Chris Remus answered:
I've been a consultant, both independently and through two of the "Big 5" consulting firms, for the majority of my career.
I've recently discovered that I have a serious aversion to time-based billing, that's been buried deep down in my subconscious for a while. Because of this discovery, I've been trying hard to break the direct bond between hours worked and income generated.
The concept of value-based billing can be very appealing in this regard. The co-founder and CEO of FreshBooks, Mike McDerment, wrote a pretty interesting and entertaining eBook on the subject, called Breaking the Time Barrier -
http://www.freshbooks.com/breaking-the-time-barrier
It's worth a quick read, if for no other reason than to experience a different way of thinking when it comes to billing for services.
Here are some of the stumbling blocks I've experienced, when trying to put value-based billing into practice -
1 - Finding the clients who are willing to take the time to hear you out on the approach
2 - Finding the clients who can appreciate the approach, however if you get through #1, #2 seems to be a bit easier, since their minds are already open enough to consider it
3 - Waiting out the time it takes to find and educate the "right" clients, as Mike describes them in the book, when you have bills to pay :)
I do feel that value-based billing makes a lot of sense for both the client and the service provider.
One thing that value-based billing does well is resolve the paradox between the client's goal of having a project delivered at a reasonable price and the service provider's goal of generating revenue, which, by nature, are somewhat at odds from the outset, since the client usually wants to pay for the fewest # of hours possible (whether they admit that or not, that's another story), while the service provider wants to put the time in it takes to get the job done right.
12 answers
•
about 9 years
_for_linkedin.jpg?1481657182)
_taken_2018-10-25_image_001-2.jpg?1552258257)
