Help and FAQ's

An Overview of the Vendors available through our application can be accessed by the Directory link, but these tools offer a different, more targeted approach than normal directories.

Rather than giving you long lists of providers to search through and contact individually, these tools 'attract' the firms and specific information you need, so you don't need to search. This means you can focus your time and energy only on those firms with the experience, ideas, capability, availability, and fee structure your after. With our tools, they come to you!

You simply describe what you're after (the wizard makes it easy), and a few days later you will receive an email giving you access to tailored responses and proposals from firms across the market. The way these proposals are structured makes it really easy to get the targeted information you want, get the answers to the questions you have, and easily identify who you should be talking to. It saves to time and effort, and helps identify the best match in the market.

It’s free to use these tools for finding consulting firms. It doesn’t lock you in to anything, and you don’t make any final decisions online. It just saves you a lot of time and effort in working out which ones are best aligned to your organisations requirements.

This is a web based Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) application that combines access to an independent global marketplace for consulting services with a suite of tools that make it easy to work out which Firms are best matched to your requirements.

These web based tools are designed to save you time and effort, and make it easier to work out which consulting firms in the market have the ideas, experience, and capability you need, as well as the availability and fee structure that fits your business.

It’s free to use these tools for identifying, comparing, short listing and contacting consulting firms. It doesn’t lock you in to anything, and you don’t make any final decisions online, it just saves you a lot of time and effort in working out which ones are best aligned to your organisations requirements.

If you're a buyer - No, it doesn't cost you anything.

Consulting Firms pay a small administrative fee to submit their responses. It’s generally less than a coffee and a cab ride so it offers them an incredibly low risk and low cost sales channel. See pricing information for more details.

In this way it is a win-win solution. It makes it easier for buyers to find the right Consulting Firms without searching, and it’s cheaper and easier for Consulting Firms to find business that want the services they offer.

It’s cheaper, more efficient, and more targeted for everyone!

Yes.

Users can be a buyer looking to shortlist Consulting Firms. You can also be a Consultant looking to sell your services. It's not uncommon for people to be both (e.g. IT Consulting Firms needing Marketing & PR expertise).

Yes. We welcome feedback from members, and any suggestions you can make to improve the site's usability will be gratefully received. Please contact us with your suggestions.

ExpertMagnet was the precursor to the iFindConsultants technology. With the upgrade to iFindConsultants, the ExpertMagnet application has been superseded and as such is not no longer available. However, ALL USERS have been migrated to the new application, and retain their full membership privelages, with the benefits of new features and a simpler interface.

Magnetized Markets are the people behind this technology. We are the ones that have developed these innovative tools, and are the ones that support and manage the service. You can find out more about Magnetized Markets at www.MagnetizedMarkets.com . The marketplace you are currently using is called iFindConsultants.com, because that's what it helps you do!

The name of this marketplace technology, and the specific tools used to access it are called iFindConsultants.com. These tools are made available not only to users who come straight to our website, but also to users of other quality websites who are using this marketplace as an Affiliate Partner or Coporate Sourcing Platform.

Where the iFindConsultants.com service is access via one of our Affiliate or Corporate partners, the user interface is sometimes modieifed (re-skinned) to match their branding and colour scheme. In this way, our partners can provide their visitors, members and staff with access to the leading marketplace and tools, while keeping the experience aligned with their own website or corporate identity. Either way, all users get access to the same great tools and marketplace, and all benefit from the increased vibrancy of the marketplace that is created by having so many gateways.

Magnetized Markets are the people behind this iFindConsultants.com technology. We are the ones that have developed these innovative tools, and are the ones that support and manage the service. You can find out more about Magnetized Markets at www.MagnetizedMarkets.com or you can contact us.

When you post a request, your profile details are witheld (it is anonymous).

Consulting Firms can see what it is your requesting, but not who you are. This means you can receive proposals from firms, but not need to worry about them all phoning you and giving you a hard time.

After you review responses, YOU CHOOSE which ones are the best, and who you want to have call you. At this time, you either decline the unsuccessful ones, and invite the successful respondents to get in touch. ONLY those firms who you have 'invited' to contact you will be given your profile contact details.

The most popular searches are for services related to the following:
- Management Consulting
- Audits & Compliance
- IT Consulting
- HR Consulting
- Training & Development
- Legal Services
- Marketing & PR
- Engineering & Construction
- Planning & Environment
- and other specialist areas...

Other service areas are also available. When you create your request, you can see the full list of available services. If there is an area of service we don't support but you would like us to, feel free to contact us and make a suggestion.

Any consulting or professional services professional can register their business at no cost. Once they have created their sales alerts as a Consultant, we will let them know of relevant opportunities. The number of Consultants across the market varies by region and area of specialisation, and continues to grow at a rapid rate.

If a request is posted that does not have a sufficient number of corresponding quality Consultants, the system actively sources and invites new relevant Consultants to join who have the right expertise. In short, it does the searching for you.

No.

Marketplaces powered by iFindConsultants.com and MagnetizedMarkets are independent. We do not play favourites.

YOU DO. You are in control all the way. It is up to you who and how many Firms you invite to make direct contact with you.

Before you post your request you are asked 'who can respond'. This step in the wizard allows you to limit which firms are informed of your opportunity, and allowed to respond.

You have 3 options, you can post your opportunity to: (1) Open Market, (2) Open Market PLUS Consulting firms you know, or (3) only the Consulting firms you know / Preferred Providers you have.

How this works:

1. Open Market: when you are creating your request using the request wizard, you will be prompted to decide 'who can respond', you simply request 'Open Market'. This is the default.
2. Open Market PLUS Consulting firms you know: create and post your request to the Open Market. Once it has posted, you will be given a range of options. The first of these is a link to invite the Consulting Firms you know to view your published opportunity. It will auto-populate an email for you which you can then send out to them.
3. Only the Consulting firms you know / Preferred Providers you have: If you want to limit who can respond to your requests. You can create your own panels using the 'Manage Your Preferred Providers' section of the Find Consultants & Advisors. It's easy to invite your Preferred Providers and the Consultants you know. Once they accept your invitation, you can create new requests using the Request Wizard, only this time when it asks 'who can respond', you select your relevant Preferred Provider Panel. This way only your panel members can view and respond to the request.

NO. But you do need to make a decision – either to 'decline' or 'invite' Consulting Firms that have responded. This is both a courtesy, and an obligation in the terms of use.

You can shortlist as many or as few as you like.
Based on the tailored responses you receive, it's up to you to decide which firms or consultants you would like to have contact you directly - if any.

Any final selection and negotiations are conducted offline and can be either face to face or via other means of communication directly between you and the Consulting Services Provider.

Consulting Firms are required to pay a nominal administrative fee IF they respond to your request. There are no fees to join and no ongoing membership fees (see pricing for more details).

It's up to you. Our feedback indicates a range from 5 minutes to 45 minutes. If you already have already thought through what you need, or have some documentation of your requirements that you can copy and paste then this speeds it up. Once you submit your request there is nothing else to do until you evaluate responses.

Overall, it's a lot faster and easier than doing a thorough search yourself.

You will be alerted via email once responses are submitted. To avoid filling your inbox with notifications, we only send update emails every 12 hours. If you have logged on and looked at the response during this time, we will not send an email. You can review the details of each response as it arrives, and either decline, decide later, or invite them to contact you. If you invite them to contact you, your contact details will be provided to the Consultant.

Based on the responses received, you review and invite those that best fit your needs and business requirements and decline those that are not of your desired quality level. You can decline, decide later, or shortlist them by clicking on the appropriate links. If you 'Invite to make contact' your contact details will be provided to the consultant, and you will be able to see the consultants full contact details.

We will notify any unsuccessful responders.

Final selection and negotiations are completed offline between you and the Consultant as per your preferred process. Any agreements or payments are direct between you and the firm / expert.

No, although it is good practice.

If you have got enough good responses you can close it early.

It is important that you do make a definitive decision with each of the responses and don't leave them in limbo.

Where this occurs, it is typically because the request did not have enough detail to allow a consultant to effectively qualify the lead and assess their alignment to your requirements.

It might be worth reviewing your request and seeing if you can be more specific and detailed, either about your business issue/opportunity, or about the expertise you are seeking.

Alternatively, firms may think that the estimated value for the work described is unrealistic, or the advertising period did not provide enough time for firms to respond to your request (this is particularly relevant for big contracts or during holiday periods).

Finally, it may mean that no Consultants are available to do this work in your region. If you have a legitimate request but have not been able to find an appropriate Consultants using a marketplace powered by iFindConsultants.com, please contact us and let us know, we are interested in continuing to evolve the service and provide you with access to the best available Consultants in the market.

If you don't want any more firms to respond to your request, you can make the request inactive.

Once you have received a response to your request, and you would like to speak further with that firm, click on 'Invite to make contact', and we will forward your contact details to the firm. Once they contact you, it is up to both yourself and the Consultant to arrange how you would like to proceed.

You can ask our advice using the Constact Us form.

Otherwise, if you think a new category will be useful please contact us and let us know - we are always looking at ways we can improve the site's useability. In the short term, please choose an 'area of expertise' most closely aligned to the work you do, and select 'Other' in the 'specific expertise' section.

A Panel is a group of Preferred Providers or Consultants.

By creating a Panel, you have the option of submitting requests where only those Providers and Consultants who are on your Panel can view and respond to the request.

Panels are optional; the default setting for new requests is to find expertise from the 'Open Market'.

Preferred Provider Panels are great if you want to use the same group of providers. You can use them to reflect a group of Consulting Firms you already know and want to work with. Or you can use your Panels to reflect your organisations Preferred Supplier list - this way you get the efficiency of the tools, and stay within your organisations requirements.

It takes less than 30 seconds. Basically you just need your email and name. That's it. There is NO REGISTRATION OR MEMBERSHIP FEE.

An 'alert' is an email notification that lets you know we have received a request for consulting or outsourced services that aligns to the areas of expertise you have registered via your personal dashboard.

By setting your alerts, you're really telling us what areas of expertise describe your business, and what leads you want to know about. It's a 'set and forget' approach - we will only 'alert' you once there is a relevant opportunity.

When you receive an alert, you can login and view the opportunity. It's up to you if you want to submit a response in order to be shortlisted by the buyer and be invited to contact them directly.

You will receive sales alerts by email as new opportunities are posted that align to your expertise and geographic coverage.

When you receive a sales lead alert, follow the links and login.

If you want to respond to a particular lead and pitch your expertise, you simply select the 'respond' link.

Now you can pitch your expertise, capabilities, experience and ideas to the buyer in line with their request.

This is pretty simple and follows a structured template. You need to ensure you answer the buyer's questions and respond to their criteria as this is the information they will be using to decide on their shortlist. You can also include additional information and links you think will help your pitch.

There is a nominal fee to respond, so when you have finished your proposal, click on the 'save and proceed to payment' button. You can buy response credits on the spot using your credit card via our secure payment gateway (see pricing for more details).

Once your purchase is complete your pitch is sent for review by the buyer.

There is no fee to register, set your Sales Alerts, receive leads, or qualify opportunities. There is no obligation to act on the leads either so there really is no risk associated with signing up.

You will be required to pay a nominal fee IF you decide to respond to your request. This is the only fee. In most cases it works out to be less than a cab ride and a coffee, so it makes for a very low cost way to access sales leads (see pricing for more details).

When you submit a proposal, the buyer is notified and will review and evaluate it in detail. (As part of this review process, the buyer also gets to see your business profile.)

If you are successfully shortlisted we will notify you and provide you with their contact details (and the buyer with yours). You and the buyer make contact and negotiate directly to complete any short listing or selection process. Any agreements you make with the buyer are as a direct business to business engagement between your two parties. IFindConsultants.com is not involved in this final negotiation – our job is to get the right people at the table.

If you are not selected for the shortlist we will let you know, and you will get your credits back, to use again until you are successful in being shortlisted.

You can only edit your proposal if it has NOT yet been read by the buyer.

If this is the case, it will appear as 'Unread'. Once you have located the unread response you'd like to change, click on the 'edit your proposal' link, and the proposal will open for editing. Once you have made your changes, please click on the 'Update proposal' button, which will resubmit your updated proposal to the buyer. If it has already been read, you will not be able to make any changes.

If after you have responded you'd like to withdraw your proposal from consideration by the buyer, locate the proposal which will be in 'Unread' or 'Awaiting decision'. Once you have found the proposal, click on the 'delete' link. You will then need to approve the change by clicking OK on the warning message.

What you include is up to you. The information you enter in any proposals is viewable by the buyer who created the request. As a rule of thumb, we would advise you not to include any confidential or sensitive material. You can always provide this once you have been in touch with the buyer directly.

You need to be invited. The best way to get invited is to respond to opportunities posted to the Open Market. Buyers generally create their Panels based on firms they have already used or have chosen through a formal tender process.

If you think a new category will be useful please contact us and let us know - we are always looking at ways we can improve the site's useability. In the short term, please choose an 'area of expertise' most closely aligned to the work you do, and select 'Other' in the 'specific expertise' section.

It is unlikely that you will be successfully shortlisted for every opportunity you respond to. To increase your chances of being shortlisted, there are a number of things you can do.

1. Only go for those opportunities that align to your expertise.
   
   
2. Ensure you are answering all their questions and providing enough information so they can see you as a potentially valuable business partner. This is the most common area where Consultants fall short.
   
   
3. Ensure you tailor your proposal to the request, don't just paste a standard response. Think about what they are really looking for and need to know from you.
   
   
4. Include information about your experience doing the type of work requested, and highlight any points of difference between you and your competitors.
   
   
5. Check how many other firms have responded. If there is a large number of responses already, it may not be worth responding unless it is an area that is your particular strength.