We Fix $25/hr Implementations
There is an urban legend about a barber that offered excellent services and charged $15 for a haircut. One day, a low cost competitor began advertising $5 haircuts. As a part of his marketing he included a large billboard by the store of the barber that offered excellent haircuts. The billboard read simply “Haircuts $5”.
To the dismay of the barber offering excellent service, he began losing his clientele to the less expensive rival. His customers didn’t understand they weren’t getting the same quality for a lower price. Despite his efforts to educate them about what they were really getting they kept leaving to try to the other guy. The Siren’s call of low price was just too irresistible for many.
Finally, the barber offering quality service decided to fight back. He created an advertising campaign complete with a billboard near his rival’s shop. The message was as simple as it was compelling. The message was “We Fix $5 haircuts”. Customers finally figured out you get what you pay for and returned in droves.
In the Oracle implementation marketplace the Siren’s call of low rates can be heard everywhere. You have probably experienced the frustration of working with consultants who were so lacking in skills that it is embarrassing. However, these obvious faults were overlooked because the consultants were cheap.
Recently, a very senior consultant I know was working in a QA role on a project staffed by $25/hr types. The tasks he was assigned to had taken 9 months to implement and the results were described as shoddy at best. He felt that a $125/hr person could have done the work right in about 6 weeks.
We all compete in a global marketplace. There are skilled and talented people around the world whom we must compete against. Nothing is going to change that.
However, there is a huge opportunity available to skilled Oracle practitioners to set themselves apart from the rest. The message is as simple and clear for us as it was to the barber offering excellent service - “We Fix $25/hr implementations”.
Do you see a lot of $5/hr haircuts out there in your part of the world and area of expertise? What ways can skilled practitioners set themselves apart from the rest?
-Dean
I was seldom able to see an opportunity until it had ceased to be one. - Mark Twain
February 12th, 2007 at 1:12 pm
Dean,
Networking and certification are my preferred differentiators.
I think that skilled practitioners are usually known by other skill practitioners, as people tend to network with people who have similar skill levels, attitudes, and who take some professional pride in their work; it takes 2 people to network with each other, and so BOTH need to want to network for it to work.
The $5/hour haircuts are a fact of our industry, and in some ways I’m thankful for them as their existence gives me something to differentiate against, although the more people enter the industry the more things like certification will raise the barrier to entry to the market; although this has to be accepted and promoted by experienced people first before it can really work; and most unfortunately still scoff at certification.
Andy
February 14th, 2007 at 10:51 am
I have to disagree with Andy’s suggestion that “networking” is a solution to the $5 haircut projects and consultants. What I see over and over again is that the $5 guys stick together and recommend each other. Once they represent the majority of the project resources everyone assumes that the level of quality they provide is normal. For this reason, they will react badly to anyone with proper abilities joining the project. A lot of large consultancies pull off a similar trick but at a high price.
April 13th, 2007 at 10:54 pm
I wasn’t aware that Oracle Consultants are available at such a cheap rate $25/hr I can’t believe it ?