You should know who is paying for the advice before you take it.
Most technology advice is paid for by the company whose product ends up recommended. That is not always wrong, but it is rarely disclosed, and undisclosed is the problem. The Deady Group is paid in three ways. Each is described below, each is disclosed in writing before an engagement begins, and you will never learn how we were compensated after the fact.
The three ways.
By you, on a fee
For growth, go-to-market, and digital presence work the firm delivers itself, such as positioning, websites, and marketing systems, and for any Review or work delivered under a partner's brand. You pay us directly; no one else does.
By a provider you select, on a disclosed commission
When an engagement leads to a provider, and that provider is one that compensates advisors, we may be paid by them. When that happens, you are told which provider, in writing, before you sign anything. This often means the advisory work carries no direct fee to you. It never means the provider chose the recommendation.
Through a partner arrangement
When we work alongside a managed service provider or another partner, the economics between us are set out in writing, and the client is told that the arrangement exists.
Some engagements combine more than one. Every combination is disclosed the same way, before work begins.
What disclosure means in practice.
Four commitments. Each one is written into how we operate, not just how we talk.
The arrangement is stated before the work.
Not in the engagement letter's fine print; in plain language, in the conversation, and then in writing.
Options that pay us nothing are on the table.
When the right answer is to keep your current provider, renegotiate, or wait, that is the recommendation, and it is made knowing it pays us nothing.
Conflicts are named, not managed quietly.
If a relationship the firm holds could shape a recommendation, you hear about it from us first.
The firm answers for the result.
Day-to-day support on an engagement may come from our advisory bench or our growth bench. Accountability does not move with it. If there is a problem with either, it comes to the founder, and it is resolved by the firm.
What this looks like from your side.
Three moments where you will see the Standard working.
- Before the first assessmentThe Review is free, and the page says so. No provider pays for it, and no provider is recommended in it.
- When a recommendation involves a providerThe recommendation comes with a line that says whether the provider compensates us. If it does, the line says so. If it does not, the line says that instead.
- When you askAt any point, on any engagement, the answer to "how is the firm paid on this?" is immediate and specific. If it ever is not, that is a failure of the Standard, and we want to hear about it.
Why we work this way.
Will spent ten years in enterprise technology sales, advisory, and operations. In almost every deal, the person recommending the technology was paid to sell it, and the client rarely knew how much or by whom.
The Deady Group exists so that the advice and the sale come from different places, and so that when they do meet, the client can see it. That is the whole design. Everything on this page follows from it.
Who pays a technology advisor?
It depends on the advisor, and you should ask. Some are paid by clients on a fee. Many are paid by the technology providers they recommend, on a commission. Some are paid both ways. The Deady Group is paid all three ways at different times, and discloses which one applies, in writing, before every engagement.
If a provider pays you, how do I know the recommendation is independent?
Because you know about the payment before you decide, because options that pay us nothing are always on the table, and because keeping what you have is a recommendation we make regularly. Independence is not the absence of compensation. It is the disclosure of it, and the freedom to recommend against it.
Does the free Review come with any obligation?
No. No provider pays for it, none is recommended in it, and most organizations that receive one take the findings to their existing provider.
What happens if I think a recommendation was influenced, or the work is not what was promised?
Bring it to the firm. Support during an engagement may come from a specialist on our bench; a concern about the advice or the outcome does not go to them. It comes to us through a dedicated form, it is reviewed personally by the founder, and it is ours to resolve.
Ask us how we are paid. We will already have told you.
The Digital Presence & Technology Review is the fastest way to see how we work, and it costs nothing. If the situation is already clear, start a conversation instead.