General Consultant Discussion

**The Horrible Customer Saga Part II** 60 Days Ago Horrible Customer: Our MAS90 data will convert completely to QuickBooks. Our QuickBooks consultant says so. Me: That's fantastic! _(Inner voice: Don't ask questions.)_ 25 Days Ago Horrible Customer: I know how to get some of the data out of MAS90 and into Excel, like customer and vendor lists, but how do I get things like open AR invoices? Me: If the QB consultant will provide the file layouts for each of the files that she needs, I can create Crystal reports that will generate data to be saved in Excel. I will charge a fee to do this. Horrible Customer: How much? Me: It depends on how extensive the work is. Get me the file layouts and I'll be able to prepare a quote. 10 Days Ago Horrible Customer: I'm sending you a couple of sample files. Will you please look at them? Me: OK, these look like the kind of thing I would expect, but I'm not sure exactly what files they are for. Is this one for check history or is it for check data entry? Horrible Customer: I really don't know anything about this kind of thing. We're meeting with our QB consultant today. Can we call you? Me: No, just tell her to give us all of the file layouts that she needs, specifying what kind of file each one is for. <Horrible Customer writes this down word for word.> If she's done this before, she'll know what I mean. Horrible Customer: Well, she's an expert with QuickBooks, but I don't think that she's converted data before. Me: That's going to be a problem. Horrible Customer: We talked to a company with experience, but you will not believe how much money they wanted for the conversion. It would make your jaw hit the floor! Me: Let me take a guess; $50,000? Horrible Customer: How did you know?!? Today: Still waiting for the file layouts. To be continued

I've heard of a place in LA that does data entry for $5 per hour . . .

Can't wait for Part III.

You can't make this stuff up

I hope for @KarenOLane 's sake there is no part III

Not that it helps you now, but the quickest way I have ever found to get file layouts is to dump some data into a format that is easy for me and present it... Suddenly, they seem to have file layouts coming out the wazoo... Funny how that works...

That's a good idea, @RandyMarion. If I *really* want to do a data conversion job, I'll keep that in mind. As @MichaelNottoli has wished, I hope this just goes away. When I ventured to say that surely sales order HISTORY won't be converted, the owner said that she wants EVERYTHING, just as if MAS90 never existed and they had been on QB all these years. Yeah. They can't disappear soon enough for me.

Does the Horrible customer realize that when QB consultant doesn't want to do something or doesn't have the expertise to do something that the cost is jacked to the moon as an incentive NOT to do something???

The quickest way to get ""EVERYTHING"" out of a conversion conversation is to price it (option 4 at double fist pump squared). Of course if they did put all their history from MAS90 into QuickBooks it would probably overload QuickBooks...

Well, it makes sense when you say it out loud. Experience is worthless to the horrible customer. Sheesh.

Consider giving giving two quotes next time this comes up. 1) Our price for migrating data from Sage into spreadsheets delivered by consultant _**STARTS AT**_ $X and is usually three times that because the consultant usually under estimates what they want. 2) Our price for assisting a consultant with import _**STARTS AT**_ $Y and is often more than 3x that because we bail out the consultant. The initial price for assisting is prepaid, and will cover up to 3 consulting sessions, scheduled 48 hours or more in advance, and 2 complete export into predefined excel sheets. Anything more is a change order; our experience is that the consultant always triggers change orders. Note that Y>X. then say, ""For $500 we will examine your situation and design a project to for your migration. 1/2 of this will be applied to the migration project if you choose to go forward. Migrating all of you data and detail will be more expensive than only a year's worth."" The point is that you give him the lowest it could be, bake in some response times that force planning, and stick a loss-leader offer to define a project that you execute instead of the consultant.

The amount to 'examine and design a project for migration' is way too low for this customer. Multiply it by 30.

i thought we fired this customer a long time ago?

Moira, you're right. I got sloppy. I meant ""outline options."" Migrations, at the proposal design level, don't have to be very complex. For a customer like this, we already know 3 basic goals to center the prices on. I had in mind a result that would be pretty useless to the QB consultant, but help the customer focus on reality. At 50% applied to the project, maybe $1.5 - $2k would be reasonable. It is bait. Gary's right, too. My premise was to offer these statements on the customer's first call. Not at this point.

@GaryFeldman, they keep coming back like a bad penny. @JerryNorman, good plan, and thanks for the ideas. You know that scene in Blazing Saddles where Madeline Khan sings ""I'm Tired""? Yeah. At this point in my life, I wouldn't take all Trump's money to do this work. I can guarantee that they will be miserable regardless of the result and I don't want to hear them bitch anymore. Gotta do a Taylor Swift and shake 'em off.

For those just wondering..... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uai7M4RpoLU

And the top FIFTY outtakes from this classic... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jgSPO191GrQ

And for all of those who are still 12, #49 is for you!

Sorry, it is a slow day in the office...... The documentary!! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=geluLZ-S21Q

I have never laughed all the way through another movie. Remarkable!

Did you spit out your nose laugh so hard???

OMG! Were you in that theater too? ;<)

Yeah, I think you nose spit on me!!!!

Some people need to get a life. Today was a beautiful day here in the Midwest. Brought our boat out on a small, local lake to test it before our vacay next week.....

@ThereseLogeais Have a great vacay next week!

Ummm, this **IS** our life!!!!! It was a beautiful day here in the Shenandoah Valley as well. I mowed the lawn then went to Lowes for some honey do projects. Prepared a fantastic Blue Apron meal and now am getting a jump on the week ahead. Regarding the boat pic, where is the tow rope attachment and the skiers floating in the water?