by Brent Forbush

Why Businesses Should Secure Consultants in Today’s Economic Times

If you have ever seen the movie Blindside, there’s a great underlying theme about how the most successful teams take care of their players. In today’s business world, in particular, nothing could be more important. Long gone are the days of full-time directors of various departments. Today we need to seek out the best in the business and partner with those who do their job best.

Who Should You Have on Your Team?

Ideally, a well-rounded business should have a hit list like this one to be the caregivers of its operation. Sure, it’s important to have the contacts, yet to be most successful, it’s critical for the owner of the business to develop and maintain close working relationships. You never know when you may need to reach out and touch their talent; often it is when you least expect it. Some team members are obvious, others are not: all are vital in today’s complex business world. These include:

• employees
• banker
• lawyer
• sales professional
• IT specialist
• CPA

The Employee

You’ve heard the saying, “The customer comes first” or “the customer is always right.” Often, we forget that making the customer right starts with our first line of customer contact, our employees. And as we have seen in recent airline incidents, they are the face of your company, whether good or bad. The time and effort that you invest in your employees can be the best return on investment that your business can make. Employee turnover can cost in excess of 12% of an average company’s revenue in hiring and training and lost productivity.

The Banker

Do you really know your banker?  Would he or she recognize you from a distance?  If not, it’s time to repair that relationship gap and get to know the person who can make or break your business in the best or worst of times. Sure, the day to day banking support is a given, but what about when you need some serious cash for a capital investment, make a significant commercial real estate purchase or need to get your credit in line? Make your banker your best business friend.

Lawyer

Lawyers, in general, don’t have the best rep, yet they should. They have brought some of the best advice to our business and can do the same for you. Be it a liability attorney, business lawyer, or legal firm, find one that fits your personality and business style and keep their number handy. With all of the challenges that come with owning your own business, it just makes good sense to have a trusted professional who can offer some sound legal advice when you need it most.

Sales Professional

Today you can contract with someone who used to hold a chief marketing officer position, spend a few hours a month to tap their brain and voila ~ you receive their professional opinion at a fraction of the cost that you would have paid if they were a full-time employee. Run, don’t walk, to partner with a sales and marketing professional.

IT Specialist 

With the ever-changing world of IT, you’d have to be extremely savvy in the art of IT to handle your computer needs in-house. From the basics of keeping your computer alive and on-line to proactive networking monitoring, these are elements that are crucial to keep your business competitive, your operating costs in line, and productivity in full motion.

CPA (Certified Public Accountant)

Is your CPA a “Firm of the Future”? The CPA should be embracing cloud technology, advising you on technology trends, software, and apps to run your business more efficiently. Future firms use social media effectively, are accessible via text message, look for solutions to have collaborative real-time accounting with their clients, and use secure client portals to exchange documents with you. Future Ready Firms have abandoned the old archaic bill by the hour and have moved to a value-based billing system. Such arrangements allow for an ongoing, continuous, proactive relationship to flourish and for decisions to be made with all available information in a timely proactive manner versus reactive. If you only talk to your CPA in March of each year, it is already too late to ensure the best business decision was made.

How often do you talk to your CPA? Does your CPA ask you what the business case is for a decision you are about to make? Having a CPA in your back pocket is one of the best investments you can make. It lends to your credibility with banks and other financial partners.  When you have a CPA that you can trust to handle the intricacies of your day to day operations, you’ll have more time to focus on your future. And that alone is worth the trusted advisor relationship.

So, Who’s Got Your Back?

As a business owner, it seems like the list of “must haves” to succeed are never-ending.

Don’t let this short list stop your progress. In fact, when you have business specialists by your side to do their best on your behalf, you will have more time to do what you do best. And isn’t that why you got into your business for in the first place?

Making Sense of Every Cent

When you’re ready to make sense of every cent, build your team that has your back and truly succeed in today’s challenging business times, call us at Forbush and Associates.

Brent Forbush is the Auditing and Accounting Manager at Forbush and Associates which is a family owned and family run local CPA, accounting and tax preparation professional services firm.