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Free has value
only if you tell the client
that it has value.
No company
provides services for free. You
provide some services at no
charge or you choose to discount
(not fully charge) for some
work.
No Charge
When you choose
not to bill a client for work
done, NEVER, NEVER forget to
include these items on the
invoice. Even if it is a bill
for a phase or segment created
just for the extra or change
order and all of the work is
recorded as Non-Billable,
always bill it.
Also, the invoice
should say No Charge, NOT
$0.00. When you put
$0.00 on an invoice, it means
the service has no value. What
does that say about your
expertise, your investment in
time and money to gain that
expertise, and what you think is
valuable? In contrast, when you
say No Charge, you are telling
a client that the service has
value but that you choose
not to charge them for it. In
other words, the client knows
you did them a favor and that
you are investing this value in
goodwill with them.
In addition, the
"No Charge" carries another
message to the client: If you
ask for too many change orders
or extras, expect to be charged.
You can decide to
make a time or expense entry
non-billable when you go through
the approval review step or when
making billing decisions (on the
Billing Review Report or on the
Billing Review screen). You
simply uncheck the Billable
checkbox. Be sure not to
exclude non-billable items when
billing.
When preparing
the invoice, always use a
detailed format. List the
entries, both ones you are
billing and ones that are No
Charge. By default, BillQuick
prints "No Charge" for items on
a detailed invoice.
Finally, add a
memo to the invoice explaining
the No Charge. Make it clear
what valuable work you did and
chose to invest in goodwill.
Discounts
When you choose
to charge less than the full
value for work done for a
client, you could selectively
mark time and expense entries as
Non-Billable, print them with No
Charge, and write a memo
highlighting the beneficial
action to your client.
However, there
are many occasions when you
simply want to reduce the total
value of a bill and invest the
difference in goodwill with the
client. This might be because
they asked for it. Or it might
be because they did something
beneficial for your company
(e.g., referred a new client to
you).
Whatever the
motivation, always change the
total value of your bill by
applying a Discount. All
standard BillQuick invoice
formats intelligently print a
discount line and amount when
you apply one to a bill. Again,
include a memo to say "Thank you
for the new client" or recognize
that you are assenting to their
request.
Bottom Line
Most clients do
not intuitively recognize when
you deliver value greater than
the invoice amount. They don't
know you're a good guy, or they
won't remember it. They might
think that you pad your bid
enough to handle any number of
extras and change orders.
Make it clear
what the value is and what
choices you made in billing them
less than full value. They will
not get it unless you include
an explanation.
Free has value
only if you tell the client
that it has value. |
