No doubt we have all heard the old saws say that its all about relationships. We must build relationships they advise.. and when we turn to the next page there it is again...
However is that always true?
This time lets step back and take a look from a contractors point of view... and ask ourselves is it true to try and build a relationship with everything that moves?
Perhaps, more importantly, is to ask if it is worth protecting a relationship you already have? and if so why.. and how do you determine which to protect and which to let go?
Looking back into your recent past do you notice yourself hanging on to an agent that looks after you only when you are placeable and/or only when you are in a current contract and things are looking good?
What about the time when things are not so good what do you notice?
What happened the last time you were in your third month out of work, with debt piling up and your back up against the wall and not a peep being heard from an agent... except one.
Where did your feelings of appreciation and gratitude gravitate to?
To what extent in your view is "getting-clear-on-which-relationship-is-worth-protecting" important?
WHO do you TRUST
Word of mouth continues to have the last say.
HOW are you making sure the word travelling around about you
is helping or hindering your future success.
HOW are you making sure the word travelling around about you
is helping or hindering your future success.
Think Like A Business
How important is it to operate like a business? A business has a proper business plan, marketing plan, finance plan, operation plan, product development plan. The IT Contracting business is different in that the contractor is the product and has their hands full just keeping abreast with rapid change and so making it sensible to outsource their "marketing division" to a preferred select few agents.. JUST as they would their taxation, superannuantion and other financials to a preferred accountant. Marketing is one thing and clearly Product Development is another. Next to marketing, finance closely follows Product Development YET.... how many contractors truly sit down and work with their marketing division to conduct a timely, periodic, 'level-headed' product review (where the contractor IS the product). To what extent is it important for the contractor to think like a business and to have a Product Development Plan where the contractor is the product.
Contractor Agent Relationship
When I strike up a conversation with a contractor...
its not long before mutterings of greedy agents, of margins being too high, of what do they do for me anyway... is heard.
Yet when I speak to an agent
soon a frustration begins to show around things like: miss appointments, late with timesheets, think world revolves around them, and all they ever think about is money, with quite a few adding that at times one finds it hard to believe we are actually on the same side....
So that begs the question.
FROM AN END CLIENT POINT OF VIEW is sourcing solutions from an organisation that has its marketing division locked in continuous battle, with its operation division, a useful way of sourcing, what is in reality, a business solution?
What gets lost when they collide in this way? Is there more money being left on the table than meets the eye as a result?
In other words to what extent is the relationship between the contractor and agent important?
its not long before mutterings of greedy agents, of margins being too high, of what do they do for me anyway... is heard.
Yet when I speak to an agent
soon a frustration begins to show around things like: miss appointments, late with timesheets, think world revolves around them, and all they ever think about is money, with quite a few adding that at times one finds it hard to believe we are actually on the same side....
So that begs the question.
FROM AN END CLIENT POINT OF VIEW is sourcing solutions from an organisation that has its marketing division locked in continuous battle, with its operation division, a useful way of sourcing, what is in reality, a business solution?
What gets lost when they collide in this way? Is there more money being left on the table than meets the eye as a result?
In other words to what extent is the relationship between the contractor and agent important?
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