This may be the strangest turn of events in my little ol’ career. The client of a few posts ago did respond to my follow-up effort to secure payment owed. He called me personally, which is always a plus in the client column, apologized for the delay, and explained he’d be making sure that payment was sent out this Friday. Now you know I love a good promise as much as the next guy, but if that check isn’t here by Thursday, guess who’s getting another late fee?
The conversation turned to this client’s current promotion in the company. He started in on my favorite subject – risk management – and I let it be known how envious I was of his new position. To which he replied, “I didn’t know you had a risk management background!” (Note to all writers: Never assume they remember your background. Remind them.) He then went on to ask me if I had material “lying around” that I could resell to him for a risk management project. Before I could answer, he suggested I develop the project from scratch. As I tried again to answer, he then said, “Maybe you’d like to be a value-added reseller (VAR) for us!” Mind you, I knew what these were (you basically act as the storefront for another company’s products, and you receive a cut of the profits), but never did I expect the offer.
So, a 30-minute conversation starting with an apology for missing payment turned into three offers, each one sounding more lucrative by the minute. What do I think of it all? I’m willing to listen. I’m the type I don’t make snap decisions on “deals of the century” (though he never labeled it as such), nor do I agree to anything without lots of paper backing it up. Do I think it’s a ploy to detract from payment? If so, he surely doesn’t know me very well, for unless payment is forthcoming, all this talk of more and more deals is just hot air. The road to Hell is paved with promises and too-good-to-be-true offers. If this is just another attempt to stall my quest for payment, it’s going to tick me off royally and send me to the attorney that much faster.
My question to you – have you had any experience with a VAR arrangement? I’m getting the impression that I’d be responsible for marketing my site, and I’m assuming I’d have to make some assurance that the marketing would be adequate. Beyond that, I’ve seen nothing, so I’m not getting too interested in researching it until I see actual paper spelling out what the deal really is.
Anyone? Thoughts?