You cannot be too proud to accept your limitations and call for help from the growing cadre of consultants, lawyers, accountants and other workout specialists who each offer essential skills and resources needed to save your business. Timing is critical. Ignore your problems and you prolong retaining professional help. When you finally do seek help, your business may be beyond the point of no return. Troubled owners may see calling for professional help as admitting failure or an inability to solve their own problems.

A turnaround consultant must often play psychiatrist, convincing struggling business owners that there is no shame in leaning on stronger shoulders. Business owners are not infallible, and the smartest managers use every resource at their disposal to survive and build a stronger business. Money to hire professionals is a barrier when you cannot even meet your payroll. You find it difficult to welcome a $300-an-hour consultant or lawyer. Professionals are then seen not as a vital investment, but as an unaffordable cost. A reluctant client once blurted, “I don’t need a high-priced consultant to tell me I’m running out of money,” but he did. More importantly, he needed someone who was objective, forceful and had the skills to show him how not to run out of money. Spending money on professional fees can save you a hundred times more money, and it can save your business. Reverse your viewpoint. Think about fees as a necessary investment, not a cost.

As the owner of a small or mid-size business, you are probably less familiar and less comfortable with working with outside professionals than are corporate executives who more frequently hire consultants. You may not fully understand the many ways the right professionals can help you. Success or failure often depends on finding the correct professional talent. Keep one point in mind. It was you who got your business into trouble. Why do you think that you can get out of trouble on your own?

Technical ability is only one of the skills offered by a consultant, attorney or accountant. Most important is that these professionals can think and act impassionately and objectively. As difficult as it is to navigate the thriving business, a complex turnaround demands the professional’s unique skills and techniques that defy conventional management practices. Pros who put together broken companies play by rules that only others within the insolvency field understand.

While managerial and professional skills are invaluable, professional objectivity is critical. Your view may also blur when you are deeply involved emotionally and financially. Independent professionals are untainted by existing biases. They enter the picture with the fresh ability to see things as they are, not how you see them. You may have the right answers and correct solutions to your problems, but still need an outside professional as a sounding board to confirm that you are right. A manager’s intuition about what must be done usually is correct, but unless you have been through one or two turnarounds, you may lack confidence in your own game plan. A pro who ratifies your decision gives you the confidence to follow through and more forcefully press action.

In sum, outside professionals do for you what you cannot do for yourself. They tackle the dirty work of firing people, standing up to creditors or tackling those other messy jobs for which you have no stomach. The dirty work is my job. There are resources your advisors can suggest: Insolvency consultants, attorneys and accountants. My firm, for example, offers a nationwide roster of hundreds of other consulting firms and law firms, each outstanding in its specialty. We routinely match hard-to-find professionals with financially-troubled business owners. Other professionals similarly maintain close affiliations with banks, lenders, liquidators, business brokers and the cadre of other specialists who serve troubled firms.

Of course, no two companies need precisely the same professional aid. If your business is unprofitable but solvent, you need a consultant who can help you to regain profitability. An insolvency attorney is of no value at this point. If you have poor financial controls or a weak marketing strategy, your professionals must bring to you those specialized operational skills; broad turnaround experience may not be enough. Your most important decision is to determine precisely the assistance you need from:

• Turnaround consultants
• Business or operations consultants
• Insolvency attorneys
• Auditors and accountants

Key personnel