Hello,

Until now my billing and rates have been fairly simple because I dislike financial complications. I bill one rate, per hour, 2 hour min, paypal only, up to the minute, and no retainer clients. It's worked rather well but now I have to make some changes.

I have a potential new client who came to me through LinkedIn who is also bringing with her some of her own assistants who need help. So the potential for lasting work is there. She's asked me for a proposal and up until now, I never did proposals because it was just so cut and dry; the way I like it. I've done project work for her in the past and she has been very open to offer me opportunities to use my company name in the work I do for her so it is to my benefit to give her the best rate possible. I might even consider this a 'loss leader' because of the potential for new clients.

I'm thinking of setting up a discount for 10 hours, 20 hours and 40 hours per month. And then I'm thinking of offering a referral rate for any new client she sends me who will bill 2 hours a week for 3 months.

So I'm looking for advice on this. Should the discount be 5 percent, 10 percent and 15 percent congruently? Should the referral rate be a discount on her rates, 'free' time added to her allottment or a flat monetary amount?

What do you think?

Janine

__________________
WRITE FAB RFP PROPOSALS & land THE VA job. WinningRFP unveils soon! SignUp www.WinningRFP.com

This is only my opinion, and I have nothing to back it up with, so take it for what it's worth.

I think it pays to take care of quality clients. She's proven herself to be valuable to you, and presumably you are valuable to her as well, so I would do what I had to do to nurture that relationship, but be careful about the 'loss leader' thing. Loss leaders only work if the customer buys a bunch of other stuff, too. You don't want to end up spending forty hours a month on her and losing money every hour.

I think discounts are a great idea, and can often get someone to buy more than they would have originally. I can't tell you the number of times Amazon has got me with the free shipping thing!

Referral rates? Sure, why not. But it might get complicated if you try to give a percentage discount. How long is it good for? What if you have two referral rates to give? Do they overlap? A flat monetary amount or X number of free hours for every Y number of hours the referral pays for might be easier to calculate.

Like I said, this is just off the top of the head opinion. Good luck with it, though, and let us know what you decide.

__________________
~Cindy
www.FiveToNineOfficeSolutions.com

I agree with Cindy, this could get really complicated. I do not have a referral policy in place but I my gut says a monetary amount, perhaps a gift card, for each time the referral signs a contract of a certain amount. You want there to be an incentive but you don't want to work for nothing. You'll need to think this one through because you want a win win situation. Best of luck.

__________________
Bernice
Energy Virtual Assistant

I offer discounted rates for blocks of time. For 5 hours (and this is all prepaid) I offer 10% off, for 10 hours it's 20% and for 20 or more hours it's 25% off. It's not really complicated and most clients are willing to prepay for larger blocks of time knowing they are getting a discounted rate.

For referrals, though I don't publish this, I usually give an additional free hour of time for each referral that signs a contract.

Hope that helps!

__________________
Sue L Canfield
AwesomeAssistant.info
My Blog

Sue,

I think that is an awesome idea. I have yet to officially start my business (still setting up) but I was kicking around the idea of using a referral bonus as more of a way to say "thank you" than an incentive.