Question: Can you match the price of this cheaper migration agent?

More often than not, I get asked this question to which my answer is mostly "No".

I know there are agencies that have a price matching policy for "any" quoted price, but It is most likely that the provider is a self-employed sole proprietor/entrepreneur working from home. There's absolutely nothing wrong with that because that's where I started over 13 years ago.

It is easy for a small business to price match for a number of reasons. For example they may be just starting their career and want to get experience with cases, or they want to generate some cash flow because they are still fairly new, and their overheads are relatively low because of their home based business.

For larger more established firms however, they have developed a team and systems that are designed to replicate successful procedures and cases that were learned over a long period of time. So naturally there is a more designed business structure with costs in place to ensure proper procedural compliance, ongoing training and professional development, and accountability with cross checking systems to ensure best practices and outcomes for clients.

So comparing cheap agents and more experienced agents is like comparing apples and oranges. They are advisors of the same profession, but when it comes to "your" application you have to determine what is important to you and what you are looking for in an agent.

Most clients I have helped over the years value experience over other things because they know that I have helped thousands of people in the past and have learned how to manage and prepare successful applications. I have also had my fair share of challenges, which makes my advice today much more valuable because I also know how to avoid mistakes and eliminate or manage risk for my clients.

So whenever you see a price-matching policy, look more closely. Your case may be handled by someone with less experience or by someone who only has experience with easy cases. Because when you encounter true experts and professionals, it is rare that they price-match because they know that their advice is worth the value of protecting your case with their knowledge, experience and systems within their practice.

From the desk of Yuri Marshall | Changing Lives Everyday.