3 ms·

I disagree with this completely. I think the golden rule is "either work for full price, or work for free, but never work for cheap." It is unfair to you and y

by drcode 17y ago

I disagree with this completely. I think the golden rule is "either work for full price, or work for free, but never work for cheap." It is unfair to you and your clients to even suggest that a "cheap" price exists and that it may be acceptable- It isn't. I think it would give me tons of anxiety as a client if I had to decide on the price after the fact, without a clear guideline from the contractor.

kaib 17y ago
If you read the article to completion you'll note that the author addresses both of your points. He only recommends it for clients who you have a long running relationship with and who thus have a pretty good idea of what your services cost. He also notes that the price generally comes out to more than what his normal rate would be, given you use the tactic in the situation he outlines. Plus he explicitly addresses clients who feel they can't judge the value properly: "just give them a quote".
nolochemical 17y ago
I agree " .. without a clear guideline from the contractor .. " Our team uses this technique attached with an SLA on larger ( multiple updates/upgrades ) backend coding projects very often. The client pays what they want for the base solution. After a short performance review and trial period usually 2-3 months, they sign up for an extended Service Licence Agreement. Most clients know there budget, so the smart ones modularize the work to be completed beforehand and outsource anything that can not be done in-house/for less. If they had not setup it up this way we do it for them, so they can actually rate the performance. So essentially we create a continuous revenue stream, were under ordinary circumstances it would have been a hit-and-run were we lose out. The idea is not new we've been using this strategy for over 2 years now, its the one of the major ways we were able to continue earning decent profits during a major recession and provide the services that clients were happy with. Infact, 90% of the clients who started with us 2 years ago have renewed for 2010. We take the onus of providing fault proof solutions and the stress that can initially terrify the client/project manager/accountant.

by drcode 17y ago

kaib 17y ago

If you read the article to completion you'll note that the author addresses both of your points. He only recommends it for clients who you have a long running relationship with and who thus have a pretty good idea of what your services cost. He also notes that the price generally comes out to more than what his normal rate would be, given you use the tactic in the situation he outlines. Plus he explicitly addresses clients who feel they can't judge the value properly: "just give them a quote".

nolochemical 17y ago

I agree " .. without a clear guideline from the contractor .. " Our team uses this technique attached with an SLA on larger ( multiple updates/upgrades ) backend coding projects very often. The client pays what they want for the base solution. After a short performance review and trial period usually 2-3 months, they sign up for an extended Service Licence Agreement. Most clients know there budget, so the smart ones modularize the work to be completed beforehand and outsource anything that can not be done in-house/for less. If they had not setup it up this way we do it for them, so they can actually rate the performance. So essentially we create a continuous revenue stream, were under ordinary circumstances it would have been a hit-and-run were we lose out. The idea is not new we've been using this strategy for over 2 years now, its the one of the major ways we were able to continue earning decent profits during a major recession and provide the services that clients were happy with. Infact, 90% of the clients who started with us 2 years ago have renewed for 2010. We take the onus of providing fault proof solutions and the stress that can initially terrify the client/project manager/accountant.