Some Terms You Need to Know When Consulting

In order not to get lost in all those gobbledygook when going for a business consultation, you need to know what the consultant means when he says this or that what word. Knowing these terms can also help you in your own management planning, even without the aid of a consultant.

As it turns out, many of the jargon used by business consultants in their analysis and discussions actually have relatively simple meanings. These terms usually pertain to aspects of your business that you may have already know but don't have a word to call them.

Some of the more important terms that you need to remember when going for a business consultation are the following.

KPI-or key performance indicators. These are the goals that you have set for your business. One important thing to remember about setting KPI's is that they must be reasonable attainable and concrete. This makes it easier to work out with the goals.

Consulting agreement-a rather fancy term for a contract. For those not in the know, this is the written certification that you have entered an agreement with the consultant for his services.

Force majeur-these are instances beyond both the contractor's and the consultant's control. When force majeurs occur, both parties are not held liable for any cost.

Bail-out clause-the bail-out clause is an early termination of the contract in case the contractor is not satisfied with the service. Clients often insist on adding the bail-out clause as a safety measure.

Scope creep-a scope creep happens when the work's requirement and, consequently, costs start to increase more than intended. Scope creep is definitely unwanted and measures must be undertaken to minimize it.

Barriers to entry-this refers to the problems a company may encounter when expanding into a new location. Before any expansion are carried out, these need to be identified and sorted out first.

SWOT analysis-short for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. This is a method of studying how the company performs and is used to identify areas that needs further improvement.

Balanced scorecard-the balanced scorecard is a measurement instrument used by consultants to determine the relative efficiency of various area of company management. It is also used to fit all activities within the management strategy.

Benchmarking-this is setting a baseline result for the company's goals and is used to keep track of the company's progress over time.

Retainer fee-the retainer fee is the amount that a client agrees to pay to initially get and maintain the consultant in the project. Payment can be done either in a single amount, or divided into smaller amounts paid for in the duration of the consultant's service.

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