[Orcnet] Consulting sales cycle

[H. Joe Tabor]

Keith,

My experience is similar -- one job was secured 72 hours after initial contact, and a good number of customers took about 3 months or more before they were really ready.  Here is where I messed up.  One customer took several months just to get me in the door and give me serious consideration, and then they told me that they would make up their minds within 2 weeks.  While I was waiting for that customer to make a decision, another customer, more eager and ready to go, appeared in that 2 week time frame.  Both jobs would have been full time, and I didn't feel I could take them both on, so I told the more eager customer to wait a few days.  After a few days, the first customer decided that they didn't have anything for me after all, and the eager customer found someone else within that short time.  I got nothing out of the deal.

So, for me, the moral of the story is wait as long as the prospective customer needs to wait, but if something else comes along, grab it instead, and right away.  If a customer is taking too long, you might want to let them know early on that you are available now, but you might not be so available later on. 

Joe

-----Original Message-----
>From: Keith Lofstrom <keithl at kl-ic.com>
>Sent: Apr 21, 2008 9:19 AM
>To: orcnet <orcnet at eeconsult.org>
>Subject: [Orcnet] Consulting sales cycle
>
>
>Gents:
>
>I am negotiating with a startup for a few months of work.  So
>far it has taken three weeks of very occasional interaction,
>almost all because of delays at their end (they are starting up,
>after all).  This is nothing unusual for me;  sometimes the dance
>can take a year to complete, though rarely more than 20 or 30 hours
>of time are involved in the setup, a fraction of the billable work.
>
>Sometimes the dance takes less than 48 hours - one negotiation
>was started on the phone Monday afternoon, completed at lunch in 
>Southern California on Tuesday, and I was in Boston Wednesday
>doing the work.  But it is rarely that fast.
>
>What are other Orcnetter's experiences?  How long does a sale
>take for the rest of you -- assuming a few months of well paid
>custom design work are the result?  Do longer negotiations fail
>more often?  Do you give up and blow off the prospect after too
>much time elapses?  What is too much?
>
>Keith
>
>-- 
>Keith Lofstrom          keithl at keithl.com         Voice (503)-520-1993
>KLIC --- Keith Lofstrom Integrated Circuits --- "Your Ideas in Silicon"
>Design Contracting in Bipolar and CMOS - Analog, Digital, and Scan ICs
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