General Consultant Discussion

Pricing question: If you fly to a customer site to do one day of training, and the flight takes anywhere from 2 to 6 hours, depending on the flight selected, how do you charge for your travel time? I haven't had to do this in a while, so I'm curious how any of you handle it.

And what happens when you get bumped off the flight or a weather delay??? Personally, just pick an flat amount that you think is fair and can justify AHEAD of time. You win some, you lose some. Make it a win win and move on. Hopefully, the client will be so wowed by the fabulous training session that this won't even be a concern. Remember the VALUE mantra!!

Thanks, Jeff. I absolutely have to provide a fixed-price up front. It would be easier to price if they asked for several days of training. I'm wondering what other consultants do in this situation.

For all of the reasons Jeff mentioned (and a simple matter of convenience), we don't specifically write a line item for travel time. Our engagements are fixed fee plus we invoice for travel expenses (air/ground transportation, room, M&IE).

I think the last time I did this I priced it at $2,500/day plus what I knew the travel costs would be. All fixed. Adjust if you're going someplace where you'll also add some vacation days. If the price is too high remote could be an option for them.

Price it so one day is one amount and the second day is priced so it looks like a better deal (e.g. 175% of one day)

I don't choose the same route as @WayneSchulz for a few reasons: >I don't want to assume any risk and there are too many variables that can't be controlled (see @JeffSchwenk comment) >I can't accurately value the travel >I'm not comfortable marking up the price of travel expense just to collect an admin fee >Even if I do, the margins are so small it doesn't seem justifiable. Our day rate for on-site (when we can't base a price on value because the requested services are too open-ended) is $2500 and adjusted up or down based on elasticity or other factors.

I think Brian is talking about billing travel as actual expenses and prices the actual consulting similarly. As an additional observation I find most of the on-site requests: a. Are vague as to what you'll do b. Involve walking into a room of 8-12 people and being asked to instantly evaluate their pains c. Lots of adhoc consulting in front of a group If it weren't expected to be this way -the end user would go to classroom training. That's why I price the on-site much higher than it would be for remote or even local travel. Pricing projects where the scope is undefined (mostly because the customer wants it done but won't take time to go into the details) is an ongoing challenge. And for some odd reason despite all efforts -- customers more than ever expect consulting to be on-demand and just-in-time -- meaning they call you in to tell you what Jimmy-Joe-Bob the IT guy has decided now please implement it by tomorrow (Tomorrow = New Years Day) so that when they come in the office it's all working.

We are old fashioned. We charge 1 way full travel time door to door. If one way ends up being alot longer than the other, we'll take the average. I know epicor bills full travel time but deducts the first 2 hours each way.

On the rare occasions when we have engagements that are on the East coast or Midwest, we quote a total price for the days we are there, including travel costs and travel time. It is not a daily rate, and normally is a minimum of 3 days onsite. So it may be $7,500 for 3 days.

PS - Always use phrasing like ""up to 1 day"" -- avoid ""xxx hours"". Often due to issues beyond your control the visit may not be a full day and if you've used a number of hours on-site then the customer often will ask why you are billing them for extra time you were not there. IOW - I'm not flying to Alaska - having the customer tell me they're too busy to meet except for two hours one morning - then flying home and sending a bill for 2 hours. This may sound ridiculous but I've seen customers pull these types of things with increasing frequency. Oh and always be careful with the brand new customer who contacts you via the web. There are almost always problems that they've no disclosed. Getting paid may be one... I get the $$ up front in full including travel (before I book anything). You have to make sure people realize you'll need xx days of notice prior to confirming (or they will also pull the stunt where they call on Wednesday and ask if you can be on-site the following Monday). I wish I could make this all up....

In fact, I am taking about billing travel separately. I think that's what @KarenOLane was asking originally and it sounded like that idea was still being floated. We also require a 50% deposit to reserve dates on the calendar and the balance paid before we board the plane (or start the car in some instances).

The 50% (or 100% ) deposit is VERY important. Critical. Don't make the mistake of booking time, flights, hotels based on an excited customer who absolutely needs you to drop everything and visit. BTDT -- don't book or reserve before you get the downpayment. There's very little we will do in terms of holding time without a deposit these days (excellent customers with great payment history are exceptions)

We charge 100% for training up front since it is typically a fixed fee and it is over as soon as it is over. We charge 1/2 time for travel based upon what the travel should be.

You have all given me some great ideas, so thank you very much! @WayneSchulz - Thanks for the added advice. I wish you were making it up also, but alas... Since you mentioned it, I have to tell you that I sold a new MAS90 about 5 weeks ago. My installation still has problems because Jimmy-Joe-Bob the IT guy is insane. I helped them configure the modules, imported data, and then gave them assignments for tweaking and finishing basic setups. No training at this point. As I was driving to an appointment on Tuesday morning at 8:00, the owner called me and said ""We've decided to go live today, but we can't figure out how to do some things. Can you come over?"" WTH?!?! People are getting all instant-gratification-demandy.

@KarenOLane I think I'm on my 3rd project where an existing customer called (who has known that they need to undertake this project for at least 12 months) to ask if 1/1/15 is a good go live day for their project (which btw they never confirmed, we never talked scope, price)..... This always happens but seems to be more pronounced this year. And that's all in addition to the four upgrades that I'm in process.

@WayneSchulz Wow! I am oddly comforted that I'm not the only one seeing this trend, or I might think that I've been putting out the wrong message. I've had four existing customers call in the last six weeks to say that they just put in a new server, so can I come out tomorrow/today and either move the software or do the upgrade. No planning. No advance warning. It's like they think that I'm sitting around, eating bon-bons, watching soap operas, and waiting to do their bidding.