Initial consultation fee

We don’t provide free-of-charge initial face-to-face consultations. We will be discussing your problems and opportunities from the moment we meet, and usually even the initial feedback we provide will be valuable. Our initial fee includes a phone brief, a face-to-face consultation of around two hours, and a written response with suggestions on how your issues might best be moved forward.

We also find that an initial fee helps distinguish between bona fide potential clients and those who just want to pick our brains and move on.

Payment of accounts

We will bring commitment and energy to our consultancy, but in return we need to be paid as per our agreed rate and on time.

Regardless of the specific terms of our agreement, we bill all clients on 15th of each month, with payment due at the end of that same month.

In the scheme of problem-solving consultancies, our fee structure is modest. Accordingly, it is unreasonable to expect our continuing efforts when accounts are overdue.

Candour

Candour is a two-way street. To get the best out of us, you need to be absolutely candid. So if there are political problems in the firm or in the partnership, they are likely to be important things we need to know about.

Professionals seem to serially overestimate the capacity for improvement projects to succeed as if the firm’s political and personal landscape didn’t exist . . .

Commitment

Whatever it is that you are trying to achieve in your firm, you need to go well beyond articulating where you want to be. You must be prepared to commit the resources to get there. Sometimes this will involve investment and/or inconvenience in the short term – especially when people are learning new things. There is nearly always some pain involved in the pursuit of a gain.

Informality

Yes – we will have a commercial relationship, but the results of that will be enhanced if there is informality in the dialogue between you, your people and us. Anything you can do to promote this will always be a benefit.