“All I do is talk, really” protested the client. “What can I possibly bill the client on, except time?”.
Just like physical labor produces a lot of sweat, and yet no client pays to take it – expert work produces a lot of words.
Usually, this is solved by the client paying for “direct labor”, measured in hours or work. This works well for many things where there is a direct connection from effort to value.
E.g. more hours laying bricks results in a job being done quicker. On the other hand, the same is not true for coaching or programming. When more time does not equal more value, like within any realm of expertise, then paying for time breeds inefficiencies.
Think of words as a by-product of what the client really wants: value. And while that’s easy enough to agree to, as soon as you refuse to charge for time, figuring out what actually to put on the bill still presents a challenge.
A couple of suggestions:
– Phases: Measure progress in completed phases rather than time.
– Integration: Getting something to work in a client’s cultural environment is hard and should be appropriately attributed.
– Tangibles: physical and digital things they will receive. Make sure to price in all of the research, not just the time it took to type out.
An invoice that’s light on details is not a big deal. Pay the taxes, never surprise a client with the total, and you should be good.