Which Expert Should You Hire?

When trying to make a decision, my son’s go-to tiebreaker is “eenie meenie minee mo.” While that can work for 8-year-old decisions like which Otter Pop flavor to have, it’s probably not as effective when you’re trying to determine which expert you should hire for your business.

There are actually quite a few challenges in finding the right expert to hire. These can range from not being sure whom to trust to being fuzzy on what you might really need.

Do you need a web designer or web developer? Chief marketing officer or marketing director? Social media agency or social media manager?

If you are fuzzy on what you might really need, check out this previous blog where I got into the dilemma of the Dunning Kruger effect: when you don’t know what you don’t know.

Having someone to come in with all the answers can feel really good, but be cautious. In my experience, the right experts don’t come with answers; they come with great questions and ways to uncover your answers.

Listen to Season 2: Episode 11

How to Choose Which Expert You Should Hire

Finding the right expert to work with you feels like a weight lifted off your shoulders and gives you that solid feeling of confidence in your belly.

The purpose of having an expert is to leverage someone else’s skill and experience to accelerate growth and improvement or add capacity in your organization. Knowing which expert you should hire doesn’t mean you can abdicate, though. The right expert engages you in the work at the level to accomplish the agreed-upon outcomes.

Even if you do engage a completely done-for-you agency, they need to involve you in making sure their work continues to be aligned with the business goals—which we all know can change. Scorecards can be an essential tool in this case; check out a previous blog for details on using scorecards.

Questions to Ask Before Hiring Out

To find the right expert, you likely already have some kind of checklist you use or criteria you consider. Typically that list is focused on the area of expertise itself, so in addition to your list, also use these questions to ensure the best FIT for the expert you hire:

What outcomes do you want?

To borrow the words of Brene Brown here: “paint it done.” That is, don’t just say “we want to increase our social following by 15%” or “we want to launch the website.” Consider what the context is around that goal. What will you do with it? Saying you want a picture of trees is one thing, but saying you want the happy little trees to be thriving in a fantasy world of Tolkien paints the picture more clearly.

Do you need strategy, planning, implementation, or all three?

In my experience, there is rarely one person who is excellent at all three of these. Typically, to get all three done well takes a team. A clear understanding here can help define project phases and qualify the answer to the “which expert should you hire” question.

What does your team want to do? What do they not want to do?

A common friction point with external agencies is stepping on toes with the in-house team. Having candid conversations about what the team wants to do, what they don’t want to do, and where the capacity constraints are will help focus the agency’s work and help them work well with the internal team.

How experienced are you and the team in working with external experts?

If you already have clearly defined processes and ways of engaging with external agencies, then you don’t necessarily need that external expert to help guide you. If you aren’t very experienced, or if you’ve had poor experiences, then it would be beneficial to find an expert that can bring the processes and guide you through the engagement.

The Benefits of Hiring Right

When you know which expert you should hire, you can get stuff done, accelerate growth and improvement, and allow the expert to come into your organization and leave it better than they found it. Plus, you avoid all the downsides of struggling through working with the wrong expert.

Now that you have some better tools to find and hire the right expert, get ready to learn how to avoid hiring the wrong expert.

Not sure how to tackle which expert should you hire? At FieryFX, we know a thing or two about getting the most from working with experts. Plus, we’re experts in strategy, websites, analytics, smart business, and technology. Find out how to benefit from hiring an expert by booking a consult with us!