Political spin

Today (so far - don't you just love mobile blogging) has been spend in the Albert Hall at the IoD Conference. To be honest, I now can't remember why I wanted to come along - I think I expected a bit more networking. Perhaps later.

I have had the joy of listening to our delightful Chancellor having to defend what presumably even he knows is a ridiculous proposal to have a top tax rate of 50%. Rather than taking notes (which I stopped doing when I left B-School) I can quote from the BBC (who presumably were taking notes since they report things much as I remember them):

"I want to ensure that people inside this country can aspire to do as well as they can for themselves and their families - people want to ensure that if they do a hard day's work, they get a reward for it," Mr Darling said.

"But sometimes, and every government in the world is going to be confronted by this, you do need to make difficult decisions.

"And frankly I think it is fair to ask those with the broadest shoulders to shoulder some of the strain because every one of us, at the end of the day..."

Never believe those people and politicians in particular, when they use the expression "...at the end of the day...".  I found it enjoyable to listen to someone saying both "...aspire to do as well as they can..." and "...those with the broadest shoulders to shoulder some of the strain..." without appearing to see any form of conflict. He did at least have the grace to look a little uncomfortable - but that might always be wishful thinking.

There was no way the 50% plan was going to be anything other than a car-crash. It seems to have been fairly quickly thought out (if think is the correct expression). Perhaps we have enjoyed a reasonable tax base for so long that no-one remembers the last Labour attack and the joy of 90+% super-tax. What happens, of course, is that all those (all right - all of us) earning more than £120k or so can afford to employ cunning accountants and advisers who can find equally cunning ways to ensure that we pay less tax - probably even less than before. 

Let's hope that the rest of the IoD conference makes up for this bit. I doubt it, however.

SC

Stood Up

Not the first time and won't be the last...

There I am, sitting on the 6:55 to Paris just settling into the FT when my phone goes off. It's the client. "Ah - glad I caught you", says he...

No call that starts like that can ever be good. He was calling to say that I wasn't needed since some of the people I needed to see wouldn't be there. I explained I was already (a) on the train and (b) that the train was moving. 

"No problem" I said. I went on to explain that I'd either turnaround and come home or spend the day in Paris. We would re-schedule. Then the fun started. "You won't be charging us for this will you?" said my now favourite client. "'Fraid so. We'll call it half a day, though, since I could always just turnaround when I get to Paris".

We then went on to have a longer discussion about the subject that I either expected to have or felt was necessary. 

I've been too long in this job now and so will be binning the client. I don't mind so much about being stood up. That will happen. But I had given up a day - at short notice (for those of your who have been reading these blog posts) - so to find that the client was going to whinge about the cost is too much to be bothered with. The client will have to live with the written report since I'll be damned if I'm going to mess about again with them. Anyone want a client...?

I've calmed down now. I had a lovely day in Paris, although the weather wasn't up to much. I had a bit of a wander and a wonderful meal. In the end it was a good day.

The lesson is - don't be bothered with clients if they are both going to be difficult and penny-pinching.

SC

Forethought - nothing like it

I like to think that I'm an organised sort of person. I like plans, and like to feel that I know what is coming up.

Not everyone is like that. I was at business school with a man who was the opposite - he would do everything last minute (as far as I was concerned). I remember that he started his final Management Report (something that most of us spent 4-5 months on) about 2 weeks before it was due. He then spent about 20 hours a day and produced a great piece of work.

Not many of my clients are like that either. I've just completed a large piece of work which involved a final written report which ran to about 50 pages or so (there is quite a lot of technical stuff in there, so it's not quite as boring as it sounds). I happened to mention that I'd be happy to present the findings to the Board at some point - to find that they want me in Paris on Monday! As it happens, I can move a couple of things around and get out there easily for an 11am start - and be back in the office in the afternoon. It does, however, mean a long weekend of preparing the slides.

Oh well - I didn't want to sit in the sun anyway!

SC

Let's talk about money

One of the problems with being British is that we don't talk well about money. It's all very embarrassing. In some sort of cultural throwback, most British people think that talking about money means that you are engaging in trade.

Sadly this makes operating as a consultant somewhat difficult since we need to talk about money at the beginning of the relationship - and that rarely is either easy or goes well. Let me give you an example.

My usual daily rate is £1,250 per day. There - I've said it. These days, I rarely charge out on a daily rate, preferring to offer fixed price work based on explicit deliverables - but I'll calculate my fixed price on that basis. I know consultant who charge much less than that and had coffee the other day with someone who charges over double that. In the end we all charge what we're comfortable with - and in my defensive British way, I will say that I do quite a bit or either heavily discounted or pro bono work!

I met with a new client to talk through a project which sounded quite interesting. The client mentioned 30 days' work, which was a rather strange (and far too high) estimate. He managed to find a number of ways of trying to ask me how much the project would costs without actually managing it ("what sort of resources will we need at our end" and "....so we'll have to see if it fits into the budget" were two I enjoyed). I was obviously feeling mischievous so I let him dangle - waited until he actually asked outright. Interestingly his first question was "How much do you charge a day?" - blurted out as if he didn't want to soil his mouth with the words. So I told him - and then started to talk about a fixed price for the work. He interrupted me with: "Over £1,200 EVERY DAY?" (he shouted). "That's over £300,000 a year!".

Now I'm quite used to this thinking and patiently explained that I didn't work every day and so it wasn't necessarily a good comparison and that I provided good value by offering external insight, international credibility and a good deal of experience. He couldn't get by the number, however.

So I asked him how much he wanted to spend. It seemed like a sensible question to me - but he wouldn't tell me! Isn't that odd. I tried to explain that it might just be easier if he would give me a figure - which I might reject - rather than me trying to guess it.

In the end the meeting ended in a very unsatisfactory way with the client feeling that I was unreasonably expensive and me thinking that the client had been rather silly.

This reluctance to talk about money - or to value people - is, I think, be a very British characteristic. I have French clients with whom I have many difficulties, but with whom I can have an adult conversation about pricing. Interestingly some of the easiest clients are those in Professional Services and Lawyers in particular. They understand valuing time and thought and have little difficulty in understanding that a 20 minute telephone call costs one hour's money because of preparation and write-up.

It's not the value of my time that I hold dear - it's that my time is valued.

SC

The competition

Well it happened in the last recession and it's happening now. Every single person who is about to be made redundant or has recently left their job thinks they can be a consultant.

I have lost count of the number of friends and acquaintances who have spoken with me over the last few months and I can summarise the conversation as follows:

"Yeah - I suppose I might consult for a bit. You know - just until I get a real job".

Consulting is a real job. It's not something you can do for a bit. I patiently (well sometimes not all that patiently, to be honest) explain that it will take 6 to 9 months to start to build a customer based and at least 3 months after that to start getting some money. I usually advise (those people who seem serious about working for themselves) that you should have alternative funding available for about a years' worth of expenditure.

Thinking more about it, the view of the recently unemployed (that they can just pick up in my industry) is rather insulting. While I have a very healthy ego, I don't think that I can start work tomorrow as an accountant and start earning on Friday. 

So that's the first thing that people can say to irritate me. The second is:

"So if you get anything interesting come through, give me a call"

Wow - now a I'm working as their marketing department. And for free! 

Being an independent consultant can be a difficult life. I do work in partnership with a number of other consultants and firms - but only ever in complementary areas and never in competing areas. Why on earth would I (a) go out looking for work for someone who should be doing their own marketing; and (b) cut my own throat by introducing an new player to a busy market.

Think about it people...

SC

Welcome

Welcome to the Secret Consultant. 

Over the last 20 years, I have worked in small and large corporations; consulted to very small and very large organisations in a number of different continents; and both worked with and as an independent consultant.

Ah the tales we could all tell... Sadly we often don't. I say sadly because there is so much that both organisations and consultants could learn if we spoke with each other more. There seems to be a tremendous jealousy between the two groups. Consultants envy the corporate's pension, holiday pay and security (although to mention security in this economy is perhaps unfortunate) - while the corporate people envy the consultant's freedom, flexibility and avoidance (usually) of corporate politics.

This blog is my way of addressing this lack of communication. It may, however, come across every so often as a rant...

SC