issues. His three-year-old business, The Advisory Alliance, helps service and knowledge-based businesses find and develop talent. Harper thinks that the reason that human resource consultants are in such high demand right now is that people are one of the last frontiers in improving business practices. Harper said that businesses have perfected how to make machines work most efficiently but it is a much more complex process to determine how to motivate people, make them productive and sustain that productivity.
“Everyone says that people are their most important asset, but what does that mean beyond ‘employee of the month,’” Harper said. “The paradox is that the best talent has the most options and are most capable of leaving.” The increasing need for marketing consulting has directly impacted Alice Jean’s Savannah business, Advantage Marketing. Jean, now a direct marketing consultant, said she started the business as a mail execution company 19 years ago. “We were so successful we invited competition,” Jean said. To carve out a niche market, Jean started specializing in direct mail and five years ago started consulting with clients on how to develop their direct mail campaigns to have the most impact.
Jean said the consulting part of her business has really taken off in the last year or two. “There are so many choices on how to tell their story,” Jean said. “It’s not just about mailing but what you’re trying to accomplish.Anyone can send out their mail, but we’re helping them strategically find out what will work for them.” Jean said she works mostly with local and regional clients but is starting to add national clients to her list and a wider variety of clients. Jennifer Abshire of Savannah-based Abshire Public Relations said that public relations consulting is growing nationally because companies increasingly are seeking their services not only to get their names in the press but to help them develop their businesses and marketing strategies, according to a recent issue of PR Weekly.
Abshire said that is true for her own business as well, which began in 1997. Abshire said companies increasingly want an outside opinion on how they are perceived by the public.
“The most qualified agencies will give real data whether good or bad,” Abshire said adding that it is the PR agency’s job to either keep the company on top or promote it to the next level.
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