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If only you could see in the future
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Guy in a suit comes in after an appointment setter call. Nice enough person shows up on time, dressed as you would assume standard for a business consultant. Speaks to me for 30 minutes asking about the pain points of the business - employees, not enough time off, is my structure set up correctly to take advantage of all the benefits I could be utilizing, and systems for use in my industry. He states he will send an analyst which was very familiar with my industry (never was told what her name was when setting the appointment). Does namedrop the "creators of Shark Tank" during the meeting. Explains that the small companies should be able to have the kind of representation that the big entities do to help them take advantage of the tax benefits available. Appointment set for 10 am.
An hour late, a gal arrives in a flirty dress (absolutely non-businesslike, more like vacation beach dress) and flip flops walks in, no name given, no company name given, just starts talking like we are friends. 3 hours of dribble ranging between how pretty my dog was (about 6 times), spewing government program data, and random events going on in other states (CA, FL, TX). Plenty of personal boasting including job offer from the IRS, previous work with BBB, huge company name drops of projects she has done. Stated she makes over $400k a year (hmm). However, as much as she did say, she never got to the 4 pain points I had mentioned to the original sales person. At the end, she needed to confer with her team, come up with "a plan in writing" and she would be back the next day. Literally I gave her nothing... No financials (only spewed a few round numbers at her), no books, no tax returns, nothing that she would be able to work from as far as figuring out how long any "project" might take. At the end of the meeting she did compare her company to a shady consultant firm that showed up 30 years ago that wanted to charge 10's of thousands to do the same "strategic" business consulting. But her company was doing things the "right way" where "the others were not taking care of their clients". In my opinion, the reviews I see that are 5 star I cannot imagine are actual clients reporting on the same company that represented themselves at my office.
The next day, the "analyst" in flip flops returned on time in jean shorts and a tee shirt, presented paperwork with our business name spelled incorrectly, people's names spelled incorrectly, incorrect grammar, and even incorrect punctuation/sentence structure. Then she presented her almost $40k plan. Day one price $9,900 for 2 consultants to "talk with me for 3-4 hours" the go back to their hotel. The balance of the week (50 hours) they would take teaching the me software from my own vendor. She had stated "they were experts in that software" the day prior even though she did not call it by the correct name. Some time later, she indiscriminately stated that that they would need time to learn the software - it likely gets hard to keep track of what you state in these situations.
I, of course, did not hire them. It was clear the "Analyst in flip flops" was pulling data from the air. Plenty of reference to large companies that you would easily recognize. I was curious what they were going to propose with no information... They give you a "plan" to that has no specifics for a very definite price. At $9900 just for day 1, that is over $1200 per hour for each of the 2 that she stated would come on day one. at states an hourly rate of $495 per man per hour.
They have no presence on BBB website under any of the titles she (the analyst) claimed. Not even non-affiliated as of my search September 2022. Presented many, 3 letter acronym company names, yet did not know what the letters stood for nor how I would be able to "connect" them, also noted Tavas and another entity that was related, and they were able to "shift" liability, which is why you can't really connect them.
I hope anyone reading this is not reading after the fact. That would be too late.
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