One of the fastest growing areas of the economy is the provision of technical and management advice to business leaders.
This covers a wide range of services, from IT and web services, marketing, personnel and design.
Many of these services are provided by small companies and freelancers - often successfully, but all too often, the relationship fails to reach its potential.
Too often, the clients of these companies end up dissatisfied and disgruntled.
Maintaining the right quality of service can be critical to the providers of technical support.
This is particularly challenging if the business grows, both in the number and complexity of jobs being undertaken.
This can create a special challenge for technical consultants seeking to grow their business.
A successful business can grow very rapidly and sometimes this can catch the owner unaware.
A peak in sales can very quickly turn into a slump in orders if quality service and products fail to grow with demand.
One thing is certain as your business grows you will not be able to do everything so you will have to very carefully consider the skills base that you need to develop around you.
For example you may have a technically brilliant product produced by the best expertise in the business, but if your consultants do not have the ability to build rapport and make that all important connection with customers you will end up losing business.
Good consultants do this naturally; however, many consultants struggle to build empathy with companies.
It does not help that customers often start with a suspicious attitude and may view consultancy as expensive, unhelpful or too slick.
The task gets particularly difficult when the customer relationships are no longer led by the founders of the business - when they are being led by new, possibly more junior staff.
Given the importance of maintaining strong relationships with customers, this can put the business in danger.
The skill of building rapport with clients can be nurtured with the help of coaching.
By investing in coaching to embed the use of softer skills for technical consultants you can maximise earning potential while at the same time provide personal development that will enthuse and motivate your team.
Coaching should certainly, not be viewed as a punishment for something that is being done badly, instead it should be seen as a tool that can facilitate control, increase confidence and achieve targets that will drive a business and the individuals within it forward.
This covers a wide range of services, from IT and web services, marketing, personnel and design.
Many of these services are provided by small companies and freelancers - often successfully, but all too often, the relationship fails to reach its potential.
Too often, the clients of these companies end up dissatisfied and disgruntled.
Maintaining the right quality of service can be critical to the providers of technical support.
This is particularly challenging if the business grows, both in the number and complexity of jobs being undertaken.
This can create a special challenge for technical consultants seeking to grow their business.
A successful business can grow very rapidly and sometimes this can catch the owner unaware.
A peak in sales can very quickly turn into a slump in orders if quality service and products fail to grow with demand.
One thing is certain as your business grows you will not be able to do everything so you will have to very carefully consider the skills base that you need to develop around you.
For example you may have a technically brilliant product produced by the best expertise in the business, but if your consultants do not have the ability to build rapport and make that all important connection with customers you will end up losing business.
Good consultants do this naturally; however, many consultants struggle to build empathy with companies.
It does not help that customers often start with a suspicious attitude and may view consultancy as expensive, unhelpful or too slick.
The task gets particularly difficult when the customer relationships are no longer led by the founders of the business - when they are being led by new, possibly more junior staff.
Given the importance of maintaining strong relationships with customers, this can put the business in danger.
The skill of building rapport with clients can be nurtured with the help of coaching.
By investing in coaching to embed the use of softer skills for technical consultants you can maximise earning potential while at the same time provide personal development that will enthuse and motivate your team.
Coaching should certainly, not be viewed as a punishment for something that is being done badly, instead it should be seen as a tool that can facilitate control, increase confidence and achieve targets that will drive a business and the individuals within it forward.