42 comments | Add your own 1 2 3 4 5 | Next» View all»

• Hi Peter,
  Always love your column. Yes, I agree with you - charging in five minute or six minute increments indicates a certain meaness of spirit as far as I'm concerned.
  I'll always remember taking my mother to the doctor (who she has loyally attended for over 30 years) when my brother disappeared and she was under a tremendous strain - he charged her for a ten minute consultation to give her sleeping tablets! He immediately diminished in my eyes as having no humanity.
  I would rather err on the side of caution and not get paid for every 15 minutes I work, than be seen as any kind of 'cheater' when it comes to charging for my time. As you say, it all works out in the end.
  Cheryl Long from Melbourne, Australia

• We tried the 6 minute increment thing in our software consulting business once. Once!. It lasted about a week. We found that it immediately removed the enjoyment out of doing work, and increased the pressure factor markedly. We always felt stressed that we had to account for every minute of the day, and that we were rushing any form of client contact so as to minimise the impact of their invoices.
  We've gone back to the old way, where each consultant makes a judgement call on which bits are charged and which ones we simply do gratis. Sure we wont make as much money, but we have a happier team and our client relationships are warm and rock solid. Devan Sabaratnam from Darwin, Australia

• I was refreshed recently to meet a lawyer ( a fellow soloist) who does not charge extra for phonecalls, photocopying etc. They are his charges not mine! also, he travels to me, at a time convenient to me including evenings and weekends. No suprises when I get my invoice ... I love it!
  As for me ... I charge a monthly fee ... it covers everything from set coaching sessions, unlimited email correspondence, extra calls, postage ... whatever. I like to keep things simple both for my clients and myself as it leaves more time and energy for just getting on with the job. Linda Anderson from Sydney | Read my articles

• I'd have to agree with you Peter even though my accountant wouldn't. My fees are based on the overall result - win some, lose some, but the overall result is that my invoice is about the same as if I charged for every little thing. But the client thinks that they get somethings for free and this makes them feel good about using me. They're not to know that the free stuff is built into the rest of the pricing. It's also much easier at my end for the biling process - clean and simple and easy. My clients also finds that my invoice usually only has seeral lines on it, rather than lots of little lines and complicated items. There's benefits for both myself and my clients in keeping things simple. Anthony Dohrman from Gisborne, New Zealand

• Whats worse charging in 6 min increments and staying in business or racking up 30 x 10 min phone calls in a day, working like a dog and finding that you have no billable time at the end of the day?
  I bill in 15 min blocks.
  Because I know what I am doing, I can solve a problem over the phone that may otherwise cause a business to be down for the entire day.
  Because I solved it in 10 mins, should I not be rewarded for this?
  Ive got a good friend in the accounting software industry who stopped into a client.
  They had what they thought was a major problem, and were told by the software provider that they had to zip up their file and kiss good bye to it for at leas a week (meaning a week of lost work) It was going to cost them $1800 to fix the problem.
  My friend went in, saw the problem and being an expert in this field knew what the problem was, he had the right tool to fix the problem and said to the client, "If I fix this now will you pay me half what you are willing to pay ****"
  The client said yes, it took him less than 2 mins to fix the problem, the result of him saving the customer a weeks worth of work, and $900, you guessed it, the client refused to pay the bill, saying he hardly did anything!!!
  This means the more inefficient, the more incompetent and the less someone knows, the more someone gets paid.
  Dont get me wrong, I know thats the way the world works, but there is no logic to this way of thinking and to look down on someone who does it, I do not agree with. Adam Randall from Adelaide

• Although as an accountant, I do use timesheets to track all time on a job, I do this more as a method of tracking my productivity and still use judgement as to what is finally charged or not, and I do not charge per photocopy or email or phone call, I think that is just petty. Value based fees are ideal, but the big problem is what is regarded as valuable to one is not universal, and so judgement has to come in to it. But the use of timesheets does at least allow you to measure what you are not charging for, and this is important in working out your charge rate. Ross Johnston from Mutarnee, Australia

42 comments | Add your own 1 2 3 4 5 | Next» View all»