Imagine asking a seasoned camper to stay in a posh hotel for the night. “Why? I can just set up a tent myself and I’m completely resourceful for whatever arises. And you want to charge me $250 for the same thing, are you crazy?”
IT pros are VERY self-reliant when it comes to their own computers. For many of them, It’s inconceivable to have to pay fees for the same kind of work we would otherwise do ourselves, even just as a hobby.For this reason, many IT pros don’t intuitively feel the need to have to deliver value. Instead, they adopt attitudes:
I can’t believe they’re paying me to do this
These people are so lazy, if they just read the manual they could figure this out
I’m better than this, this is beneath me
What a waste of money
So if you’re performing a professional service, ask yourself this question: would you hire you? If the answer isn’t an immediate “yes”, then you’ll need to compensate for this. Either
a) ask yourself what you would want from a service that charges the amount you or your company does (maybe it’s just extraordinary professionalism, or a little extra something, or remembering certain preferences of yours, like how you pronounce your name, etc.)
b) ask your customer “what do you expect from us for the amount you are paying?” – ultimately, it doesn’t matter what you think the service should include, it’s up to the customer as they are the ones paying for it.
But remember: you might not be the right person to ask if you’re not accustomed to paying those prices. We all know what to expect from an ice cream store if we buy ice cream. But we don’t all pay over $100/hr for professional services. If you wouldn’t normally hire you, ask someone who would – you’ll get some valuable advice.