How to open a consulting company? Step-by-step guide with tips

Starting a consulting company can be a good alternative for an experienced or qualified professional. Even in times of crisis, like the one we are experiencing, the segment continues to grow. Hiring a consulting company has been an increasingly used strategy for companies that need to solve complex problems, reduce costs, innovate technologically or even reposition their business.

What is a consultancy?

The consulting company offers the service of one or more experienced and knowledgeable professionals in a given subject. It responds to customer needs, identifies solutions and makes recommendations.

Through accurate diagnostics, it seeks to help the client to solve issues, suggesting improvements in the processes and building the way so that he can proceed on his own.

For this reason, the consultant needs a solid base of knowledge in the area in which he will work, great capacity for analysis and criticism and, in addition, always be up to date in relation to constant innovations in the market. Companies seek consultancies that innovate, that are creative and that have a broad and strategic view of the business trends they develop.

And to put its activities into practice, the consultant needs to have a solid and regulated structure.

What does it take to open a consulting firm?

Well, if your dream is to open a consulting company, the first step is to roll up your sleeves and be aware of the steps to be followed. There are some questions that are basic and for which it is important that you have the answers before thinking about formalizing your business, let’s see:

The first is whether you are going to have partners or not. From this answer you will define the legal nature of your company. It is good to keep in mind, too, the name that your company will give and what activities you will develop. Remember that consulting is a strategic service and requires extensive knowledge in the field.

You can choose to offer comprehensive consultancy, capable of analyzing your client’s entire business and proposing improvements or specializing in a particular subject or area. Depending on the area, you will need, in addition to experience, proof of specific and regulated technical capacity to act.

But what are the types of consultancy?

With the constant turbulence in the global economy, companies are increasingly turning to consultants to help them face these challenges. The business consultancy offers an external vision and that can contribute a lot to optimize processes, overcome obstacles and bring about significant innovations.

A company can offer demands for improvements on specific issues in certain areas or sectors. For this reason, it is important that the consultancy is specialized, capable of elaborating accurate diagnoses and pointing out ways. An example of specialized business consultancy is focused on human resources. With a look from the outside, the consultant can suggest solutions on dismissals, hiring, working conditions, training and courses, for example.

Gastronomy and franchise consultancy

There are also business consultancies that are very important when opening a business, such as gastronomy consulting for those thinking about opening a restaurant. There are also consultants specialized in franchises, very much in demand by those who have already opened a business, are very successful and plan to expand.

Strategic business management consultancy is required to help the company develop action plans to make the business more productive and profitable. The consultant will seek to understand the strengths and weaknesses, as well as the opportunities and threats of the company. In this type of consultancy, the challenge is to develop strategies aimed at the future of the organization. It is to guide the customer towards the long-term sustainability of your business.

For business management consultancy, the look needs to be comprehensive and consider the totality of business processes.

Risk management and financial consultancy

Another very specific type of business consultancy is risk management. It aims to point out and analyze the possible future risks that the company may face. When identifying threats, it defines prevention and protection measures for each case, which protects the company’s performance and improves decision making.

Often, the company is dedicated to the business consulting , that is, to meet the needs of its customers, and the consultancy is dedicated to risk management. A successful one-two.

This is also the case for financial consulting. After all, companies often know their industry very well, but they do not dominate finance – a delicate and extremely important area. This is very common. How many business partners are not, for example, tech or marketing beasts, but don’t know how to manage their financial area? Then, again, the consultant enters.

The financial consultancy will structure or manage resources, revenues and investments. It will prepare a strategic financial plan, through internal policies and the organization of the sector’s activities. This consultancy is worth gold, literally!

You have already realized that there are several types of business consultancy, and, as we have seen, all strategic and that require solid knowledge in the area of ​​expertise. In order not to extend this list too much, we will also talk about marketing consultancy, IT consultancy and the environmental area.

From Marketing to Information Technology

Often when the commercial area of ​​a company is not being successful, the problem may lie in the concept of the product and service offered, which does not meet market demand. The marketing consultancy takes action, focuses on studying the behavior of customers and finds out what their wants and needs are and draws up a plan to attract them, win them over and retain them.

A consultancy that can save a lot of headaches for entrepreneurs is consultancy in the area of ​​Information Technology – IT. With the advancement of technology, it is essential for companies to have a right arm to work innovation in the business. Consulting in this area can bring solutions that can often go unnoticed by company teams. In addition to being a good alternative for a small business, which can have access to qualified and experienced professionals without the need to perform a direct contract.

Caring for the environment is also a business consulting task

And finally, let’s go to the environmental business consulting company. Concern for the environment is increasingly present in corporate policies. Valuing and preserving nature are attitudes that positively change the way consumers see and relate to brands. Environmental consulting can help companies become more sustainable from an environmental point of view.

The environmental consultancy analyzes the environmental impacts and consequences caused by a specific project or by the entire production process of a specific company. Based on this diagnosis, the consultancy helps the company to find ways to reduce, avoid or end the negative environmental impacts caused by its operations.

The hiring of an environmental business consulting company is an investment that prevents companies from failing to comply with environmental legislation and signals their commitment to the environment.

As you have seen, there are many options for providing consulting services. Well, have you defined your area of ​​expertise? Let’s go to the next steps to set up your business consulting company.