By Russell S. Powell

Consultants can add energy and expertise to a public-relations and marketing office, or they can become a drain and a distraction. The key is hiring good consultants and then investing time in managing their work.

I can think of many sound reasons to hire consultants. In some cases, they add expertise missing from a small office. That's especially true these days as we push the frontiers of online marketing. A full-time writer or editor in a campus PR office may not yet have developed the necessary skills to adapt work to the Web, for example, or have adequate knowledge of software to exploit its possibilities. A good consultant can help fill in the gaps while the permanent staff catches up.

Consultants can validate our own opinions and offer fresh perspectives. We may be frustrated when heads nod in agreement as the consultant repeats the same things we have been saying to deaf ears for months, but it happens. Sometimes it takes the sheen of a consultant for the ideas to sink in. In the end, it shouldn't matter to us, as long as the key people at our college get the message. Think of it as positive reinforcement.

Consultants can also serve as adjunct staff members, working from remote locations. For several years, I was a consultant for colleges seeking to raise their national profiles. It wasn't that my clients didn't have capable staffs, but they were small enough that they couldn't hire a full timer to assume this important function. Hiring me was cheaper than hiring an experienced staff member, and I brought greater expertise than a junior one.

Before coming to Elms College in Chicopee, Mass., I worked as a consultant for nearly 15 years, much of it in higher education. In both my consulting firm and my full-time jobs, I've also hired and worked with consultants, good and bad. Here are some of the things I have learned about what works—and what doesn't—when hiring a consultant:

Conduct an internal assessment. First, evaluate what you need from a consultant, as well as why you need one, and for how long. Sorting out those details ahead of time can spare you from "consultant sprawl," or agreeing to work that plays more to the consultant's strengths than to your institution's needs. You should have an idea going into the process about whether you anticipate a discrete project, or a long-term commitment or retainer.

You can always modify the final contract, but don't begin the process of hiring a consultant unclear or unspecific about what you need.

The scope of the work needs to be realistic. The best consultant cannot change an institution's culture, yet often that is the tacit expectation. If that's your goal, you're doing both your institution and the consultant a disservice by hiring this part-time stranger. The best way to realize value for your money is to circumscribe the consulting work. Asking a consultant to deliver more than what is realistic sets up everyone for failure.

Some consultants or companies will come highly recommended, but, as a rule, hiring a consultant should be like any other job-candidate search. You should seek proposals from, and interview, more than one candidate or company. Beware the consultant who promises too much. It's the flip side of the client making unrealistic demands. In an effort to land a job, some consultants throw caution to the wind and make promises they cannot possibly keep.

Also, watch out for vague contract language that can lead to hidden costs. If the contract doesn't prohibit additional charges billed after the work is complete, you can exceed your budget.

If you expect a written report or other deliverables, specify them, as well as a timetable. Leave as little wiggle room as possible for the consultant by spelling out the terms in advance. A good consultant will want the same in return, so that the client knows what the college needs to provide (such as access to people and information) to complete the work.

Beware of gibberish. Jargon is a great selling tool of the consultant, and it can be effective. Marketing consultants want to be seen as cutting edge, and one way to accomplish that is by peppering their speech with buzzwords and hip clichés that wow the uninitiated. If you don't know what the consultant means, ask—don't be intimidated by the fear of looking like you are not in the know.

Be suspicious of a consultant's references to "research," too, especially when the subject is cyberspace, whether it is social media or Web design. If a consultant refers to research, demand to see it, or at least look at the claims with a jaundiced eye. Good research is valuable, of course; the problem is that when it comes to online marketing, it doesn't exist. What works today will be passé in six months. The speed of the Internet defies long-range studies.

In the absence of good research, a consultant can be expected to describe his or her philosophy, approach to problem solving, and operating principles. Is she prepared, imaginative, and a good writer? If he can't think on his feet or makes grandiose claims about what works, then you are likely to be stuck in the past the moment you hire him.

It helps, of course, if you are doing the hiring. But even if a consultant is brought in by your boss, the relationship can still be a good one. A higher-up lacking expertise in marketing may need a consultant to perform an audit of the college's public-relations office. The interest your boss has taken, in fact, can be a welcome sign of engagement, a recognition of the importance of marketing, and a means to leverage additional money.

For the relationship between the PR office and the consultant to work, though, the reporting lines and communication protocols must be clear. A consultant who continually circumvents members of the marketing staff is not likely to win friends or cooperation, and the latter is key to any consultant's success. However, a consultant may be the bearer of bad news at times, pointing out your weaknesses, and sometimes the consultant must report directly to your supervisor. But the consultant and the staff cannot be at odds or in competition.

Pay attention. After the contract is finalized, the next challenge is managing the consultant. The time that takes may seem counterproductive because, chances are, you hired the company to relieve you of tasks that you and your staff were unable to handle. Or maybe the consultant has specialized knowledge on which you must rely, making it more difficult for you to supervise and evaluate the quality and quantity of the work.

Adding to the challenge is the fact that the consultant works away from the campus most of the time. That creates a couple of problems. Even a good consultant won't know your campus as well as a full-time staff member. Sometimes ignorance is bliss; a fresh call from an outsider—the consultant—may produce results from people who have resisted the same inquiries from your staff. But you can waste valuable time and resources while the consultant learns the nuances that make your institution unique.

Good consultants minimize their lack of knowledge about the day-to-day workings of a campus by taking the time to do research on your institution and meeting with as many of its people as possible, by phone, e-mail, or in person. Consultants who fail to do that often recommend strategies that sound elegant on paper but fall flat in practice.

Consider the consultant's lifestyle. Managing the work of consultants requires an honest appraisal of their situation. Remember why people choose to become consultants in the first place: So long as they have plenty of clients, their work can pay more than a full-time position with a single employer. You are competing for the consultant's attention with many other colleges.

By design, a consultant's schedule has great flexibility and freedom built in, and, as a result, the supervising client must work within much broader parameters than they would with a regular employee.

Most consultants fall into one of two categories. Many are small operations, with just one or two people, and they rely on the principal's experience and reputation. The client is buying that person's expertise and will not happily settle for a subordinate. The principal may subcontract some of the work, but he or she must ensure its quality and be the primary face of the company.

The second major type of consultant is a large company, which sells itself on the strength of it national reach, its high-profile clients, and its stable of experienced staff members. Each account executive is responsible for a number of clients, and many are asked to market the company's services as well.

Two truisms about both kinds of consultants are: First, they must be extremely organized to meet their many obligations, and, second, they have the same cash-flow challenges of any business. By necessity, they have to be concerned foremost with their own survival, carefully budgeting their time and minding their money.

With the freedom of lifestyle that consultants enjoy comes the need to manage time effectively and to continually seek new work while keeping current clients happy. Even a small client generates mounds of paperwork, and that poses challenges to the most meticulous and well-organized consultant.

In light of that, a client can't be passive about getting results. If phone calls are not returned promptly, if e-mail messages go unanswered, if projects move too slowly or deadlines are unmet, the person supervising the consultant has to doggedly persist until the service is delivered. You may grumble and feel that you shouldn't have to bug a consultant again and again, but it goes with the territory. Your relationship with a consultant requires continual monitoring to get the best results.

It would be nice to think that a consultant's professional judgment is never compromised by the need to meet payroll. At the same time, it is obvious that most consultants prefer stable, long-term relationships with their clients. It means they can devote more of their time to practicing their art, rather than hustling for new work. And that can be a win-win situation: The longer the consultants work with an institution, the better they get to know it, so the strategies they recommend tend to keep with the college's culture and budget. Continuity can be good for both partners.

But there may be times when the company's recommendations have to be viewed through the lens of its self-interest. Perhaps the changes it proposes are more sweeping than are truly necessary. The changes won't cause any real harm but will cost a lot more time and money—paid to the consultant, of course. That isn't always, or even often, the case. But a client should not turn a blind eye to the reality that a good consultant's judgment can occasionally be tinged with the inherent need to ensure a steady cash flow.

Ask hard questions and insist that the company articulate sound reasons for its recommendations—no jargon or vague claims of research allowed. Make the consultants talk to you. The good ones will be able to explain their approach in terms that anyone can understand. It is imperative that you make them do so.

Finally, avoid the trap of becoming defensive, especially if the company has been hired by your boss, rather than by you. Welcome the consultants as an additional resource (what marketing or PR office doesn't believe that it could use more help?). We have a lot to learn from the expertise of others, if we don't feel threatened by them or worry too much about who gets the credit.

Russell Powell is a public-relations officer at Elms College in Chicopee, Mass. He previously worked as director of public relations at Hampshire College and at Greenfield Community College, and as a consultant. He writes for On Message, our column on career issues in academic public relations. If you would like to write for the column, send your ideas to careers@chronicle.com.