I'm still in the process of creating and refining all of my policies and would love to hear how you handle charging for time spent on the phone and responding to clients by email.

Do you charge it by the hour? Have special rates for correspondence (and, if so, is the rate at the lower end of the spectrum or higher)? Not charge at all? Etc, etc.

Thanks!

I charge my standard rate in 15 minute increments for phone calls or emails that take more than 5 minutes to handle. I schedule phone calls for a specific time; I don't answer my phone unless I am expecting a call. If I spend less than 5 minutes on phone/email correspondence, I don't charge.

When I open an email, I automatically categorize it and set myself to follow up either today or tomorrow. I do not charge for that.

All phone calls, long or short are charged except for the initial consultation. I do not bill in 15 minute increments.

When I go back through my categorized and scheduled emails that's when I begin to charge my client, and I try to take care of everything that I can for them at once.

__________________
April Sullivan
The REVA Academy

Thanks for the input!

So far, I'm finding that hashing out all of my policies and procedures has been the most trying part of my business... so every bit of shared wisdom is extremely appreciated. It's so nice to not have to entirely reinvent the wheel!

~Melissa

I was reading through the http://www.virtualassistantforums.co...s-policies-794 post and noticed how many VAs schedule their calls with clients. I was curious to see if there were any additional VAs who charged clients for phone time...Laura

If the client calls me and it's unscheduled then yes they are charged for the time. If I call them to get an answer to something I'm not clear on then I won't charge them, but generally I'll email them rather than call.

I schedule regular calls with me clients (which they are charged for) and most emails I don't charge for unless there is extensive research or a lengthy reply is required. I do, however keep track of everything using my time tracking system whether I bill or not, simply so the client can see should they review the information when it's provided.

Our service like, coaching or consulting, deserves to be paid appropriately for our time and phone consultation is part of that process. I of course will adjust my call times with a client if we have spent a portion of it talking about non work related stuff.

I agree that phone time is billable, and I don't answer my phone either unless a call is scheduled in advance.

Emails are billable, in my opinion, if it's an-advice or information-seeking conversation - where my role is to consult with the client in some way where I'm sharing my expertise or brainstorming a new project with them.

__________________

Boy do I agree with you! I want to be fair to potential clients, but I want to earn a living wage too. I don't think they're mutually exclusive, but sometimes I wonder if I'm being unreasonable--especially when I place bids on, for instance, eLance.

Wow, I guess I never thought to bill for phone calls and emails are to only schedule my clients calls. Again, another thing to add to my policies manual.

I have never billed for phone calls or e-mails but so many of my clients are local plus some of them I go to their offices which I hate. It takes so much time out of my day to and from my clients offices. Do any of you work in clients offices and if so do you charge them for travel time? I have one client that when I arrive at her office the first half hour she is talking about personal things. I consider this person as a friend and so far I have not been charging her for that half hour but it's really wasting my time. Does anyone have suggestions?

__________________
Renae McGregor Virtual Assistant
http://www.renaemcgregor.com

In my contract, I state that I charge per mile for any travel to and from that is more than 10 miles from my office. And office visits have a one hour minimum charge. Fortunately, I don't have any local clients right now so it's not an issue, but I've always had it in my contract. Traveling to a client's office doesn't make you very virtual and it does take away from your billable time to work on other client projects.

I will also charge for phone calls that are over 10 minutes in length and if an email is going to take me more than a minute or two to complete, then I track that time as billable as well.

Once you have a full client load, you will find that it's just not feasible to not charge for phone calls or emails. It also helps ensure that some clients don't take advantage of your time or eat up your time in a wasteful way.

I had one client who loved to talk and tell stories when I did go to her home office. I charged her for all the time I was there regardless of whether we working on her stuff or if she was just chatting away. She was fine with it.

Maybe it is just me, but in my mind being virtual means working via phone and email so I charge for both. I use Paymo so as soon as I start a call the timer goes and when it ends the timer stops. The same goes for emails as most of my work is done via email. I do travel for one of my clients and charge for that time. I figure my being on a plane is taking away any opportunity I have to receive additional revenue so bill them for it.

__________________

Laine, is the free version of Paymo enough for you or would you advise getting the premium version?

Erikka
I have found the free version works perfectly fine for what I need. You can track multiple clients and break them down into projects & tasks. I use to go right down to the task level, but after a few months I asked my client if they referred to it and didn't so now I just track at the project level (for my own reference) and bill everything as a whole.
It has a pretty decent reporting option that allows you to determine hours by client for invoicing.
The part I like the best is there is a desktop widget you use as the timer - so you don't have to be online (you never know when your connection can get lost).

__________________

Erikka,
I've used the free version of Paymo for about two years now and it's always been enough for me. I also have my subcontractors using my Paymo account so I can track their work for specific client projects and tasks.

Thanks Laine and Kimberly, I think I will give it a try.

Happy New Year!

I just wanted to add one bit to this conversation and that is to say that if you are billing for phone and email correspondence time [and as I mentioned previously I think it's absolutely standard that you should] I do think it is important to include information disclosing this in your contracts/terms with your clients.

I think a lot of confusion with clients comes from simply not being informed that emails and phone calls are billable.

I actually had a situation with my CPA's assistant recently - I had emailed with her previously, getting clarification on a few business tax items and had never been billed. And it had never been mentioned in any of my paperwork or contracts with them and so recently when she billed me for 18 minutes of a $160 hour for a brief email conversation I was a bit surprised.

I emailed her and let her know that while I could understand that her time was billable I was not expecting to be billed [for the reasons I noted]. She replied, rightfully, that our conversation was billable and I paid, but I did say that as a client I would have appreciated being told in the initial contract that these items were billable and would be invoiced at $X per hour.

Anyway, my point is just that communication and laying it all out in the first place is the key.

__________________

Great point Tess, something everyone should outline in their contracts.. The more detail the better.

__________________

im kind of confused...if you bill for email and phone conversations how much do you charge and is it by the minute etc?

Tess you are absolutely right...I need to refer back to my contracts to make sure I've spelled that out. Thanks for the insight!

__________________
Jána :daisy:
www.virtually-supporting-you.com