000-000-0000 · closed Sundays
The whole pricing model
Three day rates and a number of days. That is the entire model, and everything below is that sentence with the arithmetic filled in.
$2,200a day
A day where a partner is the one in the room asking the questions. Every strategy, pricing, margin and succession engagement is priced at this.
$1,800a day
What a two-person day actually costs — a partner and a consultant. Most engagements here are two people, so most of them are priced at this.
$1,400a day
A day of the work that follows the questions: the counting, the drafting, and sitting with somebody while they do a thing for the first time.
Every fee here is a rate times a number of days. Every fee on this site is a day rate multiplied by a number of days, and both numbers are printed. A partner day is $2,200, a blended day is $1,800 and a consultant day is $1,400. There is nothing else: no retainer to be quoted later, no percentage, no success fee.
Every engagement
| Engagement | Days | Rate | Over | Fee |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Strategy and planning | ||||
| Direction review | six to ten days | partner day | four to six weeks | $13,200 to $22,000 |
| The one-page plan | four to six days | partner day | three to four weeks | $8,800 to $13,200 |
| Operations and process | ||||
| Follow the job | eight to fourteen days | blended day | five to eight weeks | $14,400 to $25,200 |
| Capacity and scheduling | six to ten days | blended day | four to six weeks | $10,800 to $18,000 |
| People and hiring | ||||
| Roles, pay and who decides | five to nine days | partner day | four to six weeks | $11,000 to $19,800 |
| A hiring run, start to finish | six to twelve days | blended day | six to ten weeks | $10,800 to $21,600 |
| Sales and growth | ||||
| Where the revenue comes from | six to ten days | blended day | four to six weeks | $10,800 to $18,000 |
| Pricing and quoting | five to eight days | partner day | four to six weeks | $11,000 to $17,600 |
| Systems and software | ||||
| Choosing and installing a system | eight to sixteen days | blended day | eight to fourteen weeks | $14,400 to $28,800 |
| A monthly reporting pack | four to eight days | consultant day | four to eight weeks | $5,600 to $11,200 |
| Numbers and margin | ||||
| Where the margin actually is | five to nine days | partner day | four to six weeks | $11,000 to $19,800 |
| Owner succession | ||||
| A succession plan and a handover | ten to twenty days | partner day | twelve to twenty-four weeks | $22,000 to $44,000 |
The retainer
Two days a month, bought three months at a time. Usually one day on your premises and one day of work that follows it, and it exists for businesses that do not need a project and do need somebody to think with on a schedule.
What it works out at
Cheaper because it buys us certainty about next month, which is worth something to a six-person firm. It is not a loyalty discount and it is not a volume discount, and the difference matters: neither of those would survive the first quarter somebody wanted to stop.
The important half of a price list
Travel, materials and anything bought on your behalf are at cost, itemised, and nothing else. Everything is invoiced monthly in arrears against days actually worked, and the invoice lists the days.
We take nothing from any software vendor. We do not sell software and we take no commission, referral fee, rebate or reseller margin from any vendor. It is the only thing that makes advice about which system to buy worth paying for.
Either side can stop at the end of any week. Either side can stop at the end of any week. You pay for the days worked, you keep everything written so far, and there is no notice period and no termination fee.
A partner day is $2,200, a blended day is $1,800 and a consultant day is $1,400. Every project on this site is a number of days at one of those three rates, and the fee range printed against it is exactly that multiplication. The smallest piece of work here is four days.
Because the alternative is that every first meeting spends twenty minutes on a question that has one number in the answer, and because a fee that is only revealed after you have explained your problems is a fee arrived at from your problems.
No — not a commission, not a referral fee, not a rebate, not a reseller margin. It is the only thing that makes advice about which system to buy worth paying for.
$2,200 a partner day · ninety minutes free · about one in four we talk out of it
The assessment takes about four minutes and gives you a written summary of what your answers suggest and which engagement addresses each thing. It is indicative and not professional advice, and it is a better opening than a blank contact form. If you would rather skip it, the telephone works and the first meeting is ninety minutes and free.