Comments on: Business Consulting Etiquette http://technosailor.com/2008/08/21/business-consulting-etiquette/ Web Technology and Real Life Merge Thu, 18 Mar 2010 02:16:34 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0-alpha By: Scott http://technosailor.com/2008/08/21/business-consulting-etiquette/comment-page-1/#comment-245543 Scott Sat, 23 Aug 2008 00:05:34 +0000 http://technosailor.com/?p=4301#comment-245543 Wanted to add an article I posted a while ago about finding a great consultant. Hopefully it helps set expectations on both sides of the fence <a href="http://www.vsellis.com/guidance/finding-a-great-consultantfinding-a-great-consultant/">http://www.vsellis.com/guidance/finding-a-great...</a> Wanted to add an article I posted a while ago about finding a great consultant. Hopefully it helps set expectations on both sides of the fence http://www.vsellis.com/guidance/finding-a-great...

]]> By: Scott http://technosailor.com/2008/08/21/business-consulting-etiquette/comment-page-1/#comment-245542 Scott Fri, 22 Aug 2008 23:48:20 +0000 http://technosailor.com/?p=4301#comment-245542 Aaron - GREAT article with clear examples. I recently left a management consulting position to move into independent consulting doing largely WordPress work and I would simply like to reinforce how important it is to set expectations early. It's come back to bite me every single time I didn't. In particular, I had a client with a retail site (haven't started yet) who thinks that sales will skyrocket when we redo the site (like 90% of the people who visit will buy) and anyone who has delt with e-commerce knows how unrealistic that is. If I didn't reset those expectations early on they would have blamed me for it not being successful. <br><br>My point is, clients typically don't have expertise in these things and it is incumbent upon us to provide them with guidance.<br><br>And set your price/rate out front, a lot of [new] consultants shy away from that but it is the easiest way to weed out people who aren't serious or can't afford you. Like you, I also don't charge for the initial call but I keep it short. Everyone does a little "free" work, the question is how much. <br><br>Keep up the good work! Aaron – GREAT article with clear examples. I recently left a management consulting position to move into independent consulting doing largely WordPress work and I would simply like to reinforce how important it is to set expectations early. It's come back to bite me every single time I didn't. In particular, I had a client with a retail site (haven't started yet) who thinks that sales will skyrocket when we redo the site (like 90% of the people who visit will buy) and anyone who has delt with e-commerce knows how unrealistic that is. If I didn't reset those expectations early on they would have blamed me for it not being successful.

My point is, clients typically don't have expertise in these things and it is incumbent upon us to provide them with guidance.

And set your price/rate out front, a lot of [new] consultants shy away from that but it is the easiest way to weed out people who aren't serious or can't afford you. Like you, I also don't charge for the initial call but I keep it short. Everyone does a little “free” work, the question is how much.

Keep up the good work!

]]> By: Aaron Brazell http://technosailor.com/2008/08/21/business-consulting-etiquette/comment-page-1/#comment-245436 Aaron Brazell Thu, 21 Aug 2008 15:32:12 +0000 http://technosailor.com/?p=4301#comment-245436 Great link, Keith! Great link, Keith!

]]> By: Keith Casey http://technosailor.com/2008/08/21/business-consulting-etiquette/comment-page-1/#comment-245435 Keith Casey Thu, 21 Aug 2008 15:27:09 +0000 http://technosailor.com/?p=4301#comment-245435 When I read this one, I was reminded of my own "Art of the Introduction" - <a href="http://caseysoftware.com/blog/the-art-of-the-introduction">http://caseysoftware.com/blog/the-art-of-the-in...</a> - where you have a very limited window of someone's time/attention to give them something of interest/value. If you don't, people tend to get annoyed and/or write you off pretty quickly. Not good for any business. ;) When I read this one, I was reminded of my own “Art of the Introduction” – http://caseysoftware.com/blog/the-art-of-the-in... – where you have a very limited window of someone's time/attention to give them something of interest/value. If you don't, people tend to get annoyed and/or write you off pretty quickly. Not good for any business. ;)

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