The Free Consultancy
cc licensed flickr photo shared by madmaxx
I’d like to start a consultancy that offers its services without demanding a certain fee. The client pays to match what they felt the overall value of the consultation was worth. A small amount of negotiation is permissable at this point, but ideally, the client offers a fair, if not generous, price for the work received.
Granted, a client may choose to offer far less than I believe to be fair, but that is acceptable considering that I retain the choice of whether or not to work with that client in the same capacity again.
This seems much better than a flat fee approach. After all, some consultations will offer more value than others, and the compensation should reflect that. At other times, a client may genuinely feel that very little was brought to the table. In that case, the consultation would be free, and the value extracted from these scenarios would be in learning how to improve as a consultant and exceed client expectations.
The biggest advantage would be that the cost equals the value. Better pay for the consultant, and money well spent for the client.
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