I was relieved when I recently discovered that ‘what to charge a client’ was a question that was not mine alone. It appears that I do not agonise alone as there are many a PR practitioner out there who asks the same question each time they are faced with a prospect. I refer here only to the practitioner or very small PR consultancy and not to the medium or large or international agencies for whom there are bigger questions to consider.
When it comes to the fees we charge as a sole proprietor, I have learnt that it is not the value that you necessarily put on your expertise but rather what you are prepared to accept that forms the basis of a fee. As an independent PR practitioner for the last five years, this question has dogged every pitch, every fee negotiation and every contract.
Networking with like minded professionals in the same situation brings leads, an ear for advice but never a discussion around fees, until recently that is. One of my peers commented to me over coffee recently when I took the bull by the horns and asked a direct question that for them it is all thumb suck and that often at the end of the day you find yourself not receiving an equitable hourly rate. Another said that for them it depended on the client, their budget and often the nicer they are the less they paid which led to the same thing – no equitable hourly rate.
This all sounds so kindergarten but it is the reality of a one person or even a small consultancy. I recently contracted to a small agency and saw similar agonies around fees. Not one of us has a set pricing structure to use as a base from which to start and more often than not the fee is dictated by what the client says their budget is.
I recently read that women find it hard to sell themselves in an interview or pitch situation, it suggested that one pretend to be selling one’s best friend, pretend that you are negotiating the salary and in this case fee on behalf of said friend.
Is the lack of certainty of what to bill stem from this or is it the insecurity of a a sole proprietor or independent consultant that demands you take what you can get, deal with the consequences later and make sure you don’t get ripped off?
An example of this is a while ago a prospective client said they could only pay a ridiculously small amount of money, it was during a particularly quiet time and as I pondered what to do, I asked one of my peers what they would do, they replied that they would take the business and deal with the consequences later which means having to reconsider the business when business picked up. As it happens, it worked out well I persuaded them to do a limited period project and worked the business until the projected ended.
Despite the uncertainty of what to charge, I do have a rule of thumb which is by no means scientific but seems to work. I know what I won’t work for which equals the minimum fee and I know what I can’t charge which equals the maximum. Fees are then ‘thumb sucked’ somewhere in between the two depending on … well what the client is prepared to pay of course. In an effort to get scientific, ensure the client a return on their investment and sleep well at night without feeling ripped off, I assign hours to the job as well as firm targets or deliverables to achieve whether or not this is a requirement of the client.
There are times when no matter how diligent you are or how efficiently you work an account you can’t help but feel as though you are being financially undervalued. Perhaps this is a case for firing a client, I don’t know. What I do know is that as an independent consultant, there are only so many hours in the day in order to effectively service a client; there is no account manager or executive to delegate to so you choose the clients you like working with the most irrespective of the money they pay.
