How much for what now?

After an attempted cash-gouge by a poor delusional soul this week, I’m reminded of the importance of pricing transparency… rooted in some pretty basic ethics.

Without going into specifics as they’re highly personal, I received an assessment from a professional for some services which, when I requested the services, I had no idea they envisaged the services going for so long (I expected up to a few months, they recommended a year minimum, but ideally more than one!).

They’re the kinds of services where as the buyer, I’d expect the professional to set some goals they’ll be working towards, especially if they expect me to sign on for a few years.

It went like this:

• Step 1 = Initial assessment (a 3-figure fee)
• Step 2 = Actual assessment (a bigger 3-figure fee)
• Step 3 = Price proposal for ongoing work (entirely unexplainable 5-figure fee)

Price expectations had been set for the first two steps, so they weren’t a surprise although it was annoying that Step 2 was almost an exact repeat of Step 1. Different person, different setting, all the same questions but not like, the-same-questions-going-into-more-detail… literally the exact same questions as though the Step 1 person and the Step 2 person never met. For 3x the price.

What I realised as I was reading their recommendation for Step 3, was that even though they asked everything at least twice across two separate engagements, they made a LOT of assumptions for additional services they thought I’d just agree to but simply didn’t need, and in some cases I had specifically asked them not to include. Twice.

Now listen – I’m sure I’ve delivered some unexpectedly high-priced proposals in my days, maybe even invoked some sticker shock… but this was the first time I was on the receiving end of a price I wasn’t at all prepared for, and felt the full force of sticker shock like a brick to the face. When I popped my eyes back in, I think my exact words were haha f**k off out loud.

Now if you’re thinking “but Danny, value pricing man”, yes – there’s that.

I think I’m a reasonable person, and while their proposal lacked any scent of a guarantee of any kind, my guarantee is that they weren’t focused on value in the slightest – this was a proposal for an almost indefinite retainer, where it simply didn’t need to be that long.

Plus I’d worked with them twice, and had zero confidence in what they were proposing (of which about 80% was padding I didn’t need).

Ordinarily, I’d be willing to go back and clarify on points they missed or misunderstood, so they could polish up their proposal, but it was so utterly delusional that I finally realised I’d wasted enough time (and I should have read the Google reviews before taking Step 1… live and learn).

I see two major things wrong here.

1. They were specifically asked to exclude a bunch of stuff, but slipped it in anyway – that’s turbocharged, trust-shattering stuff.
2. They gave no indication that I should expect a price in the range of what they sent.

Big projects cost lots of money, and your proposals should reflect that.

But if someone walks into your Toyota yard and you try to sell them a hand-built Bentley…