Valuetainment - June 04, 2019


Episode 312 - 10 Tips To Hiring Consultants & Lawyers As An Entrepreneur


Episode Stats


Length

16 minutes

Words per minute

242.85365

Word count

3,976

Sentence count

269

Harmful content

Hate speech

2

sentences flagged


Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

In this episode, Patrick talks about the 10 questions to ask before you hire a consultant or lawyer and how to get clear on what you're looking for in a consultant and lawyer. He also talks about why you should hire a lawyer.

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Hate speech classifications generated with facebook/roberta-hate-speech-dynabench-r4-target .
00:00:00.000 30 seconds. One time for the underdog. Ignition sequence start. Let me see you put them up. Reach the sky, turn the stars up above. Cause it's one time for the underdog. One time for the underdog.
00:00:17.340 I'm Patrick Bedevi, your host of iTunes, and today we're going to talk about 10 tips for hiring consultants and lawyers as an entrepreneur.
00:00:24.160 Before I share with you the 10 questions, I want to give you a story of what happened recently when this lady came in and we were sitting there with all our executives in a boardroom and she's sitting to my right and, and, and one of our guys like, here's what we're hiring her because of this and very credible guy in our company. And so here's, she started talking about, here's what I can do for you. Here's what, and then the moment she got into the, this is what you need. This is what you need. This is what you need. This is what you need. I said, uh, and she says, so here's what I can. And I started asking all these questions and she started kind of balking a little bit and getting a little nervous.
00:00:54.160 I said, time out. I said, ma'am, hang tight. You can sit in this room where you're going to be hearing about what we need. Uh, I said, team, we don't need her first. She's third. We have other issues to address before we hire her. I thank you so much for your time. Can you give us a few minutes? Wait outside. Now pretty much verbatim. That's how the meeting went. I had her step outside and I spoke to my crew and I said, look, before we hire her, there's a few issues we have before we hire a consultant.
00:01:24.160 Before we hire this person. So we got to get clear on our outcome before hiring a consultant. Why are we doing this? What questions are we trying to get answered? Because if you don't have that in place, they're going to triple the workload. Oh, you also don't have this because their job is to constantly throw out problems. Oh my gosh, this is a very bad problem because 73.8% of companies that hired this, you know, they throw these numbers out there and look, oh my gosh, panic, fear. This is terrible. You know, it causes big companies to go out of business. That's their job to do that. Right?
00:01:54.160 Most fear. Here's how I can help. It's a very simple Hegelian, you know, whatever you want to call it, tactic that works. And a lot of these guys do that job. Attorneys, if you don't get this wording right, you could get sued. And I've seen companies go out of business. You're going to hear that a lot as a CEO founder and they put so much fear in you. Relax. It's okay. Unless if you have a crisis, it's a different story, but you want to be in anticipation preparation game. Most important thing before hiring a consultant, CPA attorney, any of these guys, engineers, you got to get very, very crystal clear.
00:02:24.160 Clear on what you want. Even before asking these 10 questions, you got to get clear what you want. So if you have that in place, then let's get into the 10 questions. So the first question I ask is, listen, before you give us advice, what made you an expert to be able to give us advice on what we need to do? Will we pay you money for the advice? What was it? Where did you work at? What did you learn? What have you seen? What have you built? How high did you move up in your career before you chose to become a consultant? Because sometimes there's different kinds of consultants.
00:02:53.260 There's those consultants who work at a company for a while. They burn out. They don't want a W-2. They just choose to be 1099 and they want to do some work on the side and be free. I literally had a consultant that he became a consultant because he wants to sale and that's all he wants to do. So he takes a few clients per year, doesn't want to be a millionaire. He's good with that. There's also some consultants because they got fired because they were not the best of employees and they went through a lot of different companies. So then they become consultants.
00:03:23.260 They know what they do and these are the guys that are workers. They're going to do their part and they're going to earn their money when they work with you. You're trying to find them. So I ask that question to see where their credibility comes from to give me advice and our team advice about what we need to do next.
00:03:36.800 So the second question is, why did you become a consultant? And I want to hear clues. I want to hear why they became that. Well, it became because I saw so many different companies being taken advantage of and I wanted to find that. I said, give me some stories.
00:03:50.680 It's like whatever they say, whatever answer they give. So many times, CEOs and entrepreneurs or executives that are about to hire them because sometimes you're a CFO, CEO, COO or CMO, you're hiring a consultant from sometimes even a CEO is not involved. But sometimes you ask that question. It's a good question to ask. They give a response. You don't respond back. Then you don't have a real answer. You don't have all the details. So you give that question. They give their answer. Then you go deeper and say, why? Tell me more. Why is that? How about this?
00:04:20.220 What happened here? You got to go deeper to see if there's any areas where you're like, ah, no way in the world. We're going to spend $180,000 on you. In my mind, boom, checked off. I don't even need to go to the rest of the questions because I'm clear this is just not going to work out. Or wow, that's so impressive. You worked here. Can you show me story? There's their idea. Yes. Very impressed. So some things will either lead you to being a little bit worried yourself or some things you'll go down and you're like, wow, this is pretty impressive. I want to go more.
00:04:47.220 So question number three is asking them about their experience with a company like ours or an issue that you're facing. What kind of success have you had trying to solve this following issue or address the following request that we have for you? Right now, why do you ask that question? Because sometimes consultants may have had success with a company trying to solve an issue that has nothing to do with the issue you're trying to solve.
00:05:08.920 It's almost like going to a dermatologist trying to ask about your lungs, which you need to sit with maybe a pulmonologist or a laryngologist or a complete different field, right? Both are doctors, but their specialty is a different place. The same goes with consultant.
00:05:23.120 A consultant isn't good at every aspect of the company's problems that you're facing. So you ask specifically, this is what we're trying to solve.
00:05:31.280 You will recommend it to us by this place, and we would like to know, tell us one specific expertise you had in solving this issue. If they have it, ask us for multiple different stories and let them see what they can tell you about it.
00:05:42.720 Number four, tell me about your most successful client you've ever had. What do you mean? Who's your most successful client you've ever had? And they're going to tell you their story.
00:05:49.060 Well, I've had this client, you know, for working with me, they've got an 83% retention. They'll throw some numbers, which none of it you can measure, because anytime you say, how do you measure that number? And can I see data on that?
00:05:58.760 Well, I have an NDA signed with a company that I can't really show you. That's typically where it's going to go to. But it's very easy if they say that.
00:06:04.260 You're hoping to get great clients, three good stories of clients. Then you ask, can I call them?
00:06:09.080 Yeah, sure. They're either going to give you the answer. Sure, you can call them. Or, well, there's some, you know, legal stuff that we can't contact them because of direct...
00:06:19.780 Okay, that's a red flag to me. But if they'll tell you, sure, and then who can I call? Can I speak to the CEO? Can I speak to the CFO? Who was it?
00:06:27.480 Yeah, no problem. And then you go do your research on who you call on credibility. Again, you're going to go out and find out who it is.
00:06:32.680 You're hoping they're right. You're not trying to be like a detective to see if they're wrong.
00:06:36.240 You are hoping they're right, but at the same time, you have to realize you've got to do the follow-up and do your own due diligence to see what they say about the experience
00:06:42.400 and see if the numbers that they gave is close, and they'll verify to say, yes, it was 83%.
00:06:48.780 Then you've got to do a little bit of legwork on your end.
00:06:51.620 So then the follow-up question is a tough one to ask. Most CEOs, founders have a hard time asking this question, or even executives have a hard time asking this question
00:06:57.620 because it's kind of a little bit offensive. Here's what the question is.
00:07:00.380 And you open it up, preface it very easily. Listen, we've been in business for a while, and we've been doing this.
00:07:05.920 A lot of things we do right, but God knows we've done a lot of things wrong that didn't work out for us.
00:07:10.220 So having said that, what were the three clients that you had that ended up becoming a failure that the results weren't met?
00:07:16.540 What were they and why? And let them tell the story. And sometimes they'll tell their story.
00:07:21.980 Guaranteed you're going to hear one of the stories being this way. Here's how the story goes.
00:07:24.740 Well, the CEO wasn't willing to take the counsel that I gave them, and because of that, it led to dot, dot, dot, dot, dot.
00:07:31.500 One of the stories they tell you is going to be this. I'm not interested in that story because I do know what it is to have a stubborn CEO or stubborn executive or all that other stuff
00:07:38.360 that they don't want any kind of counsel. That's very common.
00:07:41.240 The story I want to hear about is what they did wrong that they could have done differently.
00:07:46.760 Now, what am I looking for? You know what's crazy about what I'm looking for?
00:07:50.820 Just the fact that they're not afraid of telling the truth gives me trust that I can do business with them.
00:07:56.260 It's amazing. Just the fact that they sell something like this.
00:07:59.480 I'm not going to lie to you. There was this one client that we had, and here's what we did, and we didn't do the right work.
00:08:04.620 We should have gone this route, but we went this route, and it didn't end up working out for us with that client.
00:08:08.700 We liked them a lot. We were really hoping to come through, but it didn't happen.
00:08:11.440 That was about seven years ago, and here's what we learned from it.
00:08:13.320 What we learned from it is the fact that that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that.
00:08:16.300 And so the next client that we faced that had the similar issue, when we made that decision this way, we did it this way,
00:08:21.520 and the results ended up being this way, and I have to tell you, even though that was a bad mistake,
00:08:25.480 I'm so glad that we went through because of it. It made us a bit of a consultant.
00:08:29.160 You see what I'm saying? See that approach? I'm looking for that. That's all I'm looking for.
00:08:34.060 But if the consultant, the attorney, the engineer, whoever you're hiring, the accountant,
00:08:39.520 cannot tell you a bad experience that they had, or their fault, it was their fault that they did,
00:08:45.040 that you're dealing with an organization that whatever you do is going to be your fault, your fault, your fault, 0.77
00:08:48.180 that they're not going to take responsibility, and I don't typically do business with people like that.
00:08:51.940 I want to know how somebody that's made mistakes, that they're willing to say,
00:08:54.680 here's a mistake I made, here's what we learned from it, here's how we're improving, it's not going to happen to you.
00:08:58.700 So, then the last question within that part, it's still on the same question as,
00:09:02.860 can I call the CEO? And if they say yes, check mark. They're so brave.
00:09:08.020 Most of the time, I won't even call them. I'm just trying to see how brave they are that if I can't call the CEO.
00:09:12.680 If they say yes, no problem, credibility goes to the roof with me.
00:09:16.120 So the next three questions is all about accountability, on how to hold them accountable.
00:09:19.540 And the one question I ask is, how do we measure success with you?
00:09:22.620 Let me explain to you what I mean by this John Mary Johnson Consulting firm.
00:09:26.300 So, say we're done with the project. I'm very happy. I tell the world about it.
00:09:31.080 I go online, whatever site it is that you want me to write a review, and I tell them how amazing you are,
00:09:35.220 so you get more business, because I want more CEOs and founders to know,
00:09:38.940 consultants like you that say what they're going to do, and they come through.
00:09:41.880 Everybody wants to know. But what do we also do to prevent my frustration,
00:09:45.900 our team's frustration of saying, I want to go write a review,
00:09:48.480 because I think other people need to know how you didn't come through,
00:09:51.580 and so you're held accountable, so other CEOs and founders don't waste their hard-earned money
00:09:55.640 on a project that didn't come through.
00:09:57.340 So how do we measure success with you?
00:09:59.320 And then they'll tell you whatever they're going to tell you.
00:10:01.120 Then it leads me to the next part, which is, give me a time frame.
00:10:05.560 Say we move on here, give me a time frame on what you think is going to be taking place.
00:10:09.440 Give me when we're going to have this part done, phase one, phase two, phase three, phase four.
00:10:13.180 And maybe they'll say, we need more time to put this together for you.
00:10:15.600 No problem. And again, that's another phase for them to have to come back to you
00:10:19.560 with what they're going to be doing.
00:10:20.780 Yes, here's what I think the time frame is going to be for this, this, this, this, that.
00:10:24.160 Perfect. That goes to the next question.
00:10:26.280 The next question for me is, what kind of updates should we be expecting, time frame-wise?
00:10:31.300 Are we getting daily updates?
00:10:33.740 Weekly updates? Monthly updates?
00:10:35.540 And they may say, in the first month, you will get daily updates.
00:10:39.400 But month two, you're going to get weekly updates,
00:10:42.220 and month three is going to be a bi-weekly update,
00:10:45.200 because as we're getting to the completion, whatever the timeline is, 12-month,
00:10:47.780 like right now we're doing an IT project, that's probably a 12-month project, 13-month project,
00:10:51.680 and we start, it's a multi-million dollar project.
00:10:53.680 That may be a different timeline than another project that we're working on,
00:10:56.280 that's only a $300,000 project, and that's going to take two months to do,
00:10:59.740 but the structure on that's going to be different.
00:11:01.740 But I still want to get updates. I'm all about updates.
00:11:03.940 It's like, the last thing you want is last week, three months,
00:11:07.820 then they give you an update, and 72 things you never wanted anyways,
00:11:11.340 they waste the time on it, it's not a way to do it.
00:11:13.620 So pure accountability, right up front,
00:11:15.200 what kind of updates are we going to be getting from you,
00:11:17.820 so we know what's being worked on,
00:11:19.620 and we can see what's being worked on with us hiring you.
00:11:23.020 Okay, so point number nine is a little bit technical,
00:11:24.980 and depending on the size of the business you got,
00:11:26.680 you may experience this, you may not experience it,
00:11:28.200 but regardless of what it is, this is something you ought to know.
00:11:30.520 So, so many times when you start a project,
00:11:32.880 the team that starts with you doesn't end with you.
00:11:36.320 So, we started a project that the engineer that we were communicating with,
00:11:40.340 that we spent 100 hours talking to,
00:11:42.960 the two engineers, they are no longer there.
00:11:46.080 So, they were not hired to fulfill the project from the beginning to the end,
00:11:49.500 so they brought two new engineers,
00:11:51.340 and then I had to re-explain and wasted our time,
00:11:54.320 double the work, very frustrating,
00:11:56.460 but because we didn't negotiate properly from the beginning,
00:11:58.900 that's what happened there.
00:11:59.920 So now, this is how I negotiate now.
00:12:02.400 I ask, once they're telling me who it is,
00:12:04.900 that let's just say we're agreeing to doing this thing,
00:12:06.920 I want to meet the entire team
00:12:08.440 that's going to be working on this project from the beginning to the end,
00:12:10.660 and here's what I want to know, Bobby, Johnny, Mary, whatever consulting firm it is,
00:12:14.340 what do I need to get from you knowing
00:12:16.700 that they're going to begin the project
00:12:18.760 and they're going to end this project
00:12:20.180 where I don't have to explain myself multiple times?
00:12:22.640 And it's a very interesting answer they'll give you.
00:12:24.780 It can be a very different kind.
00:12:25.920 Well, we don't know because it's a world of engineering.
00:12:28.460 People change.
00:12:28.980 So, it's not necessarily the case.
00:12:30.660 If it's an hourly project you have to somebody
00:12:32.380 and they're working on it from beginning to the end,
00:12:34.340 that means they're on that project beginning to the end.
00:12:36.180 That's my problem.
00:12:36.860 What's going to happen over here?
00:12:38.660 Well, we don't normally do this
00:12:40.140 because we can't really predict the future.
00:12:42.280 I also normally don't cut multi-seven-figure checks.
00:12:44.840 So, do you want the seven-figure check?
00:12:46.560 So, you've got to tell me.
00:12:47.680 If you want the business credit, if you don't,
00:12:49.140 I need to know that's a risk for me.
00:12:51.080 Well, no problem.
00:12:52.020 What if we were able to make that happen for you?
00:12:53.680 That's a very big priority for me.
00:12:55.400 Okay, let us see what they can do.
00:12:56.740 That's the homework they need to be doing, right?
00:12:58.740 Then, as you get closer to saying,
00:13:00.520 yes, we want to do this,
00:13:01.620 I want to meet the team.
00:13:03.700 What do you mean?
00:13:04.360 I want to meet everybody
00:13:05.760 that's going to be working on my project.
00:13:07.260 You want to meet everybody?
00:13:08.280 I want to meet everybody.
00:13:09.580 So, say they're local.
00:13:10.820 I literally want every one of them in my boardroom.
00:13:14.600 So, they'll come in 0.99
00:13:15.720 and it'll be 20 of them sitting right there
00:13:17.600 or eight of them or seven of them or 11 of them.
00:13:20.040 Here's who's going to be on the team.
00:13:21.400 Great.
00:13:22.220 So, this person, that person, this person, this person?
00:13:23.900 Yes.
00:13:24.520 This person's going to be phase one, phase two.
00:13:26.200 This person's going to be phase two, phase three.
00:13:28.020 Phase one person's going to be out
00:13:29.140 because we won't need them anymore
00:13:29.940 because the specialty's going to be this.
00:13:31.440 But phase one's going to show for phase four.
00:13:33.020 And how am I going to make sure
00:13:33.740 that phase one's going to be here for phase four?
00:13:34.840 So, John, tell me how long you've been with the company.
00:13:37.120 How long you've been with this law firm?
00:13:38.840 How long you've been with this consulting firm?
00:13:40.560 Seven years.
00:13:41.360 Great.
00:13:42.200 Three months, two months, five months,
00:13:43.820 red flag, red flag, red flag, all of it.
00:13:45.840 So, again, I'm trying to give you some blind spots
00:13:48.980 that you may not have that's cost me millions.
00:13:51.060 So, I hope you don't make that same millions of dollars yourself.
00:13:53.760 But that's one of the questions I ask
00:13:55.420 before we get into the last question,
00:13:57.360 which is a question most people want to ask first.
00:13:59.020 I don't care about asking this question first.
00:14:00.960 I ask this question last.
00:14:02.280 And guess what it has to do with?
00:14:03.720 Money.
00:14:04.540 Cost structure.
00:14:05.580 How are we breaking this down?
00:14:06.980 So, then they give me a bid.
00:14:09.240 Here's what I think it's going to take.
00:14:10.780 But here's how I ask for the bid.
00:14:12.260 Ready?
00:14:13.200 Okay.
00:14:14.120 Here's how I ask for the bid.
00:14:16.560 I don't say how much is this going to cost.
00:14:18.580 This is what I tell them.
00:14:20.380 John, Bobby, Mary, Johnson, consulting firm,
00:14:24.140 I want you to know my philosophy.
00:14:26.200 I don't like to go back and forth negotiating.
00:14:28.420 Here's why.
00:14:29.700 I am going to get two other bids outside of you.
00:14:32.820 Okay?
00:14:33.500 And I know all the people in your world.
00:14:35.460 I'm going to get two more bids outside of you.
00:14:37.780 I want to make sure you don't try to pull a fast.
00:14:40.560 I'm not saying you're going to do it, Bobby,
00:14:41.900 but I'm just telling you,
00:14:42.620 I want to make sure you don't pull a fast one with me
00:14:44.540 and you actually give me
00:14:46.500 what the number is going to be at the bottom
00:14:48.560 without trying to make that additional 22%
00:14:50.440 to help you with your EB.
00:14:51.280 You know what I'm talking about.
00:14:52.720 We're speaking openly here
00:14:54.540 and they'll kind of look at you
00:14:56.280 and they know what you're talking about.
00:14:58.300 I just want the bottom line number
00:14:59.660 because I don't want to renegotiate
00:15:01.240 because I'm going to go to the other two.
00:15:02.440 Now, if I notice you're trying to get a big bit,
00:15:03.940 I won't even follow up with you.
00:15:05.000 I'm just going to tell my team to follow up with you.
00:15:06.780 I'm moving on to the next one
00:15:07.940 with the level of credibility.
00:15:09.360 And I'm calling everybody
00:15:10.100 that has the same level of credibility
00:15:11.620 and experience as you.
00:15:12.920 So having said that,
00:15:13.840 before you give me the cost structure,
00:15:15.780 I need you to know.
00:15:16.580 I need to know exactly how many people,
00:15:18.140 how much it's costing me,
00:15:18.880 how much it's going to cost me,
00:15:19.840 beginning, end, checks,
00:15:21.380 one check, two checks, three checks,
00:15:22.580 deposit, back, protection.
00:15:24.420 I want all of it.
00:15:25.360 But give me a final bid.
00:15:27.340 Act as if it's the final offer you're giving me.
00:15:30.240 I want that.
00:15:30.940 Because if we have to negotiate,
00:15:32.120 I don't like to negotiate like that.
00:15:33.480 I just move on to another company.
00:15:34.880 Fair?
00:15:35.560 Are we all on the same page?
00:15:36.920 Yes, great.
00:15:37.740 I'll give you a couple days
00:15:38.820 to send me the cost structure
00:15:40.080 on how much it's going to cost
00:15:41.080 for us to move forward.
00:15:42.320 Are you comfortable with that?
00:15:43.480 We are.
00:15:43.940 Excellent.
00:15:44.400 It's been great spending time with you.
00:15:45.860 Thank you so much.
00:15:46.560 And that's the 10 questions I ask.
00:15:49.480 Before hiring a consulting firm,
00:15:50.900 an engineer, a law firm,
00:15:51.660 whatever you talk about,
00:15:53.140 those are the 10 questions
00:15:54.180 that can save you,
00:15:55.620 eventually,
00:15:56.820 tens of millions of dollars.
00:15:57.880 Thanks everybody for listening.
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00:16:19.640 With that being said,
00:16:20.260 have a great day today.
00:16:21.340 Take care everybody.
00:16:22.060 Bye-bye.