Have you decided that hiring a Microsoft Excel business consultant is the best thing for your business? A good Microsoft Excel consultant is able to work on a variety of applications based in Excel platform.
Being able to hire one that can correctly carry out the duties that you need is integral to business applications. Read on and find out how you can vet the right candidate for your business and hire a candidate that suits you best.
1. Work Out Your Needs In Detail
Before you can even begin to think of hiring someone, you should sit down and work out the needs for your business application.
This should include the nature of the Excel application being worked on and its primary functions. This process should not be rushed and you should take your time in thinking through everything that is important.
You can also consider having the prospective consultant do a deep analysis in order to work out what exactly should be included. Before you actually speak to someone though, make some time to sit down with members of your staff and talk to them about business needs.
2. Creating A List Of Requirements
Now you’ve worked out what you need out of someone working with an Excel application, you can begin to focus on the individual or company that you are going to hire.
To make sure you get the correct person (or people) for your needs, consider the points below when making a decision –
- Whether you are hiring an individual or company
- Hiring someone local or a remote solution
- How many years of programming and consulting experience they have
- Are their skills limited to Excel or can they work in Access
- What days they are available to work
- What hours they are available to work
- Do they have physical premises you can go to
3. Conducting Your Search
The nature of your search will dictate the results that you find.
If, for example, you type in ‘Local Excel Consultant,’ you’ll get different results to omitting the first word. The companies that turn up in results can give you an idea of the reputability and some indication that they already receive a fair amount of traffic.
However, hiring a company or individual solely on this basis can be problematic. Hence, it is important to dive further into what they are capable of and who they have served in the past.
4. Look At The Company’s Client Base
When taking a look at a company or an individual that you wish to hire, looking at their clients can be a good indication of their quality and how well they are doing their job.
Are you able to recognise some of the clients that they already have?
And in this case, do you recognise just a few names or are there many? This can be very telling. Online reviews can inform you plenty about an individual or company.
When looking at the reviews, you should make note of what the clients are saying about them. In particular, did the client say similar things and do they affirm the quality of their work?
Looking for a company or individual that is rated five stars can also help to weed out consultants that are not worth your time. You want to make sure you can hire the best firm for the money you’re paying.
As well as looking on the website, you can read testimonials across the companies entire range of online platforms.
A good port of call is LinkedIn. Check to see how many testimonials they have, what people are saying and how reputable the people are that wrote them. Case studies can also help you to see how effective their methods were.
5. How Responsive Is The Individual Or Company?
When reaching out to these companies or individuals, you want a prompt response. When getting in touch with them, are you able to get through via the phone or did it go straight to voicemail?
In the case of the latter, how long did you have to wait for a reply? A call going to voicemail does not necessarily mean they aren’t responsive, but can mean they are very busy.
This can be both a pro and a con, as they could possibly be very much in demand, but also so in demand that they are unable to attend to your request.
In the event that you used a contact form in order to get through to them, remember how long they took to reply, whether it is simply a couple of hours or a matter of days.
6. Ask For A Consultation
When vetting these companies, it is ideal that you can discuss what you need in detail with them.
Being able to get a free consultation will enable you to relay what you want out of your partnership, while also gauging how capable they are of carrying out your needs.
A free consultation should be offered if said company/individual wishes to work with you. However, if you have very extensive needs, then you should make no hesitation in paying a company to do a dive deep into the fulfillment process.
Many consultations are offered remotely; however, having one person to person allows you to communicate better and have a much more thorough understanding of each other.
7. Outline The Project Scope
Following your consultation, getting a statement of work that will be carried out is important. This should outline what is going to be done if going forward with the project, as well as resolving any questions you have to mind.
Included in the scope should be an estimate of time and money. Know exactly what their pricing policy is and also be aware of the multiple costs included in a project.
As well as being aware of the production of an application and how much you pay for it, you should also consider what you have to pay if the application does not work how you assumed it would and how much it would cost to repeat the project.
Finding The Right Excel Business Consultant
Finding an Excel business consultant for your applications needn’t be difficult or stressful. Follow the above tips and you should be able to find someone to work on projects well qualified to meet your standards.
Looking to get going straight away? Get in touch.
