Don't be alarmed if at some point vendor asks you what your budget is for project. If you are working with a reputable firm, they are using this question as a means of establishing whether or not they can offer you a viable solution within your price range. Good consultants will refer you in another direction if they are unable to meet your needs.

Implementation Timeline: A successful implementation is dependent on a realistic timeline. After having established your timeline, determine whether or not you have capacity to meet your timeline and then determine whether or not consulting firm has capacity to meet your timeline.

Good clients are working proactively so that they can enjoy luxury of making good decisions. Good consultants are managing client expectations so that projects are managed and completed according to a mutually agreed upon and well communicated schedule.

Research Product and Vendor: Your decisions goes beyond that of product selection. It is equally important to research vendor. Have a list of questions you ask each vendor. Start with following list of questions.

-> How long has vendor been in business? -> Historically, what has their commitment been to end user? -> How have they managed to keep up with changing technologies? -> What is guarantee? -> Is there a guaranteed response time? -> Is product supported locally? -> Can you view working product at a local business?

Selecting a Consulting Firm: Successful software implementation can only happen if both you and consultants are equally committed to project. When you have identified two or three plausible software solutions, your final decision will be made based on which consulting firm you feel can best help you achieve your goals. Pay attention to details, and ask a series of questions of each firm.

-> Throughout sales process consulting firm is courting you--it doesn't get any better than this. Are they readily answering your questions or are you waiting 2-3 days before your calls are returned? -> How long have they been working with this product? -> How and why did they choose to represent this particular product? -> What is their professional background? -> Were they end-users? -> What is their implementation process? Is it tangible? Can you see materials? -> Who are their clients? -> Ask for references for whom a project has gone smoothly and also ask for references for whom project went less smoothly. The idea here is to find out how consultants handle things when going gets tough.

Remember, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is and when people tell you who they are, listen.

Standardization is key to retaining clients and increasing a firm's capacity to take on more business. Imagine comfort of knowing that a client could enter any of firm's offices and receive same level of service, competence, and value for any given project.