I’ve been meeting with a lot of prospective clients who have been taken by one kind of scam or another over the past year. On the one hand this could mean a lot of new business for me. On the other hand it’s a lot of people who feel sufficiently burned that they’re hesitant to enter a new partnership. While I enjoy helping people fix their broken websites and salvage botched marketing plans, it hurts to see them in so much pain from a business side of things.
In a tough economy, they opened up to a consultant who was equally down on his luck. They brought him into the fold, shared their hopes and dreams, and gave him access to sensitive material so he could help make those dreams reality. In the end, though, they were out a lot of money and, in some cases, found themselves no longer owning the intellectual property on which their business was founded. It’s a real nightmare.
One potential fix is to begin performing in-depth cost analyses on your potential consultants.
First you weigh everything in an ideal perfect-world scenario. What will you get in return for a few dollars from this firm? What is the turn-around time you expect? What’s the cost savings (or enhanced revenues) versus doing the project in-house? Make a great case for moving forward – actually, a good sales-centered consultant will make this case for you.
Now weigh everything in an end-of-the-world we-got-conned situation. What’s the most you can lose if the deal goes sour? What is the maximum amount a con man could rip you off before your accountants notice the money leak? What property could end up in the wrong hands? Your potential consultant will do everything in his power to assure you none of these outcomes is possible … but you need to understand them in order to avoid them.
Finally, bridge the gap between the two scenarios. Do your best to insulate yourself from the second scenario while holding on to as much of the first scenario’s benefits as you can. You might have to give up a little of your return to guarantee you retain ownership of the work, but giving up a little bit of profit is better than taking a loss.
The more in-depth your comparison between these two possible eventualities, the more protected your business will be. The goal is to continue to have a thriving business in the midst of a weak economy – the trick is to do so without getting conned.
