Kavan Choksi Professional Investor Discusses How Business Consultants Can Help with Market Expansion

An increasing number of companies across the world are turning to business consultants to make strategic moves. These professionals have a broad set of skills and experience in their practice area, and can competently identify current and underlying problems of a business, define the scope of these problems and recommend solutions. As Kavan Choksi Professional Investor points out,  business consultants especially come as a huge help for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) wanting to expand their market reach and grow their operations.

Kavan Choksi Professional Investor underlines how business consultants can assist SMEs with market expansion

 Market expansion involves venturing into new territories, attracting new customers, and increasing sales. This process requires strategic planning, market research, and implementation strategies. SMEs often do not have enough in-house staff to carry out these tasks, and hence benefit from the assistance of business consultants. These professionals assess the situation of their clients, create a strategic development plan and implement it step-by-step. The following steps are typically used by business consultants to help SMEs to grow their businesses:

• Discovery: A business consultant firstly makes an effort to learn about the current status of their client’s business. They try to identify the underlying business needs, apart from the challenges already established by the SME owner or management. Business consultants can visit the store/office of their clients, talk to their staff, study the financial position and business workflow of the business, and so on. Based on the data and insights collected by them, the consultants can recommend the potential markets that would be well-suited for the client’s business, predict growth opportunities and even talk about barriers to entry.
• Evaluation: This is the strategy development process, where the business consultants try to explore varied solutions and build a roadmap for the next steps. They try to identify risks, opportunities and areas of improvement. If an SME owner wants to enter a new market, for example, the business consultant shall provide details of share trade subsidies and tax breaks to help their clients to finance the expansion. The consultants also try to make sure that their client’s business is compliant with the relevant regulations and can seamlessly operate and sell in a foreign country. Business consultants work along with the staff of their client’s company and make sure that everyone onboard maintains open communications.
• Implementation: This is a key phase, where the business consultant turns recommendations into actions. Depending on the service agreement, certain business consultants roll up their sleeves and get the job done, while others provide practical training to the client and their staff to be self-sufficient in the new market. Consultants help businesses set up operations, establish supply chains, and manage logistics in new markets. They can also conduct training programs for employees to adapt to new market dynamics, cultural nuances, and customer expectations.

As Kavan Choksi Professional Investor mentions, in many cases the job of a business consultant does not end even after the completion of a market expansion project. These consultants can also monitor the progress of the project and provide timely, relevant recommendations.