When it comes to choosing a process improvement company to help your business reduce waste, there are a lot of different aspects to consider. Picking a company is like hiring a new employee. You want to make sure they fit well within the culture of your organization, have the skills you're looking for, and will be able to get the job done.

PAST WORK EXPERIENCE

You'll want to work with a credible company that has a history of clients and past work experience. Check out the company website to see if they list their past and current clients. This is a great way to see what size businesses the company works with and if you'd be a good fit.

FOCUS & SCOPE

Understanding exactly what the process improvement company will do for your business is a vital step in choosing which one to work with. Whether you send an exploratory email or do the next step, it's good to figure out exactly what they'll do to service your company. Sometimes they'll just focus on one aspect of process improvement, or they'll tackle the whole gambit. 

CONSULTATION CALL

This is probably the most important step to figuring out which process improvement company will work best for your needs. Schedule a meeting with someone from their team to go over your needs, wants, and concerns. You'll be able to see if they're a good fit to work together while getting answers to a lot of their questions. Plus you can inquire about their past work experience and get more concrete result information if it's not available on their website. This is also the best way to get a sense of pricing. Most companies have to understand your needs before they're able to provide a quote.

RESPONSE & IMPLEMENTATION SCHEDULE

While you're setting up your consultation call and moving into the next stages of hiring a company, take note of their response time. Are they slow to get back to you? Do they send information quickly and follow-up often? How they treat you during the courting stage will show you how they'll treat you if you're a client.