IEGeek said:
This is a sore subject for me, as I was grossly overcharged by a consultant and was essentially held hostage and had no choice to pay her outrageous sums.
No choice? Why?
There are good, ordinary & bad consultants like anything else: & I've had to fix up some of the plain awful work of the latter. I've also met people in the business world who've engaged consultants without ever checking them out first, nor having any kind of written agreement about who would do what & when & how much, not managed the engagement at all, and then have complained big time when it goes wrong & blame the consultant.
I've also been the subject of unpleasant comments from people while working: invariably by employees, & usually seeming jealous. They seem to focus solely on the fees, come up with a daily/hourly/whatever amount, & then compare to their salary, ignoring typical on-costs to the employer, & benefits. Consultants dont - we take the business risk of running our own business, pay all own insurance, running costs, etc. & don't get paid for holidays, sick pay, and so on. I'm not complaining: it's my choice, & I prefer to run my own business than work for someone else. And I also accept there will be down periods, periods of little/no work perhaps, and all the other things, like spending my weekends so the tax office can get theirs - don't get me started
I think there's a place for both employees & consultants. There are various times when it suits an organisation to get a consultant: eg, they need the resource, & don't want to be left with an employee.
I put my money where my mouth is - ie, I tell my clients that if they are not satisfied with my services, then I won't charge them. I think yes, we have to be prepared to stand by our services.
I ask every client: did I deliver value for your money? All have said yes bar one: she used the guarantee as a convenient way to take my work & not pay (but I know she subsequently used it). I'd still rather keep the guarantee and let her own karma catch up with her.
And yes - I've offered a choice between a fee, or a share of expected savings, improvements... every time, the customer takes the fee.