Inbound Project Frauds & Consultants - The mosquitoes which comes every season...they will never die..

Hi Friends,

Its being really a long long time that I am posting some new information.

I have being quite for so long, just to see the mood of the market and was seriously noticing which way things are moving. But...but..but.. I regret to say.. Its really a round world and things come back to the same point.

After all the efforts made by many genuine people in the market , the triumph has finally been "snatched" by the Fraudsters and scammers.

There are still people who are running / absconding / cheating people on daily basis and still there are dozens who dont deal without upfronts. They are still selling their hot cakes at crazy prices and many of us seems quite interested into it.

The irony of the fact is that both the party's ( Company & Consultant) want the project dealings in "WITHOUT UPFRONT" manner and surprisingly both the parties stick to it.

The company wants the project "WITHOUT UPFRONT" &

Consultant ' will not ' give the project "'WITHOUT UPFRONT"..

So , both the parties principally work on "WITHOUT UPFRONT" system. Its only our point of view which changes.

One good thing, which is noticed is .. People / centres have now understood the reality of a "non -voice / form filling/ data entry" projects and started " trusting " & running the voice based projects.

But again , our Mr.India's ( consultants) are masters in their game and leave no stone unturned. So they are now a days offering the voice projects with lucrative figures and "Ugly commercials".

Recently, I had a talk with person , who was negotiating an "Voice Inbound Project" with a consultant. Things were fine , but when he disclosed the commercials demanded by the consultant, I was just fainted.

The Mr. Consultant, who have just referred the client to the centre requires :-

- 60 % of advance payment ( advance given is for one month billing advance & is close to Rs.60 lakhs)
- 15% royalty from every billing
- Rs. 10 lakh at the time of SLA / agreement signup with the client.

These crazy commercials are with a condition that client will come for centre visit and the centre has to arrange the air tickets / accomodation / fooding & misc. expenses for 2 client people and 2 from consultants office who will accompany them.

On top of that , if the centre wants to go for signup at clients office ( in USA or UK) then 2 people from consultant will accompany him and all the expenses of these guys including travelling , fooding and accomodation needs to be borne by the centre.

Afterall the consultant is god in this case as he is getting them an "inbound process with advance".

So, I just decided to do the calculations ( as numbers never lie) . The figures which has come out are almost crazy and as follows :-

Earnings :-

1) Centres earnings - Rs.60 lakh/ month
2) Consultant charges @ 15% of billing - Rs. 9 lakh / month
3) Centres NET earnings - Rs. 51 lakh/ month

Expenses :-

1) Total operating cost - Rs. 40 lakhs / month
2) Rs. 10 lakh paid to consultant at the time of signup.
3) Rs. 6 lakh spend on client centre visit , travelling to USA for signup with consultant. ( Stayed there for a week alongwith the visa expenses).


Now, see this.

Total Earnings in 10 months - Rs.600 lakhs
Expenses in 10 months - Rs 400 lakh ( operating cost ) + Rs.90 lakh ( royalty to consultant @ 15% ) +
Rs. 10 lakh ( Paid to consultant @ signup) + Rs. 6 lakh ( Spend @ signup) =



Total Expenses in 10 months :- Rs.506 lakh.

Net earnings of centre :- Rs. 600 - Rs. 506 = Rs. 94 lakh. ie Rs.9.40 lakh / month

Net earnings of consultant :- Rs. 90 + Rs.10 = Rs.100 lakh ie Rs.10 lakh/ month.

so, Finally consultants are earning more than centre that too without taking any responsibility of advance or monthly payments or operations or quality, which by default comes in the centres court. I dont think any further comments are required here.

Friends, I am not blaming any consultants or neither asking them to stop taking the payments. But my heartly and sincere request to all my consultants friends ( even enemies in this case) is Please think in a logical way before asking some absurd amount from centres.

You must have a look into the expenses borne by the centre and whats coming to their pocket @ end of the day. We must not always think about our payments.

And , in many case I have seen that consultants are reluctant to disclose the client details or RFP's without an upfront of Rs. 5 or 10 lakhs. If you are so confident about your client and payments then why this fuss at the last moment.

Once, this is paid, the history comes in front of you like a 3D movie and that consultant who was talking about crores will simple vanish with these lakhs. so the frauds have just changed the way they work , whereas the ethics and the tricks remains same.

Now, its upon us that how we take things and handle it. Both the parties are there to make money, but I would really really like to replace the word money with "ETHICAL MONEY", which is best suited in current scenario.

Rest all is upon people who are working and dealing with people. But at the end of the day Its your sixth sense and common sense which strike the deal.

so keep searching.... keep writing...keep sharing ( Your replies/ suggestions/ experiences are always welcome)

Stay Hungry....Stay Foolish...

Thanks and Regards
Sumit Rathore
R S Inc. Pune