There’s no doubt recession brings out the worst in people. There isn’t quite anarchy on the streets, but the squeeze is certainly manifesting in the business arena and some who once might have been an honourable and dignified member of society, all of a sudden become Scrooge’s evil twin.

I know I’m not alone in having to chase well overdue debtors, and then reluctantly allow that sluggishness to filter through to my suppliers; my amazement is to what lengths people will go to to get something for nothing.

My business is a small communications and marketing consultancy specialising in property and interiors, clients include Armani/Casa, Aylesford International, Banyan Tree Corniche Bay in Mauritius and Lord Kenilworth of Randle Siddeley Associates landscape architects.

We trade our experience and knowledge in this sector on a ‘pay as you go’ basis, as opposed to property sales agents who work speculatively to get a fee when a deal comes to fruition. A property developer may come to us with a project requiring marketing materials for the launch and a plan providing an effective route to market. The problem that I am increasingly facing relates to the latter part, ie delivery of information as opposed to something tangible like a brochure. Somehow, clients are happy to pay for printed property brochures but cannot always grasp that intellectual property has a value.

An accountant trades on advice and bills time by the hour; nobody questions that. In the ideas business, I seem to be receiving a crafty line of potential clients who want me to tell them ‘hypothetically’ how I would launch their project without any commitment to undertake our services… to which I have to respond, ‘If I told you that now, you wouldn’t pay me for it later’. I do understand their predicament; they don’t want to spend money without knowing what they are going to get. But unlike the Colonel who doesn’t reveal his secret recipe for fear that if we knew what was in it, we’d never eat it, my reason is much less sinister. Intellectual property is the currency of my business.

Marketing budgets are being cut left, right and centre, so we are being even more creative and strategic about finding that elusive route to market. Much of our time is spent researching. Our market knowledge has to be up to date in order to respond to the quest in hand. So when contracts are reneged on, payment not received for services rendered and potential clients expect everything for nothing, I do have to ask myself, what is someone’s word worth these days?

A classic example is a property developer whose modus operandi illustrates my point perfectly. His company approached us at the end of last year to do a communications plan for a high-end housing development overseas. We signed the contract and undertook a substantial piece of business. I billed 50 per cent in advance, so I was feeling quite relaxed about it. When the balance of the contract was due, we had done the strategic work, but not the execution. The excuses started pouring in and to cut a long story short, he reneged on the contract.

So, other than getting it off my chest, I think the moral of the story is that while rough times bring out the worst in many, it also shows the best in others. ‘Together we’re stronger’, ‘Do unto others as you would have others do unto you’ and ‘What goes around comes around’ may be clichés, but I believe them to be true. With this in mind, despite the difficult financial climate, I only work with people who abide by the same professionalism that I extend to them. I don’t know about you, but I like to sleep at night.


Camilla Mabbott is the Managing Director of C&M Consultants

www.c8mconsultants.co.uk