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I've charged $50-$100 per initial consultation for awhile. Only exceptions are solid referrals from a "regular" customer. For me it's worked great. If someone refuses that, for what could be 1-2 hours of my time, I figure they're just shopping and probably have no real respect for what we do. So I wouldn't land the job anyhow.
Another benefit of charging the fee (which is refunded if we do the work) besides what is mentioned here, is that once they pay the fee they have an investment in your services. If they choose to not do the work or go with someone else, they lose that investment. And even though it's only $50-100, that's still hard for some to part with. Of course, we make our money off of the actual work and not consulting, but now you've created a scenario where they too have a stake in coming up with a successful design/estimate.
Last edited by johnkeegan : 04-22-2006 at 10:36 AM.
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