Guaranteed volume isn’t a reason to lower your rate. It’s a reason to raise it.
Someone asked whether they should offer a discount for a client who wants two days a week.
Their current rate:
So do you quote $300 × 16 = $4,800/week?
Or do you price the relationship differently?
Also remember, 2 days a week is a solid 50% of your billable time. Maybe 60% of your time. Part of your week is bizdev, right?
Depending on how your weeks run - how much context switching, recovery time, or general overhead comes with staying involved - it might be closer to 70% or 80%.
So what looks like a 16-hour “part-time” ask is functionally half your capacity. Maybe more.
At $400/hr, 16 hours is $6,400. At $300/hr, you’d need to work 21 hours to hit the same number.
That’s 5 hours you could have spent landing a $49k roadmap or doing literally anything else.
If you fill that time at a discounted rate, you’re trading the most valuable part of your week for a lower return.
You don’t get more efficient at hour 8. You don’t become easier to manage or cheaper to deploy.
Your time doesn’t cost less just because someone bought more of it.
That logic works for shipping pallets. Not people.
The only place you might argue for a lower price is in acquisition cost. Fewer sales cycles. Less overhead. Fair.
But let’s be honest - how many sales are you really making in a year?
For me, a typical client sticks around 6 to 18 months, and brings in about $200k. If I’ve got a pipeline that generates 10 leads a year and I can land 2 or 3 of them, that’s enough.
Now - if I can get that $200k out of a client in 6 months instead of 18? Even better. I don’t have to replace them right away. I’ve still made the same money in a third of the time.
If you replace them in 6? The cost of the sale is noise. Fewer clients is nice, but it’s not a reason to discount. It’s a reason to price right.
So yes - fewer clients is nice. But it’s not a reason to discount. It’s a reason to price (and scope) right.
If you’re going to commit to something like 2 days a week, stop quoting it as 16 hours.
Just make it a flat monthly number.
Two days a week? $25,000/month. Clean. Simple. No tracking hours. No juggling conversions. No line items.
You’re booking out half your practice. Price it accordingly - and make billing easy while you’re at it.
If they want less, let them pick a smaller package. But don’t offer the same thing for less just because they want to buy in bulk.
Of course, this is also a great time to try raising your price. Toss it out at $30k instead.
And if they ask for a discount? Keep it simple:
“You’re buying my time. This is my price for two days. Do you want more, less, or maybe something that isn’t time?”
As someone said in the thread:
“One of my goals is to work as few hours as possible for as much money as possible.”
Discounting runs against that goal.
Bulk hours aren’t leverage.
They’re a trade.
If you’re making that trade, make damn sure it’s one you’re happy with - because it costs you the chance to say yes to better ones later.
Want to repackage your time in a way that doesn’t box you in? That’s what I coach. Let’s talk.
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