The IoPP Packaging Consultants Council offers the following step-by-step procedures to help you find the best consultant for your specific needs:

1. Determine the nature and scope of the assignment and what the consultant is expected to achieve.

2. Search the online IoPP Directory of Packaging Consultants to find professional consultants with the specific expertise you need.

3. Review the information in the Directory to conduct a preliminary assessment of the most promising candidates.

4. If you have questions about a candidate's professional background, call and ask questions. Professional packaging consultants are happy and proud to discuss their professional experience, offer references, and supply any information needed to help you make your decision.

5. Contact and interview - by phone or in person - the most promising candidates. If the consultant is a member of the IoPP Packaging Consultants Council, you can be sure that s/he is a professional packaging consultant and has passed a rigorous membership review process. If the candidate is not a member of the Council, verify that s/he has not just packaging experience, but packaging consulting experience as well. Find out if the candidate is an active, professional consultant, or a moonlighter or unemployed packaging professional doing a little consulting between jobs. Make sure that the consultant is, in fact, an objective, independent consultant and not a vendor or manufacturer's representative who calls himself a consultant. Be sure to ask any questions that might have a bearing on the consultant's qualifications for the job. What types of projects has the firm worked on in the past? How long has the firm been in operation? How big is the firm? What size company does the firm most frequently work with? How are fees typically determined? How many of the consultant's accounts are repeat business?

6. Once you've finished the interviewing process, request project proposal(s) from the consultants whom you are seriously considering hiring. Make sure the final proposal(s) contain well-defined "Scope of Work," "Services to be Provided," and "Description of Fees/Fee Schedule" sections. (Note: Resist the temptation to base your decision on price alone rather than value.)

7. After you've fine-tuned details and reached an agreement on the consultant's proposal (particularly the "Scope of Work" section), sign a contract and/or issue an appropriate purchase order.

8. Introduce the consultant to your staff and anyone else who might be involved with or might feel threatened by the consultant's work for your organization. With the consultant by your side, explain in detail why the consultant has been hired, discuss the scope of the project, and give anyone who might become involved an opportunity to ask questions.

9. Provide input and on-going interest to the consultant at the beginning of and throughout the project.

10. Be sure the consultant is working for an executive within your company with sufficient authority to ensure the full cooperation of everyone involved with the project.