Whether you are looking at marketing, branding, or logo design, there are many times when a small business owner needs an expert opinion. However, too many business owners think that they need to hire “in person” consultants from an expensive brick and mortar business in their area. There are actually several good reasons to choose online consultants, and here are just five.
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Coffee breaks.
There is a reason online consultants are often cheaper, and this is one major cause. Anyone who works in an office knows that there is a great deal of ‘downtime’ that ends up on the clock. Baby showers, chatty meetings, and, yes, coffee breaks all take time but add little value for customers. Online consultants usually are paid by the job rather than by the hour or on a salary. This means you pay less for the same service. You don’t really need to pay for an in-depth breakdown of last night’s Dancing with the Stars, do you?
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Landlines.
Doesn’t it seem silly that most offices have landlines in addition to an army of smart phone bearing employees? Online companies rarely duplicate services in this way. Phones aren’t the only area of waste. Consider the area of rent; often an online consultancy will have an office, but it is a bare, small affair that gets maximum bang for the buck, and not the lavish affairs seen in most consultancies. Traditional offices require rent, but also electricity, complex phone systems, and furniture. These things cost less for online companies, and these savings only make them more competitive. There is little reason to have a traditional office anymore, unless you have some strange affection for cubicles.
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Paper.
While memos are often printed, copied, and distributed around offices for a variety of reasons, online companies communicate mainly by online means such as email, Skype, and text message. These are greener options and lower cost ones as well. There is a time and place for paper documents and face-to-face meetings, but online companies keep them to a minimum.
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Walls.
Geographical barriers—between employees and between customers—are virtually unheard of in an online business. Have you ever heard an employee from a traditional company state that a certain matter wouldn’t be resolved until a meeting on such-and-such a date or until a key person came in from work? Because online companies are connected by means other than physical proximity, most issues can be resolved quickly without a ton of meetings. This means faster service for customers like you.
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Debt.
As a business owner, you know how expensive opening a business can be. There are so many expenses that it is almost impossible for a new business owner to avoid getting deep into debt. Online businesses usually run leaner operations that are less dependent on material goods, and thus have much lower credit card and loan bills… and less interest as well. This savings makes it easy for them to provide quality service at a price you can afford.
