In life there are certain people who you absolutely need to avoid. The same is true in business.
Some are easy to spot
- The web designer whose website is a piece of crap.
- The marketing expert, who embarrassingly needs to pester people on Linkedin because their own marketing doesn’t work.
- The consultant or adviser who claims to be in high demand, yet offers free consultations.
- The self-proclaimed leadership guru, who clearly isn’t leading.
- The copywriter whose content is poorly-written and lacks impact.
- The creativity expert who’s just like all the other creativity experts. (Think about that for a moment).
Others are trickier to spot
- The marketing consultant, who used tricks to attract a million social media followers.
- The accountant who understands numbers, but can’t clearly explain what they mean to their client’s business.
- The strategist whose own strategy is failing.
- The business development adviser who has never built a successful business of their own.
Protect your business from bad advice
The personal recommendation of a trusted friend is usually the least risky way to find an expert provider. Just make sure the friend has recent, first-hand experience of the quality of the provider’s work.
Another option is to hire someone whose work you’re already familiar with. For example, if you subscribe to a provider’s podcast, YouTube channel, blog or newsletter and they regularly share useful information, they’re giving you some powerful clues.
- The fact they have turned up consistently, demonstrates a degree of reliability. This is especially the case if they have many years worth of material available.
- You get to experience first hand, how knowledgeable they are from the quality of information they provide.
- In addition, you’ll know in advance if they share information with the clarity you need.
- You also gain an insight into their personality and mindset, which can help you determine if they’re the kind of person you work best with.
With an attractive looking website and some testimonials, anyone can claim to be an expert at anything. And that’s why you need to look deeper.
The cost of taking bad advice is far, far higher than the person’s fee. And the importance of getting the right advice has never been greater, if you want to successfully navigate your way through 2021.