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3 things you need to know when setting up a professional service
| Published: 22nd February 2019 19:02 |
When setting up a professional service such as an advice service or business consultancy, many people believe that they are instantly achieving their goals: creating a business that provides knowledge to other businesses for a price. However, there are some issues that you have to contemplate before negotiating the basics of a professional service, a number of which are listed below along with their solutions.
1. Claims and legal action
As with any business that provides advice and information to other companies, there is a slim chance that mistakes and accidents can occur that will make your client unhappy. When starting up a consultancy business, you must be prepared for legal action and claims that are made against you by clients.
Having professional indemnity insurance will protect you against claims and the costs that come with these such as any legal defence you may need. Before you take on any clients, you should understand what professional indemnity insurance is and what type of insurance is best for your company. Hiscox is an insurance company which provides an information service that can give you advice on how much this will cost and what type of insurance you should have.
2. Pricing structures
When networking or marketing your business, you should be prepared for all possible questions that a potential client may ask you. For instance, if you do not have a definite price structure when asked, your client may question the reliability of your business and choose to go with a consultancy that has a pre-organised and well-developed pricing plan. They are more likely to go with these companies because they will know for certain how much it will cost them. Therefore, you should establish a pricing structure for all of your services and types of clients before you open your business as this will provide you with a template from which to offer your services.
You should also ensure that you do not charge too little for your services, a common mistake for sole traders. Prices are a renowned indication of value and so, if your prices are not high enough, your clients may not trust the services which you are providing.
3. Proposal templates
To save you time when dealing with each project and allow you to focus on the client themselves, you should have pre-established proposal templates that you can fill in for each client. This will keep your work consistently professional and ensure that you provide and collect the same information from each customer. This will both help your marketing and professionalism and ensure that you are not missing any important information that you may need.
By following these tips, you will be prepared for every eventuality when setting up your consultancy business. By being prepared, you will save yourself time and even expense as you navigate your new role, enabling you to focus on the more important aspects of your business such as marketing and dealing with clients.
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