Unfortunately, in the end, no matter how many referrals you receive, choosing the right consultant is a crapshoot. But here are ways to help you reduce the risk of ending up with the wrong consultant.

Use an agent

Never used a consultant? Go through an agency. Make sure, however, that you have someone from your company that is in charge of the IT project make the call to the agency (even if they claim they are too busy!).

Why? A knowledgeable person needs to be able to communicate your needs to the agency. If you leave the choice up to a receptionist or equally uninformed person, even if you send the consultant away, you still have to pay for their time.

Use the phone

Having a project manager or member of your IT team conduct a simple phone interview with the consultant before they are sent over is also a possible time and money saver.

Try to gauge the consultant's level of enthusiasm. For your part, give as many details as possible about what you need. Both you and the consultant need to feel that you're well suited for the partnership.

Use your connections

Even if you're a small firm, you may have some partnerships or client/customer relationships with larger, higher-profile companies that use a lot of IT consultants. Get in touch with the head of their IT department and ask for a referral - at best, names of specific individuals, since there is a lot of turnover in the IT consulting industry. And it may in fact have been a particular person that made the consulting job so successful - not necessarily the firm itself.