I know that
Let me tell you this and then tell me if you still think I am
- After 5 years of doing Salesforce for Nonprofits again and again, I spot problems 5 times faster, I understand business processes 5 times faster, I build it 5 times faster, I debug 5 times faster.
- If you give the same work to a consultant in their early careers, it will take them at least double the time to figure it out, double the time to deliver.
- When I started out, I would open an error email, keep reading, open the Flow and keep testing again and again, add debug logs and so on, now, quite often, I just know from the email preview without opening the email what went wrong, even better, sometimes after running it, I say what will break before it does.
- This speed in understanding, debugging and delivering means projects get completed in less time, instead of going live in 6 months, we can go live in 3 months, time from discovery to going live is shortened.
- Having tried this path multiple times before, I can make accurate recommendations, ask better questions and anticipate where we are heading. Quite often, we bring to the clients attention what they may miss to think of, that is what consultants do, no?
- Communication is easier, when you speak with an Expert Salesforce Consultant who does not know what Soft Credits are, what Matching Gifts are, what a restricted donation is, you steer away from the implantation to explain these concepts first then come back to it.
- From an Architect point of view, we can build systems that work, but then break as the organization grows, more data, more volume, more users. We have seen it, we experienced it, we know what would break, we plan for it and we prevent it from happening.
- I am not perfect and things may and would go wrong, the nature of software.
It is not $50/H vs $300/H, it is a combination of
- Speed
- Communication
- Understanding
- Planning
- Experience
- etc...
I don’t mind it when a client finds value but find the cost unreachable, however, I do mind it when someone considers this experience not valuable or does not justify the cost.
One of my clients had gone through an implementation for 6 months, gone bad, unusable, paid a ton of money, time and resources, then we started from scratch, they are now live and as successful as it gets.
I will argue that a $50/H resource will cost you more than a $300/H resource. (I hate hourly rates by the way)
I started adopting this myself, I no longer pay for cheap tools or hire individuals at a lower rate, I am now willing to pay premium to get premium.
What I am describing above is not just me, that is any expert in the field, that is what experience means.
This post feels less humble than I intended for it to be, I think sometimes I have to explicitly talk about what I think my value is.
Above is my opinion and my opinion alone and I know this is a sensitive topic to some, but clarity and proper expectations are important.