Are you sitting on a really great business idea? Or maybe you already run a small operation, but you can use some help taking it to the next level. Hiring an expert for business plan consulting is a great way to get ahead. 

If your company or business idea needs some forward momentum, this article is for you. We’ve put together six great tools used by the best consultants. 

What does a business consultant do?

You can expect a professional business consultant to assist you with creating a business plan. An effective business plan consultants will also work directly with you to identify potential marketing needs. In addition, business consultants may also assist you in implementing your new goals and procedures.

Business plan consulting will help you:

Develop hiring and training practices to attract more qualified employees

Review your budget and accounting to identify areas of strength and weakness

Create a strategic business plan, including short and long-term goals 

Develop a strategy to increase conversion rates and brand awareness 

Identify funding needs and methods for obtaining funds

Implement new resources for IT

Educating on business regulations and sales methods

A significant sector of business consultation comes down to evaluation of performance. Business plan consulting firms use a variety of tools to streamline your goals. Here are six effective methods from the experts to add to your own practices: ! 

6 Business Plan Consulting Tools You Need to Know

 The GE-McKinsey Nine-Box Matrix

It may sound like an especially challenging Captcha, but it’s actually a widely used consulting method. The Nine-Box Matrix is used to help business professionals like yourself assess the value of potential opportunities. 

Developed in the 1970s by McKinsey & Company, the matrix was used to help General Electric prioritize investments. It identified opportunities as “high”, “medium”, or “low” within the matrix’s two axes. These are labeled “competitive strength of the business unit” and “industry attractiveness”.

GE is a large company, and it’s only gotten bigger since the 70s. Imagine what the McKinsey Matrix could do to help your brand! 

Here’s a video to help you get started.

Porter’s Five Forces
Porter’s Five Forces was developed by Bishop William Lawrence University Professor Michael E. Porter. During his time at Harvard Business School, Porter created the five forces framework. It is a form of industry analysis used to create strategic business plans. 

Porter defines the five competitive forces that influence an industry’s profitability as: 

Competition rivalry

The threat of new entrants

The threat of substitute offerings

The bargaining power of suppliers

The bargaining power of buyers

You can learn more about the Five Forces here. 

Benchmarking

Benchmarking is more straightforward than our first two tools. It’s simply the process of comparing the metrics of YOUR company, to those of your competitors. These can be your direct competitors, or particularly innovative companies in another, similar industry. 

While there are a vast number of metrics that are used in business plan consulting, the most common are:  

The cycle time of your process (design, manufacturing, distribution) 

Cost of production

Rate of employee turnover 

Revenue

The BCG Growth-Share Matrix

Yes, another matrix. The fourth tool is known as the quadrant matrix, developed by BCG – the Boston Consulting Group. It’s a tool that many high profile companies use to assess the strength of specific lines of products in their portfolios. 

In this method, you will split your product lines into the following four quadrants:

Question marks (aka Problem Child): Products with low market share in high growth markets.

Dogs – Products with low market share or growth.

Cash cows – Products with high market share in low growth markets.

Stars – Products with high market share in high growth markets. 

Business News Daily has a great article on implementing the Growth-Share Matrix for your own business! 

Core Competencies

Core competencies are useful for EVERY business. 

This is the process of identifying your business’s strengths and assets, as well as how you rank within your market. Your organization’s core competencies are areas where you are especially proficient in a way that your competitors can’t replicate. 

Identifying your areas of strength will give you a leg up on your competition. One management theory states that to be truly successful a business must define, expand, and exploit its core competencies.  

Balanced Scorecard

The final tool used in business plan consulting is a framework for monitoring critical aspects of your company’s strategy. The idea is that a “balanced scorecard” will facilitate improvement and change within your organization. 

This method goes beyond the usual financial advisor in Norway to help make and maintain long-term goals. A Balanced Scorecard is also helpful for spotting challenges before they occur. No one likes surprises on their financial statements, right? 

Scorecards cover a quantitative and comprehensive set of objectives that are easily measured by the business owner. 

Components commonly included in a Balanced Scorecard are: 

Product/Service quality

Employee morale

Customer satisfaction

Market share value 

Revenue & earnings 

Your company deserves the best in business plan consulting 

When you reach out for business strategic it consulting services, you expect the best. At Bargain Business Plan Company, we’ve served small business owners since 2008. With more than 10,000 satisfied customers, you can be sure that we have the unique skill set you need to initiate growth, as well as identify and solve problems.  

If you’re ready to launch your idea, or revive your business, contact us today for a free consultation!