This is what it looks like to poop in the conference center as the LORD cleans you out, I suppose.
Empathy and flexibility.
From Rob Riggs:
Hey John, glad you figured it out, i’ll have a check on me tomorrow.
thanks also for the effort you put into the email today. you and i were on the same page at the end of June, thinking we would be getting that check each month for the foreseeable future. SV appears to have caught up, at least somewhat, with what they were in such a rush to get done a month ago. i believe we have been a big part of helping them get there, and they recognize that, but are trying not to overextend themselves.
everything in your email makes sense from our vantage point, but i’m not so sure the rates make sense from their standpoint. if they were in a pinch like last month, maybe it makes sense for them to give away profit just to get projects out the door. hourly rates seem high, but margins are tight — if i can’t make at least double what i’m paying a contractor, it rarely makes sense to take the project, or hire that person, or whatever. i believe that SV is experiencing the same difficulty.
i can appreciate where you’re coming from in getting every dollar we can for the work performed. just being around the office, i’m getting the feeling from some of the crew that the hard-nosed sales tactics are becoming abrasive and wearing thin. i don’t want to be a pushover, but i don’t want these guys to expect a fight at the beginning of each month either — we’d be no fun to work with.
based on where we are now, mild projects in the pipeline and some potentials, no other agencies really passing us work, and you heading out to CO, i’m considering options to continue bringing in revenue from this opportunity. i’d really rather be SV’s regular outsource contractors at a fair wage and get regular work, than be outsource contractors at a premium price that get utilized only when their internal teams are freaking out about what they need to get done. if we don’t get there, i believe there’s still opportunity for me to work with SV in a more permanent position. i’m not sure yet what that looks like, but i’m keeping that door open.
that said, i’d like to negotiate me being the guy on site as necessary, and if they’re good with that, we’d be able to keep the existing team in place, no need to hire someone local. i’d be willing to take a rate closer to the 75 number, a lower blended rate, in order to get the volume of hours. there’s opportunity cost, sure, but we don’t have that much else going on right now. if things change in the future, we can renegotiate.
i’m still thinking through, but that’s where my head is right now. we can chat through tomorrow.
Rob Riggs
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