Cannabis consultants build the bridge between knowledge and success for cannabis businesses.
It’s important to hire a cannabis consultant when you need expert help.
It takes a tremendous amount of work for cannabis businesses to keep up with the industry’s shifts and effectively run their cannabis dispensary at the same time, so most operators are squeezing several years' worth of work into just a few short months.
Cannabis consultants are the answer for busy cannabis dispensaries that just can’t manage it all. Consultants constantly monitor trends within their sector of the cannabis business.
How do cannabis consultants help dispensary owners?
Cannabis dispensary consultants' services vary. Some specialize in a specific area, like winning licenses, while others provide a full-service program. They often bring a team of experts with years of experience to help you succeed without learning everything by yourself.
If you’re looking to hire a consultant to help your cannabis dispensary, first consider where you’re at in your retail operation and what your end goal is. Have you applied for a license yet? Are you 10 years old and need fresh ideas during this new wave of legalization? What do you want the cannabis consultant to help you achieve?
Then, do your research and ask your trusted cannabis network to narrow down which consultant will help your legal cannabis dispensary. Remember, the right consultants are an investment, but that pales in comparison to the ROI you can achieve from working with a great consultant.
What do cannabis consultants do?
The cannabis industry has several sectors, but often, the most difficult of all is plant-touching verticals. Many cannabis consultants specialize in plant-touching businesses and providing solutions to some of the most complex operations in the world.
Between tax regulations, license applications, marketing, training your staff, obtaining funding, and more, cannabis consultants have plenty of opportunities to help cannabis dispensaries everywhere.
Here are a few ways cannabis consultants help cannabis businesses:
- Win cannabis business licenses: Many states require you to submit business plans, standard operating procedures (SOPs), established funding, and a purchased physical location with the application for a business license. Consultants have experience developing these critical elements and can help prepare a successful cannabis license application.
- Maintain compliance: In a heavily regulated industry that’s constantly changing, it’s important to have an expert on your side to help you stay compliant. Cannabis consulting services keep up with state and federal regulatory laws and changes, so you don’t have to. Many are former regulators themselves and can offer advice you won’t find elsewhere. With compliance consultants, you’re paying for peace of mind.
- Design and maintain facilities: Dispensaries are required to follow certain laws when designing and organizing their space. From where dispensaries can be located to how waiting rooms function to how customers and patients enter rooms with for-sale products, cannabis consultants can help you understand the laws and adhere to them. Consultants can also help you design a dispensary that meets your organizational and aesthetic needs, and many offer real estate support.
- Train staff members: Your dispensary staff needs to be versed in compliance and have a strong understanding of the products they’re selling. Some cannabis consultants offer employee training on topics ranging from compliance to plant science. Knowledgeable employees can sell better, encourage trust in your customers, and create repeat business. Cannabis consultants can also help you create optimal schedules so you aren’t over or under-staffing and impacting your store profitability.
- Handle accounting: Cannabis business finances can be tricky, especially federal illegality, the varying state tax laws, and 280e. Dispensaries are at a high risk of being audited, can have trouble opening a business bank account, and often have to run a cash-based operation. Cannabis accounting consultants understand the tax laws and can help you get your finances in order. They can also develop sales-tracking and inventory processes and create efficiencies in your supply chain and other services.
- Establish your brand: Marketing and branding are essential to establishing your dispensary and building a loyal customer following. Unfortunately, the cannabis industry doesn’t have access to most traditional marketing outlets, and laws vary by state. Cannabis consultants know how to navigate these laws and build compliant, effective marketing campaigns with the limited resources available to cannabis.
- Build out your tech stack: Setting your business up with the right suite of cannabis technology prepares you for mandatory state reporting, inventory management, dispensary security, and general IT issues like troubleshooting printers or installing WiFi. Cannabis technology consultants can walk you through these areas and help you determine which software platforms are best for your business. Plus, they can often remotely manage the systems for you
- Handle accounting: Cannabis business finances can be tricky, especially federally illegality, the varying state tax laws, and 280e. Dispensaries are at a high risk of being audited, can have trouble opening a business bank account, and often have to run a cash-based operation. Cannabis accounting consultants understand the tax laws and can help you get your finances in order. They can also develop sales-tracking and inventory processes, create efficiencies in your supply chain, and other services.
- Establish your brand: Marketing and branding are essential to establishing your dispensary and building a loyal customer following. Unfortunately, the cannabis industry doesn’t have access to most traditional marketing outlets, and laws vary by state. Cannabis consultants know how to navigate these laws and build compliant, effective marketing campaigns with the limited resources available to cannabis.
- Build out your tech stack: Setting your business up with the right suite of cannabis technology prepares you for mandatory state reporting, inventory management, dispensary security, and general IT issues like trouble-shooting printers or installing WiFi. Cannabis technology consultants can walk you through these areas and help you determine which software platforms are best for your business. Plus, they can often remotely manage the systems for you.
Top cannabis consultants for your dispensary
Flowhub partners with best-in-class cannabis consulting and technology agencies that can help you develop, grow, and maintain your cannabis business.
Browse consulting agencies that help cannabis businesses by category below!
(Note: Flowhub does not formally endorse any of these advisors and encourages cannabis businesses to always do their own research before they hire a consultant.)
Cannabis Licensing Consultants
Amendment 2 Consultants
Amendment 2 Consultants (A2C) helps those in the Missouri market with everything from the initial application through full-scale operations. They have lead numerous campaign efforts to legalize cannabis and can help cannabis businesses with government affairs, compliance, SOPs, and branding.
The Cannabis Business Advisors
The Cannabis Business Advisors is a multi-disciplinary consulting firm helping cannabis businesses with acquisitions, applications, legal and corporate operations, and marketing.
Canna Advisors
Canna Advisors helps cannabis entrepreneurs win business licenses, optimize facility design, standardize operations, and maximize business development. They help cannabis businesses across the country with investing, advocacy, and mentoring.
Canna Consulting Group
Canna Consulting Group helps cannabis businesses across the country mitigate risk through a range of consulting services, from facility build-out, licensing, and zoning to managing daily retail operations, production, and processing.
Point 7 Group
Point 7 Group is a multi-state consulting firm focused on licensing, facility design and buildout, and systems and operation optimization for different U.S. markets in the cannabis and hemp space, as well as a footprint in the international cannabis spaces.
Cannabis Marketing Consultants
Cannabis Marketing Agency
The Cannabis Marketing Agency is a consulting firm helping cannabis businesses with brand identity, print and package design, digital advertising, social media, email marketing, SMS marketing, dispensary launch marketing, and more.
CannaPlanners
CannaPlanners is a cannabis marketing agency focusing on helping cannabis businesses with SEO, email marketing, web design and dev, identity and packaging design, and more.
deeproots partners
deeproots partners is an SEO agency helping cannabis dispensaries rank on Google. deeproots partners support their clients through Google My Business account optimization, content marketing strategy, and more for best SEO practices.
Dope SEO
Dope SEO is a cannabis SEO and marketing agency helping cannabis online and in-person businesses get found by their target audience. Their services include SEO, web design, content marketing, video marketing, and more.
PufCreativ
PufCreative is a full-service marketing, branding, and advertising agency, offering cannabis businesses help with branding and logo design, cannabis social media management, product package design, dispensary email marketing, cannabis SEO.
The Source Marketing Group
The Source Marketing Group is a female-founded cannabis marketing agency offering web design, event management, email marketing, and more for cannabis businesses throughout the country.
Cannabis Accounting Consultants
Higher Accounting Services
Higher Accounting offers bookkeeping and accounting services to the Oklahoma market. They provide MMJ growers, cultivators, dispensaries, and processors legal state and federal financial services, including audit-ready financials, inventory management, OMMA compliance, tax services, and payroll processing.
Sax
Sax is an accounting and advisory group that serves several industries, including cannabis. The company’s cannabis unit helps cannabis companies tackle a wide range of tax and financial issues, including 280E and 417c, and how to manage and increase their cash flow.
Allay Consulting
Allay Consulting is a compliance strategy and services provider that serves the hemp and cannabis industries nationwide. They help guide businesses through the hazards of the cannabis industry by navigating compliance pitfalls, ensuring best practices, and making sure your product sells.
Cannabis Technology Consultants
Cannabis Technology Partners
Cannabis Technology Partners provides IT services for the cannabis industry. The firm specializes in managing IT solutions, installing and monitoring surveillance systems, and providing technology strategy consulting services.
CASA
CASA is a technology and services agency helping cannabis retailers with inventory management, operational optimization, and data challenges. CASA supports both cannabis and hemp companies.
ERGOS
ERGOS is an IT consulting group focused on several industries, including cannabis. This consulting group helps businesses comply with state regulations and provides services for METRC, LEAF, Dynamics NAV, and more.
IT Support Guys
IT Support Guys ensure your cannabis business performs at peak efficiency through the implementation of cloud solutions, the newest software, dispensary POS, customer loyalty programs, and more. Their remote experts handle all regular computer maintenance, security protocols, online sales processes, inventory tracking, and supply chain management, as well as state reporting and customer purchase limits.
MJStack
MJstack is a nationwide cannabis consulting service that specializes in streamlining the technology vendor evaluation process. Their free service considers your dispensary’s specific go-to-market strategy and state regulatory factors to find the right services and technology for your dispensary's needs.
Cannabis Operations Consultants
Chelsea Mulligan
Chelsea Mulligan is an operations and compliance advisor for cannabis dispensaries. Chelsea helps cannabis businesses with compliance, document creation, training and management, and license applications.
Emerald Elite Consulting
Emerald Elite Consulting helps cultivators improve their commercial cannabis and retail operations. Clients hire them to maximize yield, improve grower SOPs, supply chain optimization, merchandising, and more.
Existo
Existo offers start-to-finish consulting services for cannabis start-ups. They can help your business with compliance, cultivation, security, Metrc, and technology. They serve the Michigan, Massachusetts, and Ohio markets.
MBA Growth Partners
MBA Growth Partners supports cannabis businesses through business and strategy planning, regulatory compliance, systemization and scaling, licensing application, post-licensing planning and consultation, and 280E cost accounting.
Rocky Mountain Cannabis Consulting
Rocky Mountain Cannabis Consulting (RMCC) is a women-owned-and-led cannabis compliance education company that provides strategic operational consulting to all operation types in 17 states. They offer out-source compliance support to licensed cannabis businesses, Metrc consultants, and Metrc-integrated third-party solutions.
Vangst
Vangst is known for its online job board, both for job seekers and posters. But it also offers recruitment services, from short-term temp help to help you scale for the long run. Its new executive services find the perfect match for cannabis executive leadership.
Vetrina Group
Vetrina Group is a woman-owned and led cannabis retail consulting firm helping cannabis retailers across the country use data to optimize their performance. Vetrina helps dispensaries identify areas of opportunity with their teams, labor costs, inventory management, data and insights, and marketing.
Are cannabis consultants right for you?
Although the cannabis market is still young, many processes have already been tested and solidified. There’s no need to establish or expand your cannabis business in the dark.
Using a consultant can make your life easier and your business stronger. But before you hire an industry consultant, make sure you’re up-to-date on your dispensary terminology so you know how to ask the right questions.
Are you a cannabis consultant interested in being featured on this list of recommendations? Contact the Flowhub marketing team for consideration.
