When you’re building an online business, you’ll be faced with various quandaries as it develops. Your first steps are usually easy enough; you need a website, a way to take orders, and a way to fulfill them. You also need something to sell.

For some, figuring out what to sell is fun, and in some cases, even easy. Many others, however, will find that this is the first stage where a business development consultant can offer some serious help. This consultant can save you from making common mistakes like failing to have business systems and processes in place, selecting the inappropriate or unnecessary software platforms, or not building or optimizing your team.

Based on your business model, a business development consultant can help you determine what revenue-generating activities you should be focused on and what could be eliminated or outsourced. It’s easy for a small business to underestimate costs and focus their efforts on areas that do not lead to sales, and therefore, end up not making enough money to remain in operation. In some markets, the competition’s prices are too low to be able to charge enough. This happens when they are able to get huge volume deals that you aren’t yet big enough to obtain. A consultant will find and point out all of these pitfalls.

Once your company has grown enough to reach the next stage, you’ll need to consider a new set of objectives. You’ll find it necessary to select automations and platforms that adequately scale with your business needs without having to integrate a hodge-podge of different and disparate systems. Now, you may ask your business development consultant to compare and advise systems and costs that lead your company to even more growth.