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Understated Erik
tbmay 9th Aug 2011
"It gets better: The previous IT firm is no longer answering calls from this client and, when you finally get through to someone at the consultancy, they want to know where their outstanding $14,743 is the client is holding up as part of a contentious dispute."

Get while the gettin' is good. wink


"You should consider that the other consultants probably tried hard to address the client???s issues ??? sometimes personality conflicts arise, and occasionally relationships go south. Consultants with five to ten years of full-time consulting experience typically learn, over time, that the old consulting group wasn???t as ignorant as they thought; often the client is responsible for the client???s own issues."

Unfortunately, it's more than often, it's USUALLY.

I've made that mistake several times in the course of working for myself. The mistake of listening to a potential customer tell me how sorry their former provider was, and jumping in to try to get their business myself. Every time it was against my better judgement. And every time I wished I hadn't.

The bottom line is if we're not working with businesses that value technology and IT solutions as an integral part of their success, it's not going to end well. And much of the non-tech public thinks they are tech, or thinks they're "tech-enough" to render judgements about tech competency, and expenditures. I don't think a consultancy can work with that type of customer. It's best just to move along.
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RE: Understated
Erik Eckel 13th Aug 2011
The is the nail on the head:

"The bottom line is if we're not working with businesses that value technology and IT solutions as an integral part of their success, it's not going to end well."

Couldn't agree more.
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... with helpful advice. People are complex, and the issues are rarely black/white.
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