When Do I Need a Geriatric Consultant?

Most people do not even know what a Geriatric Care Consultant does let alone whether they need one. Geriatric Care Consultants can be very important under many different circumstances.

1. For many children who do not live in the same city or have extremely demanding schedules with little extra time, they may need an experienced Geriatric Consultant to help navigate their parents’ needs. Some of those needs may be medical in nature such as: escorting them and being there for important doctor consultations; hiring caregivers or other supportive staff; supervising caregivers and directing them; determining medical needs and finding the appropriate doctors, physical therapists, occupational therapists, dentists etc. A Geriatric Consultant can provide accurate reports of vital information so that the children can make informed decisions with regards to their parents. Geriatric consultants can also give advice with regards to financial matters. They can direct children to lawyers and accountants who have the right expertise for each circumstance. If a nursing home or retirement home is necessary, a Geriatric Consultant can direct you to the right ones. If staying at home is the preferred option, a Geriatric Consultant can help with retrofitting the home to meet the physical challenges that have to be faced.

2. There are instances when an individual is asked or needs to be a Power of Attorney (POA) or guardian for a senior or disabled family or non family member. A Geriatric Consultant can direct them to the right professionals who can make sure that every aspect is executed properly.

3. Conflict resolution. Many times there are conflicts among family members as to the direction of care for their loved one. Other times there is resistance on the part of the person who needs care to accept care. An experienced Geriatric Care Consultant can help negotiate, arbitrate, and bring resolution and clarity to these dilemmas.

4. Advocacy. There are times when a loved one is in a facility such as a hospital or nursing home and needs someone to advocate for them and make sure that their need are being addressed especially if there are no family members or none in the same city. Dealing with insurance companies or other financial obligations may be difficult especially when a strong position has to be taken. A Geriatric Care Consultant can advocate effectively for the senior hopefully to a just conclusion.

5. General support and fellowship. Sometimes it is just comforting to have someone who is experienced and knowledgeable to talk to when making care decisions when it comes to a loved one.

Many care decisions are precipitated by a crisis or sudden change in the health of a loved one. That can be stressful enough. It is always a good thing to have a level headed, experienced professional working alongside you to advise, assist, co-ordinate and reassure you at those times.

How Do Franchise Consultants Get Paid?

As entrepreneurs decide to join an organization to become a franchise consultant, also know as a franchise broker, one of the main questions becomes “how will I get paid”?

Commissions

The franchise broker is sometimes considered very similar to a recruiter. When the match is made between franchisor and franchisee, the franchise broker receives a payment. The franchisors are represented by the consulting organization that the franchise consultants are affiliated with. The consultant must be part of the consulting organization in order to earn the commission.

Franchisees do not pay anything beyond the franchise price originated by the franchisor. The franchisor pays a pre-determined amount when the deal is made. The amount of the fee is agreed upon with the consulting organization when the franchisor first enlists their services.

The referral fees that the franchise consultant earns typically range between $10,000 and $15,000; however may run as high as $50,000 if an entire territory is sold.

How Fees are earned

The franchisors are willing to pay these fees in order to find quality franchisees to run their businesses. The franchise brokers earn these fees mainly because they qualify potential candidates in detail to determine if they are a good fit for a particular business. At the same time they are honing in on the franchise that the franchisee is most likely to succeed at; thereby benefiting both sides.

Processing and Timing of Payment

Franchise consultants do not typically have to wait for the franchise to open in order to receive payment. The fees earned are paid at the time the franchisee pays their franchise fee.

Overall, there is a fairly quick turnaround for the consultant in receiving their earnings; therefore the potential to bring in quite a steady income.

How to Improve Your Photography Skills: 18 Creative Ideas for Beginners

You received new camera gear. You may even have taken basic photography lessons. But finding unique beginner photography ideas can be difficult at home, college, or job. While it may appear straightforward, determining where to put your camera or smartphone can be challenging

These beginner photography tips will get you clicking in no time. Cool photography ideas abound. Just start snapping!

A Rubik’s Cube:-
Begin with a small step. We all have a Rubik’s cube. But they’re cheap!

Paintings of cubes or spheres with one or two light sources casting shadows are common art courses. A Rubik’s cube presents a similar difficulty,Guest Posting while also demonstrating your camera’s colour capturing abilities.

Static:-
After mastering one object, add additional to a composition. Again, we’re inspired by art classes.

A still life is a gathering of objects against a plain background. Fruit is a good example, but so are literature, antique electronics, even busts.

Try out different lighting. How do the shadows alter as the lamp’s closeness changes? What’s highlighted and what’s hidden? What if the lamp was part of the still life?

Your choices reveal a lot about you. SKULLS captivated Paul Cézanne’s imagination. Steve McCurry’s shattered sculptures speak of forgotten worlds. Sunflowers were Vincent van Gogh’s preoccupation.

But what do your still life photographs say about you?

Portrait:-
Art reflects creators, customers, and civilizations. It includes self-portraits. So let’s take a look at one of the most prevalent (and contentious) photography topics today. It’s the selfie, of course.

You may think that expressing yourself requires little skill. But many creative people have utilised self-portraits to reveal a hidden side. What are you saying? What’s going on? What’s your piece’s point?

Learn how to use your camera’s timer or selfie mode.

Your Own Kids:-
You took a selfie. How do you use those skills with others?

Your kids are wonderful models. Whether you don’t have kids, ask a relative if you can photograph theirs. Children range greatly in age, temperament, and energy.

Photographing your kids enjoying fun is natural. But what about their private moments of worry, reading, or music? This is a great opportunity to practise creative photography at home.

Get their permission first.

Crowds:-
You’ve mastered one or two person portraits. Try a crowd.

Unruly people. Even on a straight line, we have odd pauses. We quickly shift direction, start or end conversations, and detour from directions.

A crowd is a photographer’s dream. Capture the crowd’s movement. Look for interesting portraits. What do people do? What sets some apart? A vast group of people is like a single person.

You’ve captured individuals in their element: together.

Moving Cars:-
Photographers adore the variety of colours, lines, reflections, textures, and textures that vehicles provide.

But moving autos are a different story.

What’s the major attraction? Is a completely blurred composition illustrative of your intent? Or does focusing on one part of the image “speed up” the rest? Experiment with shutter speeds when shooting moving objects.

Carnivales:-
Funfairs are best on dreary nights. They’re more difficult for both novices and pros. You must consider shutter speeds, composition, and ISO.

ISO stands for ISO sensitivity. The higher the ISO, the better your camera’s night vision. But higher ISO produces more “noise,” pockmarks on an image.

With so much going on, you’ll want to be ambitious. Hold back. Remember: simple is beautiful.

Aliens:-
You’ve got people. TRY IT ON ANIMALS

Photographing pets is a great way to have fun with photography. Ideally, candid images. It’s difficult to train your animals to achieve a specific composition.

Ascend to your pet’s level. Aim for the eyes. Their presence is felt.

Excessiveness yields the most. You can get close to animals or stand back and see them from afar.

Webs:-
This is one of the toughest photography tasks. Why? You’re trying to capture something intangible.

How can your camera see cobwebs that we can’t see?

The obvious reason is humidity. That means early mornings or late evenings when the terrain is misty. Let nature take its course, not water them.

Include light. How should it illuminate your subject?

Dawn and dusk:-
If you’re shooting cobwebs early in the morning or late at night, the sun is a great subject.

It dazzles. It also streaks beautiful hues over the sky as it rises and sets. If you’re ever lacking motivation, glance skyward. That’s your task.

Avoid looking straight at the sun when it is high in the sky.

Be patient. A “second sunset” happens 20–30 minutes after the sun has sunk below the horizon.

Take lots of photos. With digital and mobile photography, you can take one in 50 shots and be happy with it.

Thoughts:-
Using reflections in photos allows for new views.

When you combine reflection photography with sunrise or sunset, you get a beautiful, rich final product. You may carve up an interesting niche by using mirrors in every setting.

Fountains:-
Water is a great subject for creative photography. It has limitless morphing lines. Interesting light reflections. It’s everywhere.

Begin with fountains. If you miss a freeze-frame, you’ll receive another chance soon. This gives you time to prepare. Start with 1/500 sec shutter speed and a lower ISO: you’ll get enough detail without ruining the overall impression.

The depth of field is greater in natural light, but less so in artificial light.

Fire:-
Now let’s look at another unexpected element: fire.

Precautions. Ensure you’re well-ventilated and can easily extinguish the flames. Don’t fudge. Take photos of a candle or your home’s fireplace.

Start with a 1/250 shutter speed to capture individual flames or smoke. Slower pace helps reveal the full glow. What happens when there’s no other light?

Extreme Weather:-
A photograph of extremes is a great photograph of extremes. Weather is one of life’s extremes.

Nature’s wrath can be seen anywhere. Photography ideas for dull weather abound. Rainfall is as fascinating as a monsoon. Drought signs too. If there’s one thing that connects us all, it’s the weather.

Be prepared for sudden changes in weather and conditions. Snow may last for days, yet its fall can be sporadic.

Graffiti:-
This divides. Some call it art. Some call it vandalism. In either case, it’s a great first photography project.

You can make your argument no matter what. Should you crop in Why do you say that? What’s in the foreground? This is a story.

If you want to sell your images, learn about copyright regulations. Some graff artists try to patent their work.

Cityskills:-
Skylines evoke emotions and memories. If you have time, stay in one position all day. See how the light affects the composition and decide which to film.

Make a huge scale or intimidating. Overlook a busy or deserted junction. Look for eye-drawing lines or patterns.

Forest:-
Woods are biomes!

Are massive trunks, thick bark, twisted branches, and leafy veins. Night shots can be interesting if you use an artificial light source.

Events in Astronomy:-
Keep an eye out. Amazing, huh? Capturing space’s infinite wonder? That’s a challenge. How to photograph natural satellites?

Black Tourmaline: Benefits and Properties

Know Black tourmaline Healing Crystal Meaning, Properties and benefits

Introduction to the Black Tourmaline Crystal’s Healing Properties
“Ignoring Self Preservation Was Your Second Mistake. Getting Aware Of Your Demons And Not Taking Steps Is Still The First.”

Just like positive energy and negative energy,Guest Posting there lie’s light energy and dark energy.

While negative energy is the natural state of aura that we build around us, dark energy is reciprocated to us by someone else intentionally or unintentionally.

Moreover unlike negative energy dark energies mean you harm and are usually successful if you don’t take steps to protect yourself.

And no better stone to trust than Black Tourmaline when it comes to the protection of the health, wealth, and peace of yourself, your family, and your close ones.

The powers of the Black tourmaline are unquestioned and have been used since Medieval times.

But not it. Let us have a look at different levels at humans what are the benefits of Black tourmaline at these stages.

The Healing Benefits Of Black Tourmaline Physical
The best-known use of the Black tourmaline stone at the physical level is its ability to keep you safe from the electromagnetic forces from Wifi, cell towers, and other radiation that are prone to harm us.

The stone also helps in boosting the metabolism and curing muscle ache. The soothing ability helps in cutting down the pain, while the stone boots your immune system to get well sooner than you may be expecting.

Emotional
The healing benefits of Black tourmaline don’t stop at the physical level at all. The stone protects you from anxious vibrations from places or even the people around you.

As a result, the stone helps in keeping the negative thoughts, stress, and anxiety away. Along with all this, the stone promotes self-confidence, and feel free attitude.

Spiritual
By now you know that black tourmaline is more of a protection stone. And not just any stone, Black Tourmaline is one of the best protection stones keeping you safe from all sorts of dark and negative energy.

In addition, it creates a force of energy around you to keep you safe from manipulation and psychic attacks.

How To Use Black Tourmaline For Protection And Grounding?
When you first receive your Black tourmaline Healing Crystal from Tocrystal, follow the following steps to ensure the best effectiveness of the Black Tourmaline.

Take a bowl of clean, spring water and soak the stone in it for 24 hours. Place the bowl and the stone in open where the sunlight and the moonlight can fall on it easily.

This will ensure that the stone is cleansed and re-energized to help you out at different levels. After 24 hours of cleansing, you can wear it, carry it, or place it as per your wish.

Just repeat the cleansing every two months or so to grow a connection with your stone and enhance its effectiveness.

Best Affirmation To Use With Black Tourmaline
While the black tourmaline is a great protection stone by itself, you can use the following affirmation in time of quick relief from stress, anxiety, and negativity.

How to launch a P2P crypto clearinghouse like Paxful instantly

Paxful is a global cryptocurrency trading platform with millions of users to trade various cryptocurrencies with 300+ payment methods. after the success of the Paxful trading platform, many entrepreneurs were interested to start a P2P crypto exchange like Paxful.

The development of a cryptocurrency exchange platform from scratch takes more time,Guest Posting effort, and cost. now the question is how to launch a P2P crypto exchange like Paxful instantly? many entrepreneurs prefer the Paxful clone script.

The reason why entrepreneurs prefer the Paxful clone script

Ready to launch
Skip development from scratch
No technical assistance
Easy customization
Save time and money

Paxful clone script is a ready-made P2P crypto exchange script packed with essential features and trading technologies of Paxful exchange.

There are plenty of companies available in the market to provide Paxful clone scripts. but choosing the right P2P cryptocurrency exchange development company like WeAlwin Technologies helps to launch a P2P crypto exchange like Paxful successfully. with a team of skilled Blockchain experts cater a high-quality ready-to-deploy Paxful clone script integrated with necessary features.

The outstanding features of our Paxful clone script

Matching engine
Escrow wallet
Crypto wallet integration
Cross trading
Profit margin
Multiple device compatibility
Trading bot
IEO integration
Live data feed
Launchpad integration
Muli lingual assistance

These are the features we integrate into our Paxful clone script to stand out from the crowd.

Customer Retention: How to Identify the Right Approach

Customer retention management refers to an organization’s ability to retain its existing and newly acquired clients over a specified time.

Customer acquisition is stressed repeatedly in every stakeholder meeting to generate leads and revenue in any organization. However,Guest Posting what most organizations fail to focus on to understand how necessary customer retention is.

What is customer retention?
Customer retention management refers to an organization’s ability to retain its existing and newly acquired clients over a specified time. For example, Starbucks has some excellent reward program strategies (a customer retention strategy) praised worldwide.

If you ask your team to focus 50% on acquiring new customers and 50% on retaining existing customers, the latter’s lifetime value and royalty would be higher.

Did you know that 68% of your sales come from existing customers? (Source: SAS and Loyalty360)

A lot of customers that you acquire may not even come back once they shop from your website. Maybe, you offered them a discount on their first purchase that made them stumble upon your website in the first instance. However, the actual game lies in repeating the purchase cycle of newly acquired customers.

Customer retention strategies require consistency, effort and should make customers feel connected with your brand.

How can you be a brand that customers remember when they think of products and services that you sell?
Here is how brands can leverage and strategize themselves to retain existing and newly acquired customers:

Content is king
Reciprocate great gestures. Understand customer needs and help them with suggestions, tips, and tricks of their interest that tangents to your product/services.

Know that when you add value to their needs, they would add value to your revenue.

Highly personalized messages, especially which are handwritten, show how much a brand values them. If a brand can spend time sending you handwritten notes, its impact on customer experience is vast. It is one of the ways you can do more than a customer expects. After all, a competitive edge is inevitable when you do more than other brands for enhancing CX.

In such a case, when you try to ask for feedback from customers, they will also spare time to help you grow.

Be consistent and exceptional
Customers use multiple channels to communicate with your brand. When they explore various channels, various touchpoints define your relationship with them.

Consistent CX is not easy. It takes efforts that should be consistent and seamless. If you are well-versed with customer profiling, it becomes easier to communicate and solve customer problems. First, understand which channels they prefer, web pages they land on, their behavior, how much value potential they have, and where their journey ends. Then, push relevant messages, emails, alerts, and recommendations accordingly.

All of your brand channels should identify your brand’s voice and try to provide a seamless, fluid interaction across all channels and touchpoints. Customers usually enjoy messages from businesses that know them. Drive context, ensure continuity, and prefer simplicity to make your interactions delightful.

Be prompt in responding to queries
High-tech platforms have succeeded in answering level one of queries, but a human touch must fulfill the final level of customer interaction. Self-service portals could be an excellent option to immediately resolve their questions when you need to notify customers about a delay in response or operational working hours. However, self-service portals are not a good option when the user complains or has suffered a loss while purchasing your product/service. Try to reduce your average handle time for each set question. You can make a list wherein TAT is pre-decided for a specific type of query. Addressing queries fast and right makes a lot of difference in enhancing CX, which shoots revenue significantly.

Automate operational processes
There is routine operational work at every organization that takes a large amount of your time to complete. Such tasks need to be automated, such as – sending a thank you email, welcome note, and emails for the unsubscribed list. Billing and paying through a card can also be done using payment software. However, doing all the activities manually can be time-consuming. When you do this, keep integration and data quality in check. You can even use tools to connect with your customers who have left you using push notifications. This way, you can work on your strategy better, schedule mailers, and notify the event in a blink of an eye.

Have a complaint management system
You should be aware of user dissatisfaction, which is especially true for high-value customers. They are not just frequent buyers but also advocates of your brand. Allow them to engage in word-of-mouth activities in a suitable manner. Complaint management in place would ensure that users do not switch to other brands. Answer critical questions wisely and build trust through such relationships. Allow yourself to feel a complaint like an opportunity to expand your consumer analytics, solve a user problem and add another customer to your loyalty list.

Have KPIs for delivering customer service
What if you try a marketing campaign and are not able to measure results correctly? Have the right KPIs in place which can effectively measure organizational goals. Setting interim KPI goals can evaluate if you are going in the right direction.

KPIs to take care of are:

Response time – Time taken to respond to a customer query
Conversion rate – Response rate on contacting customers through a call or an email
Drop rate – Number of users who have unsubscribed to your service
Actions per engagement – Change in behavior of a user based on your customer reach
Customer lifetime value – How much a customer is worth your business in the long run
These steps will help you state your purpose of getting in touch with a user, build brand value and end with an action step.

Conclusion
The results are bound to change once you apply the above strategies. All of this needs planning and implementation and constantly improving existing processes in action. Be honest and transparent with your customer. Have a retention strategy in place at all times rather than just having an acquisition strategy. Earn brownie points for the future by giving those discounts, free vouchers, and loyalty bonuses to make them feel valued.

There are very few brands that try to customize and retain existing clients properly; we want you to be one of them. Know what they want, incentivize their return, provide them testimonials and be genuinely helpful.

5 Best Crystals For Kids To Keep Them Calm, Protected, And Balanced

In this article know about what is the best crystals for kids to keep them calm, protected and balanced

Kids can sometimes become intolerable. With the development of their body and mind,Guest Posting they are also trying to cope up with all the understanding of the world as well as what’s happening inside their body.

These changes often become a challenge for parents. Kids become unmanageable and it’s hard to make them do what they must do and listen to you.

Along with whatever you do to manage them, you are also concern about their health and safety.

To make sure that you are doing everything that you can, you try to find out different ways. You want to help your kids stay calm, manageable, and also protected at the same time.

Being a good parent, these are a few things that you must be genuinely concerned about. Though, there isn’t much that you can do to control their anger or keep them safe wherever they go.

However, there is a powerful and effective way that can help you achieve all this. This way shouldn’t be hard for you, in fact, it’s pretty easy.

Use crystals for kids to keep them calm, balanced, and safe.

What are the healing crystals?
Healing crystals have unique healing properties that can aid in the healing and protection of the bearer. Crystals for kids support emotional, physical, as well as spiritual healing.

Since these occur naturally under the earth, they all have different chemical compositions and different planets and stars rule them.

What are the best healing crystals for kids?
There are 5 best healing crystals for kids that you must use:

1. Rose quartz
Rose quartz is one of the best crystals for kids. Its loving and gentle energies are best to make your children be at peace and feel loved.

With the gentleness of this healing crystal, the children can easily overcome hurt and irritating emotions.

2. Clear quartz
Clear quartz is the master of healers. It not only aids in the healing of emotional pain in children but also physical pain.

It aids in the quick healing of wounds and eases the pain. It also triggers deep-seated fear and hurt feelings in children and helps them vanish.

This healing crystal is great at keeping the negativity away. This keeps your children safe and makes them feel more confident.

3. Amethyst
Amethyst is among the crystals for kids that help them to stay calm and sleep better. Keeping amethyst under the pillow or wearing it while sleeping helps prevent nightmares. It also alleviates fear, making them more brave and positive.

Another most needed benefit of Amethyst Crystal is that it dispels anger and rage which is a common issue with young children.

4. Tiger Eye
If you’re struggling with your childrens’ education, homework, and exams, the tiger eye is the crystal for you. This is one of those healing crystals for kids that aids in improving brain power.

With tiger eye’s properties, better concentration is induced within children while studying. It makes learning things faster and easier.

It makes your children study for long hours and not get tired or bored. The knowledge learned is retained. Your children gain confidence and are encouraged to study better.

5. Sodalite
Another great crystal to improve the focus of your children is sodalite. Not only does it helps to improve concentration but it also helps in enhancing logical thinking.

Sodalite is among those healing crystals for kids that bring mental and emotional balance.

They shout less, become angry less, and are more composed and sensible.

Bonus Read
You can always tie a healing crystal tumble stone around the neck of your baby and make them wear a healing crystal bracelet for all-day healing.

You can buy crystals for kids online. They can easily be available in retail shops or the shops that sell crystals wholesale. The retailers as well buy crystals wholesale and sell them online as well as offline.

Keep these crystals for kids in their room, inside their school bag, and make sure that they’re always carrying one of the crystals for kids in their pocket wherever they go.

Become A Management Consultant With Monitor Group

One of the newer consulting firms among the industry’s heavy hitters, Monitor Management Consulting is one of the top-tier firms in the world. Founded by Harvard Business School professors, Monitor is based close to where it all began — Cambridge, MA. Monitor relies on applicants’ and consultants’ merits and abilities in hiring and promoting. Consultants who deliver outstanding results for the firm and their clients receive higher compensation and get coveted promotions. Monitor is well-known for its individualized approached to salaries and compensation, based very much on individual performance.

The interview process at Monitor is similar to other top firms, such as BCG, Bain, Booz, and McKinsey. Monitor likes to ascertain a potential management consulting professional’s abilities through an action-based interview process. That means there is a lot more doing than talking. Right on the spot, interviewees will have to perform an in-depth business analysis to a real-world problem that a Monitor client has faced in the past or is currently experiencing. Monitor values three primary characteristics above all in job applicants – abilities, conceptual skills and learning, and dedication.

Monitor has stayed put where it originated, around Harvard, where the firm got its start, and favors candidates attending school in and around Cambridge and the greater Boston area. They mainly stick to the top 20 schools with a focus on the Ivy League. People wanting to be recruited from a non-Ivy should be prepared to stand head and shoulders above their peers in terms of academics, test scores, involvement, and business acumen.

The management consulting interview process at Monitor is perhaps the most important evaluation tool. Early stages of the interview process are known as “fit interviews.” These initial interviews are very conversational in nature and assess whether Monitor and the candidate are a good fit. To prepare for this interview it is best for the candidate to align their personal brand with Monitor’s core values and corporate culture. That means studying the company’s website and talking to recruiters and associates about what it is like working with Monitor.

Candidates should also have detailed examples of how they produced tangible results on projects they have worked on. Clear, well-communicated, detailed stories are a must. That means a candidate should develop and evolve these conversations.

Early round interviews also include a case study interview that assesses a candidate’s analytical ability. Each candidate spends approximately 30 minutes reviewing a business case study that integrates 2-3 pages of text with 4-6 pieces of relevant data. During this interview, the Monitor group looks for a candidate’s ability to think quickly, logically, qualitatively, and quantitatively.

If candidates make it beyond the initial interviews they engage in group case study interviews that include 3-6 candidates that must work as a team to come up with recommendations. Candidates must work through a case study exercise as individuals within 30 minutes.

Candidates are then asked to lead a discussion with the group about the case study the group collaborated on. Two Monitor management consulting associates are there to observe. The group interaction is not a competitive exercise. It is intended to be a collaborative exercise where candidates are evaluated on their group interaction skills and problem solving capabilities. The whole group involved in the group exercise may receive an offer, should the exercise go well.

Some candidates engage in a role play interview where they engage in a series of written and video client interactions. The candidate is then asked to make recommendations. Finally, management consulting candidates then go through a feedback interview that includes helpful back and forth dialogue about prior interviews and other important matters.

Candidates are encouraged to speak with a recruiter in their area and interact with anyone in their network who may have information about the firm to gain as much insight into the Monitor interview process as possible.

8 Questions to Ask Before You Hire a Marketing Consultant

So you have determined that you need to hire a marketing consultant. Below are questions you will want to ask before you make your decision. First, establish the project objectives and desired outcome.

Once you have established the parameters for the engagement, you will want to ask the following questions:

1. How long have you been a consultant? How did you get started and how long have you been in business? The answer you are looking for depends entirely on the type of project and skill set you need. Do you need a formally trained consultant, or are you looking for a highly skilled marketer with specific experience? There are thousands of displaced marketers out there who have decided to hang up a sign and call themselves marketing consultant. This is actually how I got my start. My first major consulting assignment came from a former client in my corporate job. I worked on their business for five years – and they wanted someone who new their business, culture, people and how to navigate around the organization. In this case, I was a perfect fit based on their specific needs.

2. What suggestions do you have for our business? The answer should be an insightful opinion that shows they know your business and have done their homework. A frank assessment that shows they understand the problem you are trying to solve is a signal that this could be a great fit.

3. Who else have you worked for? You will want to probe on the what other clients the consultant has worked for and they types of projects they have worked on. The consultant can provide high level information without sharing details. Remember, you expect them to do the same for you should you hire them. If they offer up too many details, this may be a signal that they are not discreet . Ask for a reference and/or a testimonial.

4. What makes the consultancy unique? The recession has created a massive pool of marketing talent who are now “marketing consultants” What “proof” do they have to their claims and how is it unique? For example, “100% of our clients have hired us for additional engagements” provides much stronger “proof” than does “Extensive marketing experience”. “98% Customer Satisfaction Rating” is more convincing than is “Excellent Customer Service”

5. What is their marketing niche? Most consultants have a specialty. While you want an all-around marketer who has experience with many marketing strategies and tactics, being jack of all marketing trades may not a good sign. If your project requires a specific skill, be sure that the consultant has adequate experience to be able to manage your project.

6. Do they have an Industry Focus? Depending on your needs, industry focus may or may not be critical. If you are seeking a consultant who has SEO expertise, the industry may not be as important. However, if you industry requires specific knowledge (i.e. medical or technical knowledge) industry experience may be a prerequisite.

7. What Industry Events Organizations do you belong to? If their answers match organizations your company and people in your industry belong to, this may be another sign of a good fit. If you are hiring someone for their expertise on a topic of subject matter, attendance a key industry Conferences shows they are committed to staying on top of the latest industry trends and information.

8. Have you published any articles or written a book? Depending on your needs, you may want to hire someone who has follows key industry publications and has published their thoughts. What were the topics? This again is a signal that the consultant may be a SME (subject matter expert) and keep abreast of new industry developments and news. This may not a requirement for your project and could lead to higher consulting fees depending on how well know the consultant is.

These are some basic questions you may want to ask potential marketing consultants. How you make your final decision is up to you. One major factor to consider is “fit”.

What It Takes To Be An Online Marketing Consultant

These days it’s pretty easy to tag the word consultant onto the end of anything and charge a premium for whatever subject it is that you are “consulting” on. The way I see it, as time goes on the word “Consultant” continues to lose it’s value, most probably for the reason mentioned above. My field of expertise happens to be online marketing and so this got me thinking about what it actually takes to be an online marketing consultant.

Firstly I think it’s safe to say that there are many different types of marketing consultant – strategic thinkers, day-to-day project managers, general doers or specialists and each come with very different price tags but what gives them the right to call themselves a consultant?

I became a marketing consultant off the back of the 100′s of online projects where I have been at the forefront of the decision-making. If I was looking to hire a consultant for any purpose, I would expect that person to have seen and solved similar issues to my problem in a variety of companies time and time again almost to the point that where it’s now so easy for them that it bores them, wouldn’t you?

An internet marketing consultant needs to have experienced variety. I’ve been lucky enough to work with clients that have large budgets, and believe me, when you walk into one of these companies the strategies that you set in motion are very different to when you’re working on a shoestring budget with a startup. Working with both types of companies requires quick thinking drawing on skills such as strategic thinking right through to a detailed understanding of internet marketing skills such as PPC, SEO, Media Buying and Funnel conversion analysis.

These are the types of skills that an online marketing consultant can draw from working within an agency for a number of years but the difference between working an agency model and consultancy is that with the consultancy you’re actually inside the business. Agencies are often single discipline like SEO or PPC. When my clients hire me as an online marketing consultant, they get my experience, variety and my project management team which allows me, as the consultant, to see the bigger picture. Nothing pleases me more than when I witness the penny-drop – the moment the company owner or Managing Director really understands where the marketing fits in their business model.