Oh, Those Billable Hours!
Here is some great food for thought from Timothy Wilson:
Alan, In reading your blog today the following made me laugh:
3. “Your time is your value. One guy at a conference, whose name I saw on one of these blogs, actually told me that he could make more than I can through his hourly billing. Then he got in his Taurus and drove away. These folks discuss the best ways to increase hourly rates and billable hours. (There have actually been educational sessions at Institute of Management Consultants conferences about this.)”
I was at networking event where I met someone from a branch of the bank were I have my business account. He asked if there was anything he could do for me, I asked him about a service they provide known as First Research (it provides data on various industries.) Since it’s a free service, I asked for a report on the consulting industry. Here’s what the report had to say about the average hourly rate for consultants.
“Consultants are highly trained content experts and, accordingly, receive high salaries. The average hourly pay is about $24, eight dollars above the national wage.”
Average Hourly Earnings & Annual Wage IncreaseBureau of Labor Statistics
Not that you need any additional data to support value based fees, I just thought you might get an additional laugh out this in light of your conversation with the gentleman who truly believes he can make more via hourly billing.
Regards,
Timothy A. Wilson
T.A.Wilson & Associates
Getting Your People to ACT R.I.G.H.T™
Accountability, Communication, Team Building
Ilya Bogorad
It does not surprise me that the bank did not question the data, as this just not something they are able to do, even remotely.
What worries me is that businesses make decisions based on such garbage data. I see it happen all the time, and incredibly, the higher in an organization you go, the more likely people are likely to take this stuff at face value.
matt berrier
Its amazing to see the consultants who refrain from value based fees. The tortoise and the hare have been running this race for years. You’d think the hare would catch on by now. Theres much more value and opportunity in the long term versus a quick fix and a fee.
Thanks Alan.