Is there a way to charge someone when you are talking to them on the phone doing consulting work?

Question

Is there a way to charge someone when you are talking to them on the phone doing consulting work?

Answer 1

Lawyers do it, so yes.

Obviously you don't want to be petty and charge for a five-minute phone call, but if they're getting into twenty, sixty, and ninety minutes per call then bill it at whatever fraction of your hourly rate.

Answer 2

Do you mean directly billing them, as part of the phone call? Use a 900 number, like telephone s*x lines.

Answer 3

If you are NOT charging your clients while consulting with them over the telephone you are crazy!

You need to establish up front that you will charge your clients for all consulting time, whether that be face to face, over the phone, or what have you.

When I worked in an agency, I used to keep a ledger pad at my desk at all times just to log time I spent on the phone with my clients. I billed my clients by the 1/4 hour, When you log your time, be sure to write down the date, the amount of time you spent on the phone with them, and a few notes about what it was you talked about. Then, when you invoice your client, you will have a reference in case they question your invoice. It's so great to be able to say "Well, you and I spoke on May 29th for 23 minutes about the Grand Opening campaign..."

You clients cannot expect you to give away your time, and certainly you won't bill your clients for making courtesy calls (at least you shouldn't). But you are well within your rights to charge for providing marketing advice, regardless of the forum in which it is provided.