There is never a place for time-based billing!
Nov 15, 2021There is never a place for time-based billing!
This might be controversial to say, but it's a really lazy way to price. The concept of the billable hour was created back in the early 1900s by a chap called Reginald Heber Smith. He was a lawyer who created it to overcome the ills in his law firm. Fast forward a hundred years, and times have changed but the way that some professional price has stayed the same.
The reason it's a lazy way to price is because it has nothing to do with the value that you're generating for your customer, your client. They are not interested in how long it takes you to do something. All your clients are interested in is the results that you generate, the outcome that you generate, the problems you solve, the solutions that you help realize.
Instead of having your objectives at loggerheads with your client's objectives, because clearly where the client's concerned, if you're billing by the hour, they want you to get it done as fast as possible. Whereas on your side, you're not concerned how long it takes you, because you're being paid for every hour or minute that you spend, which is really bizarre, because if you're slow, it means you're getting paid more.
Align your objectives with your client's objectives and focus on pricing based on the value that you generate. Because let's face it, the only time when time spent should matter is in prison!