by Siimon
8. July 2010 11:02
I had an interesting, but painful experience recently.
I spent 6 months using a business consultant for a commercial issue I was involved in.
After spending over 100 grand, I still had no clear resolution in sight, or even clarity over the next steps to finalizing it.
Then I went to another one who charged vastly more, yet in 3 hours he had worked out how to finish it once and for all.
What a lesson.
Here I was thinking I was being cost efficient by going with somebody cheaper, but the opposite was actually the case.
When we look at the total cost (in time, effectiveness and money) the expensive guy turned out to be incredibly cheap.
And the less expensive consultant ended up being outrageously expensive.
In a free market economy, the best people almost always charge more, because they can.
Don't make my mistake. If you can possibly afford it, choose the best upfront and save yourself the angst and cost of dealing with the average performers.
Now here's the tricky bit.
Some of the more wily average performers charge a fortune too. So who you choose can't be purely based on price.
You need to check with other senior people working in their industry.
In most industries, the customer often has no idea who the elite performers are.
But people working in that industry always do.