You are “JUST” a Consultant
Yes—I am and I have been running a business for over 18 years and as all the consultants I know, we take and run our businesses very seriously.
In fact on a recent trip to Florida, I was commenting to my sister and a friend how when I looked around, it seemed as though the whole city of Sarasota was made up of small businesses and ‘consultants’ and many were doing quite nicely as they worked hard and thrived in the daily economy no matter what and continued to work and also reinvent themselves and how they work continually.
So—recently when a project from a very large organization cancelled an individual coaching session on the morning of the session because the executive ‘forgot’ (even though there was numerous documentation and follow up and confirmations), I was disappointed in the fact that:
*I could have booked the time with another client
*That my contract or time didn’t seem to be valued by the other side when the client said 'we'll just reschedule'
The comment above came about when speaking with the hiring client who at first did not want to honor the cancellation clause that she had signed on the original contract—as she said to me: “We are a very large firm that could give you a lot of business and "you are ‘JUST’ a consultant.”
I answered, “You are right, I am a consultant and I run my business just as seriously as your firm does …….”
The end result turned out that we did book another meeting, I was paid for the original time and discounted the next training, yet I still hear her comment in my mind.
I would appreciate thoughts from other ‘Consultants’ in how they would have handled the situation and from other ‘large organizations’ on their thoughts also on this.
It only creates a continual win/win for all of us.
Andrea, your post is quite interesting. Having served most of my career on the client side and now happily engaged as a marketing consultant, I have experience from both angles. And although this was a planned career shift for me – in this economy, many formerly employed people have joined the consulting ranks out of necessity.
Many of us consulants are very qualified at the jobs we are doing and bring great value to the client. Occasionally, we have issues like missed client meetings and the type of attitude you described above. But perhaps the biggest challenge is to get clients to act on our advice and do what is in their best interest. There is a definitely a culture of inertia in many businesses that hampers progress.
As regards your cancelled appointment situation, I believe you handled it correctly and it appears that the outcome was okay.
Chris Ryan
As a social media consultant who hasn’t been in the business nearly as long as you, I can only assume you’re very tactful in your communication.
Having said that, I would stick to my guns and reinforce the terms of the agreement (with a tactful response)… otherwise, when it comes up again in the future and you’re willing to fold on your own values for possible future profits, it may come back to bite you.
Cheers.
Great post Andrea,
I have experienced the “late cancellation” or cancellation with no notice several times in my career. You are absolutely correct that it is not so much the lost opportunity (as we bill hourly) as the apparent lack of respect. My doctor charges a fee if an appointment is cancelled with in 24 hours of the scheduled time, why not a consultant? Our “prep time” is probably much more than a doctor’s anyway (no offence to medical professionals 🙂
I rarely enforce my cancellation clause, but if we do reschedule, there is definitely a price penalty.
This biggest issue here is the lack of respect. Life happens, people make mistakes, but people need to be respectful of each other’s profession and time. “Just a consultant”?? How about “just a paper-pusher”? Or “Just a phone jokey”?
I am glad this worked out for you. I too would be interested in hearing from larger organizations about their opinion of independent consultants, freelancers, and small business owners.