How to Handle Client When They Want to Barter for Your Services
Career Management Series
By Laura Lee Rose
Hello, this is Laura Lee Rose – author of TimePeace: Making peace with time – and I am a business and efficiency coach that specializes in time management, project management and work-life balance strategies. I help busy professionals and entrepreneurs create effective systems so that they can comfortably delegate to others, be more profitable and have time to enjoy life even if they don’t have time to learn new technology or train their staff. I have a knack for taking big ideas and converting them into smart, sound, and actionable ideas.
At the end of the day, I transform the way you run your business into a business you love to run.
Today’s comment came from a busy professional and an entrepreneur:
How do you handle when your client asks you to share the cost savings rather than paying you the fees?
I want to ask about a specific situation I faced with a prospective client. My client asked me to be a advisor to look for problems in two of his company departments and then work as a solutionalist to implement my recommendations. This is all fine, but he wants to share the cost savings from my recommendations and not pay my fees for this activity. What would be your advice in such a case?
This isn’t as uncommon as you may think. Whether you are an employee in a corporation or a consultant/entrepreneur that offers your services to other companies, many people want to get the most value from their money. And this sometimes means finding alternative ways to pay your fees.
In the corporate environment it can be working extra hours or working the weekends. In the entrepreneur environment it could be bartering for services or sharing the profits from an endeavor. Whatever your situation, your intellectual property and knowledge is valuable. And you deserve to be paid appropriately.
As a consultant
In the consultant/entrepreneur situation, first decide if you want this person as a client.
· Is he your ideal client?
· Does he have access and influence over your ideal client or target market?
· Does he have a large following?
If so – there may be a way to get exactly what you want from this person, and stay within his pay scale.
If he cannot pay your fees upfront for this activity, then maybe he can pay it in some other way:
1) Refer paying clients to you
2) Place your advertisements in his brochures, newsletters, facebook mentions, social media mentions and any other marketing he does for his company
3) Introduce you to his clients as your solutionalist and recommend you to them
Make a list of things that are valuable to you and put a $$ amount or Fair Market Value on those items. Then equate them to your normal fee for services. This way you can negotiate a far price for your services while he stays within his wage budget.
As an employee
It is similar in employer/employee situations. Create a list of alternative compensation for the additional work or work hours:
1) Additional vacation days
2) Additional employee benefits
3) Reimbursement of desired certification and schooling
4) Reimbursement of professional organizations and professional seminars
5) Being assigned to higher-profile projects
Conclusion:
Regardless of the situation, you can often attack the issue on multiple levels.
If you need additional help on this topic, please contact LauraRose@RoseCoaching.info
I am a business coach and this is what I do professionally. It’s easy to sign up for a complementary one-on-one coaching call, just use this link https://www.timetrade.com/book/WFSFQ