There’s a plot line in the latter half of James Michener’s sprawling novel Chesapeake that bears an interesting parallel to what many professional service providers face when trying to explain their offering to potential clients.
Michener’s story includes a scene where a vacationing tourist’s sailboat runs aground in the surprisingly shallow Chesapeake Bay. A local sailor goes to the visitor’s aid and offers to help free the boat for $50 (bear in mind this part of story is set in the mid 1970’s when $50 was an appreciable amount). As the tourist had just wasted a couple of fruitless hours trying to free the boat, he agrees to the assistance. The local sailor proceeds to pull the mast of the tourist’s boat almost parallel to the Bay’s surface and upon releasing it, the boat pops free from the shoal and into deeper water, a relatively simple process that takes only 5 minutes. The thankful but somewhat chagrined tourist hands over the $50 remarking about how that’s quite a bit of money for only 5 minutes work. The local sailor replies back “It’s $5 for doing it and $45 for knowing how”.
Professional service providers like lawyers, executive search consultants, accountants, architects, project management firms etc. spend years learning their craft to best help their clients in their respective fields. And when you call upon their services, it may appear on the surface that what they are providing is relatively simple. When the bill comes due some clients are puzzled as to why something that appears fast and effortless costs as much as it does.
What you are paying for is not just the “doing it” but also the “knowing how”. It’s the knowledge and understanding of their respective crafts that you are paying for along with the actual task that you asked them to undertake. For example, a lawyer may charge $250 to write a letter on your behalf pertaining to a legal matter. Why not write the letter yourself and save the $250? Because you’re paying for the knowledge about the legal matter that the lawyer is writing about, along with the years of study and learning that the lawyer engaged in to become a lawyer. And doing it yourself and not paying for the expertise can sometimes work against you.
The same is true with regard to Executive Search firms. Many business owners looking to add to their team have hired talent in the past and understand the basics of hiring. But engaging, attracting, and hiring passive talent, especially executive level passive talent, is not the same as posting a job to a website and waiting for applicants. Technology has changed the art of talent acquisition significantly over the past 10 years and while the economic downturn is thankfully in the rearview mirror, top talent have not forgotten the lessons they learned and are incredibly selective in what opportunities they’ll consider.
Which is why specialists working in Executive Search Firms have become increasingly in demand. Whether understanding what motivates a top talent to consider a new opportunity or the ability to engage a high level executive in an intelligent conversation about your open position, Executive Search Consultants have the know-how to understand the true needs of your company, promote your opportunity to the right audience, and engage that audience in a meaningful discussion that results in that top talent becoming interested in your open role.
Whether it’s a lawyer who understands arcane legal matters, an accountant with knowledge of new tax regulations, or an executive search consultant with expertise in finding the right talent, it’s the knowledge and ability to change your company for the better that you’re paying for; the “45 for knowing how”.