cora_west5•10d agoProlific Poster

Lost a big client after they saw my rate sheet included a line item for 'admin fees'

I had a client in Austin totally balk at my contract last week because I added a 15% admin fee on top of my hourly rate for organizing their files. Has anyone else had to defend these kinds of line items without coming off like you're nickel-and-diming them?

3 comments

3 Comments

kai83910d agoMost Upvoted

Huh, you ran into the same thing I did about six months ago. I started calling it a "project coordination fee" instead and baked it into the base rate rather than listing it separate. The clients just saw the total and didn't pick it apart line by line. Also made sure to spell out exactly what that fee covers like sorting files and chasing down missing info so they felt they were getting something for it. That stopped the pushback for me.

paulnguyen10d ago

Man I never thought about baking it into the base rate like that, @kai839. The psychology of seeing a single number versus line item breakdown is totally different, even if the math works out the same. Feels like clients trust a flat rate more because there's nothing to question.

skyler_kelly6910d ago

Kinda wild how that same psychology plays out with everything from car repairs to fast food combos. People just want one number to look at and move on with their day.