It's common in the consulting industry for companies to charge clients by the hour. If that's the agreement you have with some or all of your customers, it's important that you develop a system to track their hours. Make sure the system works for you and is something you can follow for the long term. It's essential that you record every billable hour of your records, so you don't miss out on any potential income. Tracking your hours is the first step to billing as a consultant, so you can bill clients by the hour.
If you need help setting your hourly rate, the Small Business Administration has a useful blog post for consultants on how to calculate your hourly rate. Include the payment due date on your bill. Make sure this part of your bill is highly visible so customers can't overlook it. You can make it stand out using bold fonts or a different font color.
Include the specific payment due date instead of vaguer deadlines, such as “Payment due in 30 days”. Giving the actual due date can help avoid confusion and get paid faster. Save time on administrative tasks whenever you can, so you can focus on more important tasks. One way to do this is to track your hours automatically, rather than having to look at the clock yourself and take notes on your work tasks. You can install browser extensions that track your time for you.
Or, if you use a cloud-based accounting solution, you can record your hours directly in your accounting software to streamline time tracking. For long-term projects that you anticipate will take months to complete, it's a good idea to ask for a deposit in advance, before starting work on the job. Ordering 25 to 50 percent upfront will help maintain consistent cash flow for your business. It's also less risky, because you're guaranteed at least partial payment for your services before you start working on the project. Save time on billing and get paid twice as fast with FreshBooks. See our article on how to file 1099 consultant taxes. If you recently set up your own consulting business, the best method to calculate your hourly rate is to divide your previous consultant salary by 52 weeks of work and then divide it by the number of hours worked in a week (40).
This will reveal how much you earned per hour before, so you can bill customers at the same rate or adjust it accordingly based on the service you want to provide. When it comes to determining the due date of your payment, you decide. Some consultants choose to invoice so that payments are made immediately (due on receipt), while others may set different deadlines for the due date within 30 days, for example. For long-term projects that require a significant amount of your time, you may decide to request a deposit in advance. By doing this, you can protect your business and ensure that you receive at least partial payment for the work you do.
You can request 25%-50% of your prepayment rate. By doing so, you'll reduce the risk associated with taking on long-term projects from clients you haven't yet come to trust. For the billable hours model, the consultant bills the customer an hourly rate, or the customer has to pay the billable hours. Management consulting firms typically charge their clients at the end of each month or after reaching a particular milestone. When you start working with a customer, simply design the billing terms you use.
For example, monthly payment at the beginning of each month and payment must be made within 7 days of sending the invoice. The hourly formula is when you charge by the hour for your consulting services. You set an hourly rate, track your hours, and then bill your customer by the hour. You'll learn how consultants set their fee, how much consultants earn per project, how many consultants use agreements based on withholding and performance, and much more. Consultants ignore and deny the need to work as a team to increase their billable time, which ultimately jeopardizes their credibility. Keep reading to learn more about what consultants are doing with their consulting fees and find out how to get more revenue into your business.
Since consulting firms focus on maximizing billable hours and generating revenue, consultants often deviate from the project and their professional goals. Comparing actual and estimated consulting hours allows consulting firms to establish reasonable billable hours for clients. When hiring a consultant and signing the contract, both the client and consulting firm agree to consider what percentage of hours should be billed. Consulting firms can set hourly rates of pay and even calculate internal cost rates to measure consultation revenue. Whether you're a new consultant or have been in the game for years, pricing your consulting services is one of the most challenging aspects. When filling out individual consultant utilization spreadsheets, most consultants focus only on their collectible work. One of the reasons consultants start their consulting business is because of its unlimited earning potential.
