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Our particular industry is full of small and medium size enterprises, and collecting a (negotiable) percentage of the total project price upfront has worked ver
by enraged_camel 10y ago
Our particular industry is full of small and medium size enterprises, and collecting a (negotiable) percentage of the total project price upfront has worked very well for us, and saved our ass more than once. If you work exclusively with Fortune 500 or equivalent then it's not necessary (and would probably be a red flag, as you say) but for everyone else it's pretty common practice.
Of course, if what you're trying to say is that the only "serious consulting" is "high-dollar consulting" where you serve such clients, then I don't know what to tell you. But that's neither here nor there.
For the record, our projects range from $25k to $150k.
- tptacek 10y agoYou got half up front for a $150k SOW?
- enraged_camel 10y agoIf the client wanted to pay cash, yeah. Most clients are very understanding, because our offering includes purchasing licenses for certain enterprise software and tooling, and the upfront payment from the client covers those costs. That said, for projects that size we also offer a lease option (basically a 60-month term) and a lot of clients prefer that since it becomes an operational expense at that point (and therefore easier to swallow) rather than a capital expense. In those situations, we work with a leasing company who pays us 100% of the price upfront, and the client makes their monthly payments to the leasing company.