Picking Professionals to Work With

Part C: Prepare the Business to Launch

The more time you spend researching and creating everything your business needs, the less time you have to spend on your business. Sitting up at night figuring out how to build a website, design a logo or lay out a brochure is not in your best interest. You could be spending that time on the work that actually produces income.

We see this constantly with contractors: the owner is on the phone, on the roof and on the books, and nothing grows. The companies that succeed are the ones that figure out when to bring in a professional and when to do it themselves. Can you do your own bookkeeping? Absolutely, and in the beginning it is simple. Should you learn the tax code so you can file your own return? For most owners, that is time badly spent.

Pick your battles

Other people’s time is one of the most valuable tools you have for growing a business, and all you have to do is pay for it. The distinction I want you to hold is between tasks that are yours because only you can do them, and tasks that are yours simply because you have not paid anyone else yet. If you believe you can do everything best yourself, you have already put a ceiling on how big the business can get.

One thing few owners think about is how they treat their professional vendors: bankers, lawyers, accountants, designers. Most dive into their business without a second thought about what these people can do for them or what they, in turn, look for in a client. The main thing to remember is that you want a personal relationship with each of them. They can influence your success, sometimes directly, sometimes quietly. Build the relationship before you hit a bump in the road, and they will be there when you do.

How to choose a professional

Here is the process we use and teach. First, build a referral list. Find at least five options by asking people you trust in adjacent professions. A financial planner will often know a good banker or tax accountant. Other business owners in your community will tell you who they use and, just as usefully, who they stopped using.

Second, call all five and ask to discuss their services. Find out the size of the firm, their experience in your industry and their background. If they seem viable, ask how they bill and what they charge. Cheaper is not always worse and expensive is not always better. Ask each one for examples of similar work and what it cost the other client, then compare that with what they are quoting you.

Third, pick the best two or three for a meeting. Choose the ones who responded promptly, who understood your business when you described it, and whose fees fit your current budget. Slow responses during the courtship tell you what service will feel like after the wedding.

Fourth, the final interview. Will they work directly on your account, or will it be handed to an employee? What exactly is the scope of what they provide? How much access will you have for questions and support? Chances are the good ones will ask you about all of this before you ask them. Those who do are looking out for your interests from the beginning.

Fifth, select. Pick the one with the best answers, the one you would want to call at 7am with a problem. Then ask yourself the softer questions. Are they approachable? Do you understand them and do they understand you? Communication is the whole foundation of getting value from a professional. And the ones worth keeping do more than complete the required actions. They give you advice that helps you steer the business in the years ahead. Listen to them, and make sure you can ask questions when you need to. Whoever builds your site or runs your marketing, you own the domain and the Google Business Profile logins. Get that in writing before you start.

The trademark attorney

One professional worth singling out is the trademark attorney. Why not just use a general business attorney? Because trademark work is its own specialty, with its own searches, filings and disputes, and a general attorney will often refer you out anyway. Does every business need one? A one-truck local operation that will never leave the county may not. A business with a distinctive name that intends to grow, franchise, sell online or license anything should talk to one before the name is on the trucks. What they do is search properly, file properly, and defend the name if someone else starts using it. The value is simple: you get to keep what you built.

Your next step

Write two columns. On the left, everything you currently do or plan to do yourself. On the right, mark each item “only I can” or “nobody has been paid yet.” Pick the item from the second group that costs you the most hours, and start the five-step process for it this week by asking three people for referrals.

The selection process itself is free and takes three to five hours of calls and meetings over a few weeks. What the professionals cost varies widely by trade and region, so compare what you would pay them against what an hour of your own time is worth doing the work that brings in revenue.

Next: choosing them is the first step. Building Your Outside Team covers how to keep the relationships useful once you have them.