The best situation for partnering is when you have projects that you don’t have the skill set to finish yourself. Decide if the project can be done by you and you alone by figuring out how much of it can be managed in house.
Should You Inform Clients of Partnering?
You can tell your clients when what they need falls outside your firm’s realm of expertise. You can also inform them of your partnering situation, and suggest that they work with you and your partnering firm on a project by explaining the success you’ve had in the past with the other firm. Ease their concerns and keep control of the project by explaining to them that you will be coordinating any work that is done.
Look at the Bigger Picture
You need to get a good idea of the whole job before you make partnering or any other decisions about project management. Make a to-do list of different components that need to be done, and what you can do for your client. If most of the job will have to be sent out, it’s probably not the right job for your firm.
How Much Should You Do Yourself?
You may wonder if there is a rule for how much of a big project you should take on yourself. The general idea is to make sure you can do at least half of it. You need to feel like most of the project can be done without partnering so you are seeing your clients regularly and building a strong relationship.
How Much of Partnering is Billable?
You need to also ask yourself with partnering if there will be a lot of components to the project that will need non-billable training time that will not be skills you will use in the future. If the job is small and requires a lot of training time, you might want to pass on it to save your profit margins.
What is the Size of the Project?
If you have a larger project on your hands – a project with $15,000 potential or even more – and you think someone can do 95 percent of it in-house with half a day of training, the job might be worth it.
The Bottom Line About Partnering
If you don’t have most of the pieces of a job presented to you already and have to do a lot of finagling to make it work, it might not be right for you. Think about whether you want to take it or pass on it. However, if you establish good partnering relationships now, you will be more prepared for very sophisticated opportunities when they arise.
Added By: Computer Consulting 101 Professional Kit
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