Change #2: New Course

Originally, we felt that we could test on the theory and then, since we were offering a year of access to the Exchange, the practical work could be completed "after the fact". I don't need to tell you that this experiment did not work as planned. This is not to criticize: irrespective of those who took the course just to get the letters after their name, most took the ACRE® course with the intention of completing all the work. But, let's face it, life gets in the way and the urgent of working IN our businesses takes priority over working ON our business to transform it. The end result though is that the vast majority of you have not developed your rates and fees.

So, to remedy this, once the new course book is complete, we will be requiring that the candidate's strategic focus, rates, and fees be completed before awarding the ACRE® designation.

Of course, the practical question now becomes: what to do about present ACRE®s. On one level, we shouldn't care. After all, they paid for the course, and if they don't practice consulting, it's the individual ACRE®'s issue, not ours. But here's the problem: it has come to our attention that in at least two instances a consumer has contacted an ACRE® through the ACRE® Locator for consulting services only to be told that they "don't really offer consulting choices". YIKES! This makes ACRE®, as an organization, look really bad. So, what to do?

Our decision is that going forward, if you've earned your ACRE® designation, no one will take it away from you. You can continue to call yourself an ACRE® if you wish. However, once the new edition of The Consulting Times is launched, if you want the exposure on the ACRE® Locator, you will need to complete your focus, rates and fees. We will give all ACRE® grads different avenues to do so: you can re-take the course if you want a refresher, you can download just the worksheets and do it on your own, or we are certainly willing to offer webinars to complete this work as a group if there is enough interest. But, suffice it to say that once the new course is online, if you have not completed your rates and fees, you will be designated as a "Future ACRE®" on the map without a link to contact you, until your work is complete and submitted.

BTW, I'm excited to tell you that with the new course, you will have the opportunity to learn the content in two ways:

1. You can download the coursebook and read through it OR
   
   
2. You can watch a video series similar to how courses like ePro are taught.

Please feel free to add your ideas and comments.