I've tried to make the rates as transparent as possible. In my own career as a manager, I needed to be able to get a ball park cost right now to find out whether the conversation was even worth pursuing. I hope the rate sheet accomplished that.
But there's always some administration.
This web page is not the final word. Often, your organization won't allow you to just accept my simple terms. So, obviously, if there's a signed agreement between us, that overrides the rate sheet and terms. And, since I can change the web page any time I want, your understanding was based on what it said when you signed up, so whenever you do sign up for a service under the current terms, I'll make a PDF of the web page at the time and get it to you.
- Workshop locations and materials are provided by you; I will provide any materials for reproduction not less than 3 business days prior, unless we are still discussing them. In order to ensure the quality of the experience, workshops are limited to 15 attendees.
- Travel is extra. To keep things simple, non-transportation travel expenses are billed at then-current US government travel regulation per diems. Transport is charged at actual cost (no markup). Transportation costs will be billed at the time the trip is booked unless you agree to a fully-refundable fare. Local travel (in the Virginia Peninsula area) is not charged. If air travel is necessary, the charge will be for an aisle seat in Economy Plus class if available at the time of booking, otherwise at the next higher available class [you can have your travel service book and pay for the ticket, if you want, but the class requirement stands. Due to my height, I require the ability to change seat locations and/or upgrade at my own expense].
- Payment terms: Most services are paid for at the time of ordering via credit card. For any work that we agree is to be invoiced after the work is performed, payment is due within 30 days of invoice presentation (i.e. net-30), failing which late fees and interest will be applied up to the maximum permitted by Virginia law.
- Professional days: Unless we agreed otherwise, there are no hourly rates. A half-day is any period under 5 hours, either beginning after 1 p.m. or ending by noon). A full day is any period of more than 5 hours OR any period of more than 3 hours that begins between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m; the reason for this is that I cannot reasonably count on getting anything else useful done that day, since I have to travel to your location and back as well as the actual session time.
- What about one-hour meetings? If you have signed up for regular phone call support and I agree to meet in person instead (which I often do) then of course there's no fee for that.
- What about travel time? Local area travel is built into the definition of a full day and a half-day. Travel outside the DC metro area will be built into the calculation of whether a day is a full or half day.
- Rescheduling and cancellations: A meeting or workshop may be postponed and rescheduled with one week's notice one time without penalty (I may agree to exceptions due to special circumstances). If a workshop is postponed with less than 1 week's notice, I will probably have lost the opportunity to do something else on that day, so there will be no refund, and you would have to purchase a new workshop session. If you decide to cancel a workshop completely, or if you cannot lock in a date for the workshop to be conducted within 120 days of making the purchase, then you will receive a refund of your purchase price less the retail price of the half-day sessions that have gone into it already, with a minimum of one such session.
- Phone consultations: If you are unavailable at the time of a scheduled phone consultation, I will attempt to reschedule it within the next few days but it will be considered as completed.
- Experience and endorsements: Once a service has been delivered, I am entitled to add your company name and logo to my website and other materials as "past customer". I shall not add any text or other implication of endorsement unless such comments are provided to me in writing or electronically.
For Federal buyers (maybe other government entities too): unless you're buying different training modules on pre-defined subjects, bulk purchases of my services might well appear to be "unbundling" to keep your orders under the micro-purchase cap, which is not permitted. I don't want to help you get in trouble! You would have to go through some sort of award process; discounts will be determined at that time. Or I'm happy to work as a spot sub-contractor with pretty much any other company you have on board already; their mark-up is already determined by your contract with them.