Charge for meeting?

Okay so today I had a 2-hour meeting with a customer and a "middleman" of sorts, at the middleman's house.

He's been a client of mine for a long time. We mostly communicate through e-mail or phone. Our last meeting was almost exactly 2 years ago, and I did not charge for the meeting/consultation.

This is 2 years later, though. We mainly discussed what to do next for the website and discussed what would be the best way to accomplish such tasks. I did give up 2 hours of my time to advise and related tasks. There was never any discussion that I would charge for it - nor was there that I wouldn't.

Should I put the 2-hour meeting on the final invoice? Should I just forget it and not charge for it? Should I be sneaky and work it into the invoice, inflating other tasks' costs?

All input appreciated.

 

If you had a previous meeting that you did not charge for I would probably just not charge him - or - put it on the invoice but be ready to pull it if the client puts up any resistance in order to maintain good will. I would never recommend being sneaky and inflating costs.

Just make sure he knows that from now on, they're not free

 

if i were the customer, i would pay for the 'consultation'... that's called pres-sales on your part and it is part of the cost of getting new business.

 

Think of it like if you go talk to a new lawyer for the first time, he is obviously going to talk to you for the first time for free, after that he is going to charge. This is a similar situation. The lawyer just charges you for his time/knowledge, just as Triexa should be getting paid for his/her time/knowledge. Triexa, just mention to him that "Due to an increase in clients that you will need to start charging for meetings/consultation." Or something along those lines. Not getting paid for the work you do is taking time away from other customers, future customers, advertising, and income. Just somthing to think about.

 

If I were in your shoes I will inform him that the next time he will need any advice/consultant he will be charged for that. Its more honnest to arrange that before and not after............

 

In my opinion, you absolutely shouldn't be charging for this particular meeting after the fact, and certainly shouldn't be "sneaky" about it - that's just bad business.

If you never discussed a rate for the meeting, or that you'd charge at all, you can't decide when it's said and done that you're just going to send a bill.

You would have to make that clear up front, and it would be better if you had it in a written contract as a part of the project, simply stating that there's a fee and you'll bill per hour for consultations at a certain rate.

Then make that a standard in all contracts you set up in the future so you don't run into the same problem.

Offering a free consultation up front can be a good marketing tool, but you can't really compare a designer to a lawyer when one has an industry standard and the other really doesn't - there's no general across-the-board rule that a client should just be "expected" to know.

 

it is the same, you should get paid for the work that you do. its time out of your daily business/routine that you are not getting paid for.

 

But it's not the same if it's not agreed upon beforehand. You can't charge someone for doing work if they don't authorize you to do that work with full knowledge of costs involved. And considering they weren't charged for the first one, there would be no expectation of being charged when they agreed to another meeting.

I'm not saying you shouldn't charge for consultations... just that you shouldn't essentially scam customers by charging for things they never agreed to pay for in the first place. It, like any other costs, should be laid out in a formal contract or at least informally in writing beforehand, especially if it's a long-term relationship with aspects that are going to be based on hourly rates. Charging is fine. But you can't say "hire me to do this work or meet with you, and I'll tell you how much it'll cost after it's done." You have to give them something to work from when they're making their decision to hire you.

 

I generally do not charge for pre-sales meeting but during pre-sales meeting I speak at high-level and not in details. Pre-sales meetings are to invoke interest for the clients to know more about the stuff. When they ask to know more you can ask for a detailed paid presentation.

If you did a detailed presentation during the meeting - you gave away free consultation. Speaking of charging is a question of ethics. I wouldn't if I were you. You will lose trust and eventually the client.

 

I think you should forget it, because maybe in the future this costumer will help you something to do or will do some favours.