Hiring a Business Consultant, What is the Customer Really Paying For?

You’ve all heard that hiring a hiring a business consultant is typically quite expensive. Many of us will charge our customers/clients time and materials – an hourly rate anywhere from $125 to $250 per hour plus travel, plus lodging plus, plus, plus.

Your Customers Really Want to Pay for Results

But really, when was the last time your customer wanted to purchase an hour of time? Never. What they want to purchase is the results of that hour of work. And to get those results, they need you as a consultant that has extensive training and education in technology, business best practices, and their company’s way of doing business.

Said differently, what your customers are ultimately paying for is the knowledge and experience you have – as a business consultant with an understanding of their business, an understanding of the results they want to achieve, and the ability to help them achieve those results.

Rather than going through the dance of hours spent, hours billed, and accomplishments made, wouldn’t it be easier if the customer just paid for the value of the results?

If You Continue Charging Based on Hours, Your Customer Should Fire You

Your customers/clients say “Of course.” But how is that possible if you only charge based on hours? The simple answer – one you won't like – is for them to switch to a business consultant who does charge based on value.

When a customer/client works with you and you focus on value rather than time, the questions you ask start to sound a little different. Instead of asking “How do you do X action?” you ask, "Why do you do X action?" Why a client does something, and the value the action adds to their business, is more important than how they do that action.

If your customers/clients work with you as a business consultant who takes this approach (as our consultants at Asyma Solutions do), then they should expect to pay for one thing – results.

Feel free to contact us for more information at any time.