Consulting - any RDP members do consulting?

[WhatExit?]

Wondering what kind of consulting you do and what you charge?

I've done it in the past at rates from $80 - $150/hour and I may have some opportunities so I'm trying to figure an hourly rate.

Maybe I should just charge what shops charge (car dealerships, services, etc.) ? Is that a fair comparison?

 

[rivermobster]

You might want to mention for what?

 

[OLDRAAT]

Pixie dust spreader

 

[RiverDave]

I think it would depend on what you are consulting on?

If you’re consulting me for t shirt designs I’m gonna give you a beer. If you are a marketing consultant and laying out commercials for the Super Bowl it might be a little more $$.

 

[RIVERBORN]

Only have ever talked to oil field consultants.
Don’t even ask what the drilling rig consultants make. It used to be some ridiculous numbers. So like rd said. All depends.

 

[WhatExit?]

You might want to mention for what?

Now this is a "what's-this-worth" thread

Business development, sales & marketing, revenue generation, new customer acquisition, value proposition, sales process & cycle, call guide templates, email templates, presentation templates, CRM (Salesforce & HubSpot), and more. From starting the sales process to growing it and taking the business to the next levels. Marketing plans, sales & marketing collateral, new market investigation, target account development, international supply chains (China, India, Vietnam, Mexico, US), more.

Broad industry experience selling to OEMs/manufacturing companies of all sizes.

Manufacturing of metal and plastic component production, pre-production, prototypes, assembly, product development, etc. Manufacturing processes include high pressure die casting (HPDC), investment casting, sand casting, gravity casting, Metal Injection Molding (MIM), injection molding, blow molding, CNC machining, stamping, sheet metal, aluminum extrusions, forgings, post-processing including surface finishing, plating, painting, anodizing, etc.

 

[rrrr]

At least $300, more wouldn't be out of line. You could call your attorney and ask him, but that would cost at least $750.

 

[ChevelleSB406]

Now this is a "what's-this-worth" thread

Business development, sales & marketing, revenue generation, new customer acquisition, value proposition, sales process & cycle, call guide templates, email templates, presentation templates, CRM (Salesforce & HubSpot), and more. From starting the sales process to growing it and taking the business to the next levels. Marketing plans, sales & marketing collateral, new market investigation, target account development, international supply chains (China, India, Vietnam, Mexico, US), more.

Broad industry experience selling to OEMs/manufacturing companies of all sizes.

Manufacturing of metal and plastic component production, pre-production, prototypes, assembly, product development, etc. Manufacturing processes include high pressure die casting (HPDC), investment casting, sand casting, gravity casting, Metal Injection Molding (MIM), injection molding, blow molding, CNC machining, stamping, sheet metal, aluminum extrusions, forgings, post-processing including surface finishing, plating, painting, anodizing, etc.

I am not doing consulting currently, but I do work around all things Salesforce (architect, developer, product owner, etc). The consultants we have working with me as 1099 kind of people get between 100 -150 an hour. If I were to sell my services looking for a company to set up or revamp their CRM and automations, I would charge above that, and then somewhere in that range for labor on the execution. People claiming "Digital Transformation" can access allocated budgets in large corporations for such things, however, in my experience, only a third of them actually come up with anything of value.

Many people, especially in marketing, sell the same two transformation journeys for three years, and end up nowhere, then the next person does the reverse. Hubspot to marketo, then marketo to Hubspot. Using data to develop new go to market strategy, to claiming data is not good enough and revert to account based marketing.

If I get sick of this place and go on my own, I would love to sell a package of the value of a salesforce integration to Peopl.ai and ClosePlan, and the value on the table there. I think its the coolest thing going on in the industry right now.

 

[pronstar]

My landscape “consultants” are cheap and they even bring their own mowers.
My tax consultant, on the other hand…

 

[jetboatperformance]

For automotive consulting and expert witness work (Atty/Insurers) we charge $150 per hour and for court appearance (4 hr) $600 minimum (150 per hour after and travel time/expenses )

 

[LuauLounge]

Just some thoughtsa. Can you find a niche industry, company type, size that you feel isn’t being adequately served to target? Do you have the ability to put together a skilled team to implement the projects? Can this be done without a conflict with your current gig? If you are serious about this, start putting together a business plan. If you haven’t already develop relationships with either the internal IT groups or the contracted folks.

 

[merc_400r]

Before I retired I was at 100/hr consulting. Now I wouldn't go back to work for any money, retirement is so nice.

 

[Marios Metalworks]

Great question OP

We have many overlapping skills and my hourly rate is never the same.

Working with startups, solo-entrepreneurs and otherwise early stage businesses seams to always pay more hourly.

Think also about working in performance based compensation since it gives you more skin in the game.

I had a really bad case of imposter syndrome in the beginning. I was signing every deal I pitched but there was never any negotiation. This was the first flag I was low. The numbers kept moving up until there was a healthy dialogue about pay.

In the end what you bring to the table is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it

 

[Singleton]

It’s been a few years, but I used to run my own Business Risk Management consulting firm.
I specialized in Enterprise Risk Mgmt, Internal Audit, and Regulatory Compliance with a focus on risk mitigation.
Rate schedule was based on resource experience and started at $250 an hour and went as high as $750, prior to discounting. The average was usually around $400 an hour. I paid my contract resources based on skill set and experience. Many factors played into me closing the firm. Two that caused the most stress was the insurance I had to carry plus family health insurance. My larger clients (fortune 100) started asking me to carry $10+M in liability insurance. Never had an issue getting work, but when the economy has a down cycle, consultants are the first to go and I wanted better health insurance for my growing family, so I closed shop and went back into the corporate world.

 

[Bpracing1127]

sales consultants i dont think are worth it unless they can produce. With that being said as a sales consultant i would want a % off every sale that the business increases. So new customers only. this is from the business POV. from the consultant POV i would think 150$/hr that depends on what you are selling. making pencil erasers vs payload stuff for space shuttle

 

[sirbob]

I do management and sales training for medical device companies.

I charge $10,000 a day.

I don’t do events, i.e. one day events. I only do annual contracts for a given number of days per year agreed-upon.

 

[samsah33]

I deal with a lot of consultants in accounting and finance for long term project work (eg maternity leave, backfill while trying to hire, etc...), and I gauge the value by considering what I would pay for a similar role if I were to hire full time. Also depends on who I'm paying: if paying a consultant direct vs paying a consultancy.

Example would be if I have a role that would command a salary of $100k per year, then that translates to about $50 per hour based on 2080 hours per year. If paying direct to an individual, I would add ~50% to that rate for convenience & burden (eg ER taxes, bonus, etc...), so around $75 would be a fair rate. If paying to a consultancy, then I also have to cover the consultancy's overhead, so I would double that rate and expect to pay about $100 per hour for the person.

Same for biz dev - if the typical salary is low but there's upside on commissions or profit sharing, then I would imagine that to hold true for consultants in that field as well.

 

[Hammer]

On an hourly base I’d imagine $125-150/HR and up from there depending on the industry and how large the scope of work is.

You could always do a base hourly rate with commission Incentives built in based on growth from your consulting.

As a small business owner. I’d prefer to pay a low hourly rate with a bonus structure based the profit increase from your consulting.

Someone mentioned it above. It’s a win/win. If my company goes from 500k annual sales to 1M+ because of your consulting I’d be happy to share a percentage of that growth.

 

[WhatExit?]

Thanks everyone, for your responses! Thanks to your posts I went down some rabbit holes to learn about companies, products, tech, and services that are new to me.

Special thanks to @beaverretriever (John)! Appreciate your time and input!

 

[Markus]

Consulting involves providing some kind of advice

Contracting is body shopping

They are not the same

 

[stephenkatsea]

Once told my wife I was going to college to become a 'Critical Consultant'. She said Perfect, because you criticize everything. I said yep, and my F'in clients better be ready for it ! . . . . . . Fortunately, I changed careers before I got started.

 

[HBCraig]

I have done a lot in the past. Accident reconstruction, forensics, human factors stuff.
I have done it recently but I would charge $300/hour and $1500/day for testifying

Mainly expert witness stuff

 

[SBMech]

I charge $200 an hour for my consulting for pre-purchase inspections.

I charge $1000 a day for travel/BJ/Mecum on site consulting. Client picks up all the per diem.

I don't play with fabrications or analysis of production, forcasting etc....it's a finite world.

Paying me 4k for a 4 day weekend to avoid spending 150k on a faked rare hot rod or even a custom that is mis-represented is smart money to them.

I have a client that is entirely about stripping vehicles with expensive assemblies that are under priced. You'd be surprised at the money he makes swapping stuff around and selling the expensive parts off.

He simply reassembles them with the lesser/stock pieces and at least gets his initial investment back, if not a small profit plus the premium engines/frames/etc that he either puts into a much more sellable vehicle or sells outright.

In my field here are very few experts with the depth of knowledge I have obtained, and more retire or expire every year.

Find your niche and get busy in it. Remember to sell YOU properly. Don't allow anyone to devalue your experience/individuality.... after all that's what everyone is buying.

 

[jetboatperformance]

We have been recruited previously by this company who are basically "head hunters" for the "expert industry" their request for us involved a 'wrongful death" boating accident , we however bowed out as a deep dive we did in out data base showed we had prior parts sales to one of the many people peripherally involved (potential conflict of interest ) . However once registered and qualified they may call when needed , this is but one page of a dozen from them ...

 

[DLC]

So Let me get this straight …..

Your looking for a consultant, To Consult you, On how much money to charge for your own Consultation gig?

asking for a friend!

whew! I need a coldie….

 

[Hydroman55]

High purity chemical processing consultant.
At this time current customers are in Taiwan and Vietnam.
$1,000 a day and when travel is involved all expenses to include business class.