Thirty minutes.
A straight answer.
Tell me what is going wrong with your systems, data or operating model. I will tell you what I think is actually causing it, what I would do about it, and whether you need me at all. If I cannot help, I will say so on the call.
What this is, and what it is not.
Most free consultations are a sales call with a friendlier name. You describe your problem, and whatever it turns out to be, the answer is the thing the firm sells. That is not a review, it is a qualification exercise dressed up as help.
This is the opposite arrangement, and it is worth being specific about it.
A real opinion
What I think is actually causing the problem, based on having lived with this kind of system rather than only advising on it.
A written note after
A short summary of what I heard and what I would do, so it is useful to you even if we never speak again.
No proposal by default
You get one if you ask for one. Otherwise the call ends with an answer, not a document and a follow-up.
No sequence, no chasing
You will not be added to a list. If you go quiet, that is a decision and I will treat it as one.
And the part that matters most: if the problem is not one I can help with, I will tell you on the call. Sometimes the honest answer is that it is a process issue rather than a technology one, that you need a permanent hire rather than an adviser, or that the system you have is fine and the reporting around it is not. Saying so costs me a piece of work and saves you a great deal more than that.
How the call actually goes.
No deck, no discovery questionnaire, no three people from my side. It is a conversation, and it fits in half an hour because it is deliberately narrow.
First five minutes: what changed
Growth, an acquisition, a new investor, a system that has stopped coping, a margin behaving oddly. Something usually prompts a business to look at this, and knowing what it was tells me more than a list of systems does.
Next fifteen: where it actually hurts
The report nobody trusts. The month-end that eats a week. The integration that breaks and gets fixed by hand. The process that needs three people because the system needs two of them to correct it. This is the part where I ask awkward questions, and where you should push back if I have understood it wrongly.
Last ten: what I would do
What I think the real constraint is, what I would tackle first and why, what I would deliberately leave alone, and roughly what kind of effort it represents. Where it is relevant I will name the approach: a diagnostic, a fixed-scope piece of work, a longer programme, or nothing at all.
Afterwards: the note
A short written summary within a couple of days. What I heard, what I would do about it, and which of the engagement shapes fits if any does. It is written to be forwarded to a colleague or a board, and it is yours regardless of what happens next.
Who this is for, and who it is not
Being honest about this saves us both a diary slot.
A good use of thirty minutes if
- You are running a growing business where the systems have started to become the constraint rather than the support.
- You have NetSuite, or another ERP, and you suspect it is not doing what it should be, or that you are paying for capability you never turned on.
- You have acquired a business, or are about to, and the systems question is looming.
- Reporting has become a monthly reconciliation exercise and nobody quite trusts the numbers.
- You have private equity involvement, or want it, and technology is going to be examined.
- You need senior technology judgement occasionally, and cannot justify a full-time CIO to get it.
Probably not a good use of it if
- You want free consultancy delivered in instalments. One call is genuinely free; a series of them is just unpaid work.
- You need day-to-day IT support, helpdesk or infrastructure management. That is a different kind of firm and I will point you towards one.
- You have already decided what to buy and want a second opinion that agrees with you.
- You need a large delivery team mobilised quickly. Link-IT is deliberately small and that is a real limit, not false modesty.
Request the thirty minutes.
A line or two is enough. The more context you give, the further we get in the time, but nobody has ever been turned down for writing a short message.
The things people ask before booking.
Is this really free, or is it free until it is not?
It is free, and there is no second call that quietly starts being billable. It is free because it is also how I work out whether I can help, and because a decent proportion of these conversations end with me saying you do not need what I do. That is a reasonable trade for half an hour of my time.
What if we are already working with another firm?
That is fine and it is a common reason to want a second opinion. I will not spend the call criticising someone else's work, and if what they are doing looks right I will say so.
Do I need to prepare anything?
No. No documents, no requirements list, no systems inventory. If you happen to know which systems you run and what prompted you to get in touch, that is plenty.
Who will be on the call?
Me. Link-IT is founder-led, so there is no account manager to get past and nobody to hand you on to afterwards.
What if you cannot help?
I will tell you, on the call, and explain why. Where I know of a better-suited firm or a different kind of specialist I will point you at them. It is a better outcome than taking on work I would do badly.
Is this a sales call for your software?
No. Revaion exists and it comes up when it is genuinely relevant to a NetSuite business, which is not most conversations. Recommending it when it does not fit would cost me more credibility than the licence is worth.
Read something first, then book.
How we work sets out the engagement shapes and the commercial principles. The work shows what previous engagements produced. Insights is the thinking behind all of it; if you disagree with what is written there, the call will probably be a short one.