ACE consultant Carrie Yardley recommends that you “keep reading and writing until you understand what you’re paying for. Professional services agreements challenge a business owner to grasp unfamiliar technical concepts and language.”
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Q: I need to hire an outside technical expert (or two) to bring my small business to the next level. I’ve even identified grants to help pay the cost. How do I make sure my money is well spent?
ACE Advises: Get it in writing. Read what’s written. Keep reading and writing until you understand what you’re paying for. Professional services agreements challenge a business owner to grasp unfamiliar technical concepts and language. An expert, having studied and practiced in the field, should be able to draft a scope of work clients can understand. It goes with the job.
For example, a marketing services agreement might be divided into phases such as: “Discovery,” “Findings and recommendations,” “Marketing plan development.” Payments might be made at the beginning of each phase, with a final payment upon completion.
Listing the phases is not enough. It is in both parties’ interests to document specific tasks to be performed in each phase, so there is a reasonably objective basis for determining when payment is due.
For example: “Discovery — to include a review of current marketing materials, online presence, interviews with key managers, sales staff, and customer survey.”
That might not be enough for a particularly complicated engagement, but for a simple agreement it should be enough to allow the client to ask intelligent follow up questions. Conversely, it limits the discovery phase to a reasonable list of tasks, as opposed to the infinite universe of all possible discovery techniques the client may anticipate — reasonably or not.
The consultant should be willing to provide the answers to questions concerning the materials, interviews, and survey, and to specify deliverables. In the example above it would be entirely reasonable for the client to expect a copy of the survey, and the raw data received in response. The parties should then consider whether clarifying or supplemental language is needed.
If you understand the scope of work, you should have no difficulty understanding the bill.
ACE board member Carrie Green Yardley is an attorney at Yardley Esq. PLLC, a law firm providing services to small businesses and their owners from start-up through succession. She can be reached at carrie@yardleyesq.com.