At some point, most businesses are going to need to have some help from an IT consultant. Maybe your business is small, without many IT resources. Maybe your company is larger, with significant resources in IT already, and just needs a healthy dose of outside perspective. Whatever reason, it can be difficult to choose an IT consultant, especially if you aren't a technical person.

I've heard stories about selecting consultants from all sorts of people. Quite a few have told me heard horror stories about how they wound up with large bills and little or nothing to show for it. Fortunately, it doesn't have to be hard to choose an IT consultant, because I've used knowledge I've accrued to create some guidelines you can use in choosing your IT consultant.

A Contract Programmer or an IT Consultant?

There are quite a few contract programmers out there masquerading as IT consultants. A real IT consultant isn't in business of writing code; rather, he's in business of solving problems, and code just happens to be one of way that he (or she) does it. Conversely, a contract programmer will want you to spell out exactly what kind of program you want him to write. He doesn't solve problems; he just writes code way he's told, and hopes it will fix problem at hand. With a real IT consultant, you wind up with a solution that leaves everyone happy.

Focus on benefits, not technology.

Can Small PR Firms Deliver Huge Results?

They can when they invest in basics. The best of them obviously rely on some form of public relations fundamental premise to produce winners across business environments from rockets and orange juice to product recalls and indicted CEOs.

But, chances are top producers among small PR firms have built their businesses on a premise like this one:

People act on their own perception of facts before them, which leads to predictable behaviors about which something can be done. When we create, change or reinforce that opinion by reaching, persuading and moving-to-desired-action those people whose behaviors affect organization, public relations mission is accomplished.

Public relations firms who do not base their work on a premise like this one are well-advised to consider doing so.

The reason? Their clients are subject to same realities as rest of us, realities that never change. People usually behave based on their perception of facts. And clients usually demand certain behaviors from those “publics” whose behaviors have most impact on their businesses.

Even more to point, when client managers start looking for a return on their public relations investment, they want to see kind of key stakeholder behavior change that leads directly to achieving their objectives.

Which is why, especially for small PR firm anxious to meet client needs, there is no better performance measure at which to aim.

However, for those small PR firms not yet guided by any kind of public relations fundamental premise, here is a suggestion.

Consider premise outlined above, then take a shot at convin- cing a new or current client to let you produce a broader, more productive public relations effort for his or her company. And remember, fundamental premise of public relations outlined above is a great equalizer placing all public relations firms on a level playing field when it comes to effectiveness of process. It especially targets those firms with a client who expects best value from PR dollars spent, not simply a limited and mechanical publicity placement effort.

In other words, consider using premise as a means for going after higher quality new business, or upgrading an account and broadening work performed for a savvy client who wishes to squeeze every benefit out of money they spend on public relations.