Do you charge by the minimum of half day or a day? And what do you do for meetings?

[MarshaBrady]

So a meeting 1.5 hours out of town, meeting for one hour and then back.

Prep for the presentation, I'd say a couple of hours.

So I think it should be a day, and that would not be unreasonable.

How do you do it?

Interesting question. This hasn't come up yet for me as so far my meetings have all taken place from my laptop and phone and I charge per hour.

Charging for a day doesn't sound unreasonable when you tot up all of those hours, no. So long as your client has access (if wanted) to a breakdown of your time it sounds fine.

If a meeting was to discuss potential work - no charge - I see that as my cost - view it as marketing budget!

If it's a meeting the client has asked me to attend I charge for the time. Would only include travel time if further than say the office is.

I would charge a full day for that, assuming it was part of a bigger project. However, if it was a one off or something for a new client I might charge for 1/2 day assuming that I would get loads of work from them in the future.

Well that's the thing. It's a new business meeting for my client to their client.

I lead the last stage of the project, so I should be there and it would be odd if I wasn't.

So it's a pitch and they are not being paid. But I can't see that I should take the hit on the time spent on preparing it. They keep minimising saying oh don't spend much time on it.

Of course it is in my professional interest to do the best pitch presentation I can, and I think half a day is not bad.

They want to pay just half a day, but this stuff doesn't appear out of thin air and I'm not going to wing it.

Yes it's further than the office, it's out of London (I live in London).

Maybe charge for half a day and ask for a commission if you help them to win the work by attending

That sounds interesting Suddenly. Does anyone on here do that? What would be fair do you think it terms of number of days commission?

Not sure if they would go for it.

Also they are under no obligation to keep using me after they win it, only if demanded by the client really. I am sure they'll keep their costs as low as possible and my time to a minimum.

Half a day seems ridiculous for helping someone win a new project and all the effort that goes with it.

I would ask for a percentage of value rather than number of days. They clearly understand that what you do adds value to their proposal as they would be able to do it without you otherwise and yet are not willing to pay for that value up front. So I would offer them the choice of paying for the total time you work, including prep and travel, or they can pay you a commission of say 5-10% of the total value of any work they win from helping them out.

I would explain it in the form of a proposal. Tell them what you plan on doing for prep, what value it will add, and what your fee is for this. They will either accept your proposal and hire you to attend or don't.

I've worked with clients who weren't willing to pay fairly (and 'don't spend too long on this' is always a red flag!) and they have proven to be no great loss when we've parted ways. When I was first starting out I bent to their ways more than I do now, just got tiring and I felt completely taken advantage of. You will get more, better clients if they turn you down.

Use the time investing in yourself and developing new contacts instead.

Thanks Suddenly.

I doubt they'll go for a percentage (everything is as little as possible). But you're right they either value my time or not. If they think they can win it without me then go for it.

My day rate is pretty low as they were my first client and it hasn't changed.

Am feeling irked already!

I also agree with the 'don't spend too long on this' red flag. That is bullshit. Why would you do something half-arsed if the whole point is that they are contracting you because you specialise in services that they need! argh.

Some clients can be less than respectful with freelancers, I find, and it's always to their loss. Cutting corners always shows.

They need you or they don't. There's absolutely no point in you being out of pocket.

Precisely Faddy! Well it worked. 1 day it is.

And a load of stuff to read and a conf call for prep tomorrow.

And a few emails.

So loads of stuff! One day is bloody good actually.

Thanks folks my blood pressure was getting high, I would have said sod it.

Hurrah! A victory for standing your ground and demanding your worth, well done Marsha :)

Thanks Suddenly!

Felt good. Much better than feeling cross and unappreciated.

Good on you Marsha :)

God yeah, I always charge for pitches. If you can't sell the time to someone else you charge it.