Choosing the right customs consultancy firm can be critical in achieving effective compliance and cost optimisation.

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Leveraging a consultant’s expertise—gained from guiding other clients through similar journeys and possessing deep knowledge of the customs domain—can significantly accelerate transitions.

However, selecting the right firm can be challenging, especially when you are unfamiliar with the subject and lack insight into which firm might be the best fit. This article outlines key considerations to help make an informed decision. It draws on our experience hiring key advisors—such as accountancy firms, marketing consultants, and software developers—as well as insights from discussions with hundreds of clients over the years. 

“Focus on the solution, not the problem”     
– Jim Rohn

Focus on What Matters

A good consultant will not only understand the challenges you present but, critically, will assess whether these issues are the most pressing for your business or merely symptoms of deeper underlying problems.

For instance, a business might approach us to implement customs warehousing. However, when we test the assumptions behind this request, we often discover that the expected savings are not as initially thought—perhaps due to incorrect customs classifications leading to the wrong duty rate. In such cases, there may be alternative solutions that are quicker to implement and operate, yet still achieve 90% of the anticipated savings.

Be cautious of advisors who accept a brief without showing interest in exploring these possibilities.

Clarity

A good consultant should bring clarity and precision, helping the company define outcomes in terms of exact deliverables, financial impact, risks, and costs.

The consultant deliverables might range from completing application forms to delivering a turnkey solution with ongoing support.

Financial impacts can sometimes be challenging to assess, particularly if critical data is not readily available within the company’s systems. Companies should ensure they subscribe to customs data from HMRC (known as MSS or CDS data), which is indispensable for effective customs planning and modelling.

For example, a business may approach us with a planning idea with an ROI based on an assumed duty rate of 6% applied to its imports. However, after obtaining MSS data, we found the actual duty paid was only 2%, making the project economically unviable. The same data set allowed us to identify where the real costs to the business lay and mitigate these retrospectively.

“For me the greatest beauty always lies in the greatest clarity.”

– Gotthold Ephraim

A good consultant should also provide a clear action plan, including milestones, timelines, and a feedback loop to address challenges when plans real-world conditions. A well-structured plan demonstrates clarity of thought, evidence that the consultant has successfully delivered similar projects previously, or a proven methodology. The plan should clearly define the division of roles and responsibilities between the consulting firm and the company.

For instance, a company came to us frustrated after commissioning a piece of work that stopped at completing authorisation application forms. The project failed to include working processes and training, leaving them with a stranded asset.

“The foundation of every successful partnership is not just a shared vision
but shared values”
– Unknown

Company and Consultant Fit

Companies come in all shapes and forms, and so do consultancy firms, each with their core competencies, strengths and weaknesses.

We know ours. We are not the best fit for businesses seeking to engage in global projects that impact other tax areas. Similarly, we are not suited for routine, high-volume tasks like classifying 10,000 items or handling customs declarations. Our core expertise lies in identifying material risks, reclaims, and savings, delivering tangible results, and providing ongoing solutions to ensure lasting improvements.

The best fit can come down to several factors, including the complexity of the project, the company’s internal resources and expertise, the level of support the company want, and where it needs to deliver.

One core factor that is sometimes overlooked is cultural fit. Our culture is innovative and technology-led, focused on delivering greater value with more certainty. For instance, we aim to secure binding rulings for clients where material uncertainty exists. However, because of our culture, we are not the cheapest firm—we invest significantly in our consultants and systems to uphold our cultural standards. Other consultants may have different cultures, offering a more streamlined, narrower range of services at a lower cost, or providing complex, ‘rocket-science’ thinking that can be too expensive for pragmatic delivery, which might then fall back to the company.

Value

When engaging a consultant, knowing that you are getting good value is critical. Value is not the same as getting the best price. If there is a considerable reclaim or risk to mitigate, then you will want to ensure that all the work done to give the best chance of success is done by people with the best tools and training. Cutting corners and going for the lowest price is likely to be counterproductive.

More critical factors are what this project delivers for you, how the risks are managed, how much the consultant has invested in building the skill stack to maximise my chances of success, and how easy it will be for you and your team.

However, it is also essential to demonstrate that you entered a good deal and can justify the investment beyond the simple return on investment. Such assessment must ensure you are comparing like with like; all solutions can deliver what is essential to you.

“Price is what you pay,
value is what you get.”

– Warren Buffett

To some extent, this assessment returns to trust that the consultant is working in your best interests. That trust is more straightforward to establish if you have focus, clarity and fit. It is in both your and their interests to know they have to make a reasonable return on their investment, and you want a win-win relationship that can stand the test of time.

What you want to ensure is that your value or return does not get eroded with hidden costs.

Conclusion

Over the past five years, Barbourne Brook has worked with several external partners and encountered challenges tied to the themes mentioned above. These experiences taught us valuable lessons, and as a result, we have refined our approach and established a shortlist of trusted partners who consistently add meaningful value to our business.

We have also applied our learnings, along with over 35 years of client feedback, to refine how we engage with our clients. Our low client churn rate indicates we are on the right track, but we recognise there is always room for improvement and new insights to gain.

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