Patent applicants and professional representation

The inventor's dream: a pile of profits
or
The inventor's nightmare: paying my professional representative

Earlier today I posted a piece, "Unrepresented patent applicants: a little thought", on the IPKat weblog here.  Having done so, it occurred to me that there might be quite a few readers of this weblog who don't spend their hours gaily filing away on behalf on cash-comfy multinationals but who have to advise patent applicants with limited resources as to how to deploy their money and find the happy balance between saving money and actually getting a patent granted. They may therefore be better qualified to pass comment.

Readers' thoughts on my IPKat post are greatly welcomed, whether posted there or here.