Let Your Clients Decide Your Price

Matt Homann, as I have mentioned before, is a guy who really thinks outside of the box.   That is why we (I'm putting my Minnesota CLE hat on here for a sentence) are bringing Matt in for the Strategic Solutions for Solo and Small Firms conference August 9-11th.  Matt has a really radical idea:  let your clients determine how much they owe you for services.

In his The [Non]Billable Hour blog, Matt has just written about this idea:  Let Your Clients Decide Your Price.  Matt is not speaking theoretically here, this is something he has put into practice both in representing clients and for his LexThink event coming up at the end of the month.

The basic idea is that instead of sending an hourly billing statement, you send a description of services provided and an explanation that the client should pay you what they think it is worth.  Matt even provides a form (don't we love forms!) for a billing statement.

This is about as radical an idea as you are going to find in alternative billing.  I can imagine that an awful lot of folks would be hesitant to even try it.  I would imagine that there are some areas of law, family law, for example where clients are not necessarily in their best states, that this really might not work all that well (but I could be wrong, it could be a good bridge to the client in family law cases).  There is certainly the risk of being taken advantage of, but then again there is always the real risk of getting stiffed on your bill even in traditional billing by the hour.  Mat has put this in practice and it seems to be working for him.

Matt says this has worked quite well for him - he gets good feedback and he has been getting paid about what he expected in most instances.  For a full explanation of Matt's thoughts and how he has put it in practice, see his article:   Let Your Clients Decide Your Price.

- Peter H. Berge
 

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