Re: Billing Problems with Corporate Client

Subject: Re: Billing Problems with Corporate Client
From: Andrew Plato <aplato -at- EASYSTREET -dot- COM>
Date: Wed, 7 Jan 1998 21:23:04 -0800

Ooooo, you got caught in the corporate radar. Bad thing.

My suggestion -- choke down the paperwork, rate reductions, and other BS or
be prepared to bluff.

This almost happened to me with one client and I managed to remain outside
the bureaucracy through negotiations. I bid low on the project and did a lot
of preliminary work for free so I was already "grooved" for the project.
When the money time came around, they did the same thing to me -- insurance,
temp agency, blah blah blah. So I just threatened to pull all my work and
myself out and leave. Since I already had a plan on the table, it would
have left them at square one. They got a lot more accommodating after that
and since, I have been able to remain outside the corporate radar.

The other key is to befriend the money-man. The money-man is that
semi-upper management person that signs the contracts and approves the
money. That person actual has quite a bit of pull in most organizations.
And if they like you, they'll fudge the rules for you. This is how I get
around the insurance crap at one client. The money-man likes me and my work
and vouches for me to the corporate pukes.

The trick is to get around the hurdles not try to scale them all. These
huge companies are just huge thorny bushes and usually you can navigate
around the spines rather than picking them off. Some companies, like a
certain chip manufacturing company here in Oregon, is so uptight that I
don't even bother with them. They have an immense sea of inane rules about
contractors. The result: all they get for contractors are clock-watching,
chair-warming, job-shop Borg drones. The good people, the independents,
can't get in the door -- their loss.

Good luck with the paperwork. Let us know how it turns out.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Andrew Plato
Owner / Principal Consultant
Anitian Technology Services
www.anitian.com
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

-----Original Message-----
From: Eric J. Ray <ejray -at- raycomm -dot- com>
Newsgroups: bit.listserv.techwr-l
Date: Wednesday, January 07, 1998 10:27 AM
Subject: Billing Problems with Corporate Client


>Would appreciate any comments and feedback on this one.
>
>We (Deborah and I) recently started doing some new contract work for
>a very large company. We were approached by the company and
>have an excellent (and open and frank) relationship with
>the project manager and engineers, and the projects have
>been fun and interesting.
>
>In the beginning, we completed the NDA and 10 page PO
>contract (with a corporate to corporate relationship).
>We invoiced, citing the PO number, and were
>promptly paid, per our contracted terms. All was well.
>
>Then, the corporate bureaucracy got into it when a new
>PO was opened for an extension of the contract.
>Various aspects of the story from the corporate
>monolith are as follows:
>We don't bill enough per year to be a corporate relationship.
>We must work through a temp agency of their choice.
>We should _reduce_ our billing rate by 3% to cover their
> costs in using a temp agency.
>
>We've now not been paid for two months--the check's
>in the mail, so they say.
>
>We just got a new contract from this "temp agency".
>They want us to provide a ton of documentation, including
>articles of incorporation, Fed Tax ID certification, their
>questionnaire, and proof of a total of 4 million dollars of
>liability insurance. (BTW, we work exclusively offsite and
>currently have no employees.)
>
>Project manager is being very supportive, but isn't
>in a position to do much, or so it seems.
>
>Our phone calls to the various parties at the different
>companies are still unreturned.
>
>Any comments or suggestions? Has anyone else
>encountered this kind of thing?
>
>Eric and Deborah
>
>(Yes, if you have a lead on contract work with a normal
>company, we'd appreciate it.)
>
>
>
>*********************************************************
>* Eric J. Ray, ejray -at- raycomm -dot- com, http://www.raycomm.com/
>* TECHWR-L Listowner, co-author _Mastering HTML 4.0_
>* _HTML 4 for Dummies Quick Reference_, and others.
>* RayComm, Inc., currently accepting contract inquiries.
>
>
>




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