When I review all the proposals I have submitted, I realize that I
hardly ever sell to a prospect that has an IT staff, especially a staff
of one guy who knows absolutely everything. Now my proposals to such
prospects are nothing more than a brief description of functionality and
the pricing--no more DIY manuals. I no longer mention brand names or my
supplier names.
I've also begun requiring an up-front payment for additional equipment,
especially telephone sets. Some customers ask for terms, to which I say
"Does Home Depot give you terms?". I've been able to significantly
reduce my receivables with this policy.
When consulting with a company with an established presence in the
community, you really have to give then Net30, especially if they have a
formal accounts payable policy. For telephone consulting, you first
need the client to demonstrate his willingness to pay, even if its just
$100.
Technical Support wrote:
That's the nature of consulting - you have to balance demonstrating
competency with solving the problem before being paid. We've had many
similar experiences, and we now require prepayment for 2 hrs service
before we do any work (or even talk to the client for more than a
few minutes). (Despite attempts by potential clients to make the sales
call into a problem solving call). We have undoubtedly lost potential
opportunities, but our "walk away with free advice" effort has been
almost eliminated.
The same goes for proposals. I can't count the number of times our
proposals have become a do-it-yourselfer's guide to setting things up by
themselves. I think it's great if customers want to do it themselves,
but don't waste our time!
I understand of course that it's tough for users too. There are lots of
self proclaimed experts on the list who after hours of billed time have
done nothing for their money (we've cleaned up after lots of those folks
too). These are usually the same people sending out flame emails about
how smart they are and how stupid everyone else is.
MD
------------------------------------------------------------------------
*From:* [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] *On Behalf Of *Voce Lavoce
*Sent:* Friday, April 14, 2006 5:14 PM
*To:* asterisk-users@lists.digium.com
*Subject:* [Asterisk-Users] My consulting story
Hi everybody,
I would like to be awareabout what happened to me.
Two weeks ago, on a Sunday morning a French guy called me. Ask me to fix
some problems with his asterisk. After fixing his problem, he asked
more and more, after 10 hours of work I ask him to pay me for the first
milestone. However, lucky me that I did not finish, since he never paid me.
Be afraid and take your action if some french guy wants to hire you to
do some trunking with the Philippines.
Hope, that this can help someone.
See you
------------------------------------------------------------------------
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--
Michael Welter
Telecom Matters Corp.
Denver, Colorado US
+1.303.414.4980
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
www.TelecomMatters.net
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