Once there was a consultant . . . and so the long story goes.
The short version is this. A consultant (aka me) had all the same experience and knowledge as the coach (aka me).
The coach was valued and paid appropriately, the consultant wasn’t. The difference was a lens, a book and the yellow brick road.
The lens
The consultant’s clients asked her for a bicycle and expected a Mercedes. She quoted for a Mini hoping to bridge the gap, but it was a lottery.
She created a three tier offer with every task detailed and costed, hoping to ameliorate ‘the creep’ before it happened. But between her and the client, they sabotaged the process.
She wanted the best outcome for them. So did they, but not at the price tag. Too often, she compromised and delivered the better option anyway.
As a result, the consultant filtered her work through a lens that said, ‘Everything I am doing for you will become a contest between how much I give and how little you are willing to pay.’
This was unlikely to make for a happy working life.
If you reserve your best effort for the never-pleased client and the bully of a customer, then you’ve bought into a system that rewards the very people who are driving you nuts. It’s no wonder you have clients like that–they get your best work. Seth Godin
An aside: cost, value and the client relationship
The financial relationship between consultant and client is complex, particularly in the creative services industry.
Service providers aren’t selling sacks of spuds. There isn’t a simple benchmark. Potatoes cost $x per pound. Branding consultancy, copywriting, designing, creative marketing etc costs, what? $ … insert the ‘industry standard‘ hourly rate. Add your considered value, experience, expertise. Costed how? By the number of years you’ve done it? Number of jobs? Quality of testimonials and awards? Street address?
The questions then become, ‘so how many hours is ‘insert task’ going to take?‘ Followed by, ‘how long is that piece of string you’re dangling and how much is still in your pocket?
In the interests of getting their worth and fostering good client relationships, most service providers do their best to match an offer with a price. Usually, it’s contingent on trading time for money. And therein lies the rub. And the merry go round.
Back to the story: the book
To save her sanity, the consultant decided she had to do something to make a change. She had long since ceased to love how she worked, but she believed passionately in what she had to offer. It appeared for a while to be a conundrum.
She took the decision to do a course that gave her permission to write a book and discovered several interesting facts.
First, she really had to believe in what she had to offer to warrant the time, energy and effort. It meant conquering the Lizard.
Second, by going through a process of organising her body of knowledge and experience, she uncovered a framework to the work she did. She could articulate it in a series of steps.
Third, by the time it was finished and published, she understood her worth. It changed her mindset. She would no longer tolerate a battle for appropriate reimbursement or work for the wrong people or leave money on the table.
Many years before, a client who had valued what she did, retired. He said to her, ‘In all the years you worked for me, you never asked me once if I thought what you charged was okay. If you had, I’d have told you for what you delivered, you charged too little. If that’s the case, how much money have you left on the table?’
While the book alone was not the panacea for the change, it was the catalyst.
The purpose
In writing the book, her purpose became clear. She decided to follow her yellow brick road and packaged up the framework into a coaching program. Then she went in search of people who wanted to blog brilliantly to create powerful clans and became a coach.
Now her lens was very different. The people with whom she coached wanted what she had to offer. They paid her a set amount in advance for a set period of time to deliver an outcomes-driven process. Filtered through this lens, her work became, ‘how much more can I deliver you to successfully build an advocating community that’ll grow your business and uplift the lives of others.’
The lessons
1. Know your ideal client very well. Don’t abuse your worth working for people who don’t value your time or expertise and, as Seth says, ‘buy into a system that rewards the people who drive you nuts.’
2. If your lens is cynical, distrustful, resentful, angry or otherwise unhappy, then you’re doing the wrong work for the wrong people for the wrong money.
3. Write a book. It’s a challenge, but you’ll never regret it, even if no one reads it. It’s what it does for you.
4. This is a clarion call to all business owners. When you are super clear on your purpose for being in business, you’ll simply not allow your worth to be abused.
5. If you don’t want to coach, consider how else you can package your value in such a way that you can ask its worth for the tangible benefits you offer.
6. Don’t wait to make a change. Every month leaves more of your considerable worth on the table.
This is another post in the fabulous Word Carnival, on this month’s topic, “Own Your Worth: How To Charge What You Deserve Instead Of Settling For What You Get.” Click through and learn a whole lot more from the wise words of the awesome Carnies.
And, if you want to blog brilliantly and build a powerful advocating clan, you know where to come. You can start with a 90 minute Online Audit. Just contact me here.
What a fabulous story, Sandy!
And it’s all the better and more enlightening because it’s a personal one … YOUR story. 🙂 Thank you so much for sharing it. Kudos to you for writing your book!!
I’ve been doing marketing consultations for free for so long, it isn’t even funny. You want to know the reason I haven’t been charging? The honest-to-God truth?! The reason is housed in your post. I’ve heard all the horror stories of wonderfully talented and knowledgeable consultants who have to deal with clients who, first and foremost, seem to want MUCH MORE than they’re paying for and who, for some reason, seem to be eternally expecting something for nothing. So I’ve been avoiding the grief (and the complaints and the whining) and giving them what they want … at no charge. 🙁
BUT …
Change is in the air. Can you smell it? LOL!
It’s time for me to shift gears and own my worth. Not sure I’ll write a book. But the days of free lunches are quickly coming to a close. 🙂
Melanie Kissell recently posted…Free Training: How To Make Money As A Social Media Manager Or Consultant
Ahh Mel, if only one didn’t have to earn a living, it would be such a gas giving your time away to help others. I am so glad that change is in the air. You have so much value and it is worth an exchange. In our case appropriate payment. Go for it!
SandyMc recently posted…The coach and the consultant
I love your direction to go write a book. The process of choosing a “soap box” really does help folks clarify their Big Why and how they hope to make it happen. Thank you for sharing your history (even in its abbreviated form here). SO helpful!
Tea Silvestre recently posted…5 Ways to Keep Your Marketing Costs from Boiling Over
Thank YOU Tea for making the Word Carnival possible and thereby the forum in which one can share such stories. The book is you would have experienced I’m sure a dynamic marketing tool for a business owner. I like the idea of my book being my soap box. Have mental image of Hyde Park Corner!
SandyMc recently posted…The coach and the consultant
Hey Sandy,
So this is the change in your business that has resulted? It sounds RIGHT.
I was irritated by what the retiring client said. Couldn’t he have offered increased fees without you asking? It happened to me when I started business and allowed an association to use my office as their HQ – until it almost took over my space.
When I did put a request in for revised fees I was met with “we were wondering why you didn’t ask for more”.
We don’t have to wait to be asked for more, to pay a bonus for good service. When you’re young, it takes time to build up confidence in your worth.
Lovely read. Hyde Park corner ? Let me know when you’re appearing. 🙂
I’ve read your excellent book ‘Clans SuperCharge your Business’ and still use it as a reference tool in my office.
I love your encouragement to us to write a book ourselves.
Julia Hayes recently posted…Virtual Address Perth | You’ve Got Mail !
Hello Julia, lovely to have you here!
Yes so was I. He was a lovely man, but as he said as a CEO of a parastatal, it did not behove him to increase fees, rather reduce them. Still he could have given us the nod over 7 years of service do you think?
All I can think about now is London. Funny how a thought can seed a fervour to be somewhere. Not that I have ever stood on a soap box. Will make my soap box the various presentations I’m doing. And a Ted Talk I think. Now there’s a challenge! Thank you for the testimonial on Clans too. You would write a wonderful book.
SandyMc recently posted…The coach and the consultant
Lovely story, Sandy, thanks for sharing. It says clearly that if you find yourself working with people who drive you crazy you are probably doing something to attract them, so change what you put out there and you will change what you will receive. A powerful lesson.
Sharon Hurley Hall recently posted…Blogging Update – Q2 2013
Oops, that is the part I failed to acknowledge Sharon. That if you are working for the wrong reasons and undervaluing what you do, you attract the wrong clients. I really value all the folk I work with at present. And it makes a massive difference to our mutual benefit.
SandyMc recently posted…The coach and the consultant
Sandy, I love your storytelling ability. You’re so poetic about everything and your points are so spot on! So many gems…
“Service providers aren’t selling sacks of spuds.” And how often do we “negotiate” the cost of that sack? And yet we have no problem devaluing people’s time and intellectual capabilities.
“If your lens is cynical, distrustful, resentful, angry or otherwise unhappy, then you’re doing the wrong work for the wrong people for the wrong money.” And if your lens is distorted – such as “I’m not worth it” then you’re going to lose every time. So much of what we do is a self-fulfilling prophecy!
“Don’t wait to make a change.” That’s really the one that hits home most for me. I can get so busy waiting… waiting for a better time, place, idea… I could wait myself into the grave. So I have an action-oriented philosophy that I practice very hard to remember and implement. NOW is the only time we have!
Wonderful words of wisdom as always 🙂
Carol Lynn recently posted…How To Convince Cheap, Broke, Price-Shopping Customers To Pay What You’re Worth
Thank you Carol Lynn, it is a compliment indeed to be thought of as a story teller. “NOW is the only time we have”. I know that we hear life isn’t a dress rehearsal so often, but we just don’t listen do we? And yet each precious days filters past and if you are not living it as you want, loving what you are doing, being paid appropriately, being valued, then what on EARTH are you doing? Wish I had asked myself that question a LOT more diligently years ago. But fear stood in the road. I hope it won’t for you.
SandyMc recently posted…The coach and the consultant
Sandy the comment about the retiring client and fees you left on the table hit me on multiple levels. The first was a mental calculator, one of the old fashioned ones, with this huge tally going for all those missed fees. I’m going to use that for my clients!
The second, as someone else mentioned here, is why didn’t he say something sooner? I HAVE told people who provide services to me that they’re undercharging. Now I don’t want to pay more than everyone else, but I do want them to raise their rates. I’ve actually sent virtual high fives to people that I use their services when their prices went up. Now it can be hard to broach it without seeming like a jerk, and there are times I’ll wait until they know me a little better (and believe I’ll stick around after the price increase happens).
Thanks for sharing your story, and all the positive changes you’ve experienced.
Nicole Fende recently posted…What will You Learn in the Cave on Dagobah?
Hi Nicole, well I suppose the moral of the story is that I never forgot it. Probably because like you I did a mental calculation of the number of overseas holidays we might have missed out on as a result! He worked for a parastatal organisation and felt his obligation lay with them. Still, in the scheme of things he may well have been quite within his jurisdiction as the CEO to have said something. It’s never too late to resolve not to leave any more money legitimately earned on the table. Thanks for coming by.
SandyMc recently posted…The coach and the consultant