Related Posts
Hi, fishes!
I have an interview scheduled for this Monday for the role of Data Analyst. I was informed to be prepared with entry-level Data engineering topics as well as that role also has openings. I don't have much knowledge of DE.
What are the topics that I should focus on!? Pls, help.
LatentView Analytics ZS Associates Crayon Data
Chief
Additional Posts in Partner One
At what age did you sell your first project?
Great discussion board
New to Fishbowl?
Download the Fishbowl app to
unlock all discussions on Fishbowl.
unlock all discussions on Fishbowl.
Mentor
I usually prefer a fixed price setup and will at least sometimes try to move clients off T&M when that’s the way they think they want to go. The only benefit of T&M is that I take on no margin risk. But there are several downsides:
1) I get no margin upside from value-based pricing or efficient delivery.
2) Clients will never get annoyed about too many consultants billing time in their meetings or the like. “Sure… I can take a person out of the room/zoom but it’s not like you’re paying extra for them to be there.” I’d much rather them see the productivity of my team as my problem rather than seeing it as their problem.
3) Clients prefer the predictability of the cost and I prefer to make it easier for clients to buy my work
4) When clients are paying for the person, they tend to feel like they should have more say over the profile of the person. When we’re busy, that can be tough if I don’t have perfect fits available. I’d prefer to have flexibility here.
Long story short, if you’re good at pricing and delivering work, fixed price is easily better than T&M.
Client often asks us one way or other - but depending on the type of work and availability of staff , we try to sway the decision to whatever is pragmatic to deliver
T&M is always the better option for us (as a consulting company) but usually fixed price is better for the client (unless we totally fudge up the estimations).
Fixed fee all the way. T&M has never been worth the headache
P1 is spot on. Both parties benefit with fixed fee model. A couple of watch outs
1. Fixed fee works when the consulting partner is given free hand to manage the project. If the engagement is a few staff members sprinkled across a large project, it does not work.
2. The client has to watch out for change orders. Fixed fee, by definition, is extremely tight on scope control
Mentor
This is right - esp. #2. But I also find this is a more positive discussion vs in a T&M world. In a T&M world, the client has limited visibility into when scope change is happening and they also assume I’m trying to push it. In a fixed price world, we can have good mutual conversations about whether a change in scope is really worth it. It’s a much better environment for building trust.
For larger deals we almost always go fixed fee.
Actuals + buffer + margin = client fixed fee.
Client can pay this monthly or based on milestones with x% as upfront.
T&M usually helps when you have an upper hand on the project or smart enough to outplay the client.