When you have an existing client contracted on a “time and materials” basis, pricing small jobs or consultancy calls is pretty straightforward. Job takes fifteen minutes? Charge them fifteen minutes. Bosh.
But when a new prospect approaches with a quick piece of work or to ‘pick your brains’, it gets a bit more complicated. There’s a client onboarding overhead; an estimation cost, and you may never see the client again afterwards – so 15 minutes worth of fee isn’t worth taking on the job, is it? This is where value pricing is handy.
Paying for what is needed and delivered
If you’re approached for a “quick fix”, then the end result is just that. You will have fixed something for your client and, hopefully, have done it quickly. Whatever the product or service, for the client, the result is fairly binary. Whatever is broken goes from a 0 to a 1. Or broken to fixed. You, however, have to consider the following:
- What other work do you have to displace to deliver this quick fix?
- What is the cost associated with the member of staff performing the work?
- How should this be priced for it to be profitable for the business?
- What tools will you be using, and what is the tangible cost?
- What about other associated tasks? Admin, testing, QA
- Have you calculated the cost associated with taking the brief?
- And what is the additional cost associated with sign-off and delivery?
Now, if you want to sit down with a notepad or a calculator and work out the costs of all of the above factors by using an hourly rate, then go for it. But that is not a fun or easy task. In fact, that’s a case in itself for having a fixed cost or minimum cost for quick jobs.
Price these jobs based on “value”
Value-based pricing is nothing new. However, the concept almost always places value on the client’s side. For instance, a brand for a large organisation is priced at a five or six-figure sum because, well, they are a large organisation, and the impact of a good job will be significant
That method still stands, but remember, value is a two-way concept. Your people, processes and expertise all have a value too, and it’s not something that can easily be boiled down into an hourly rate.
Imagine several of these requests coming in per day. Think how disruptive that could be to bigger projects. It would only take a couple of weeks to see that the revenue from quick-fix jobs really doesn’t justify the opportunity cost and the knock-on effect it has on the rest of your business.
A fixed price is good for everyone
By fixing your cost for quick fixes or consultancy calls at, say, £300-800, you are well covered for all the factors listed in the bullet points above. You also give your prospects a clear understanding of what they will be charged. And if you know your stuff, it shouldn’t be a hard sell. Your prospect came to you, after all.
The new client gets what they need, and they know what it’s going to cost. Honestly, a problem that isn’t worth £300 isn’t a problem that needs to be solved.
Need some help from an outstanding team? Give us a shout!
We’d happily work with you to make improvements to your organisation.
Even if it’s a “quick fix”.
