Most creative agencies will price their services using an hourly or daily rate. This is so prevalent in the industry that we will often be asked by clients for our hourly rate, on the assumption that this is how we bill for our work.
We can underst和 why clients expect this – it provides a simple way to compare pricing across multiple providers, 并使支出具有可预测性.
是这样吗??
比较两个机构
Let’s say Agency A charge £100 per hour for their services, 和 Agency B charge £200 per hour. 哪个更物有所值?
It is tempting to think that Agency A is much better value for money here, 因为他们只收取一半的服务费.
But will Agency A 和 Agency B both take the exact same number of hours to deliver the same outcome? 有可能知道吗? 假设他们会这样做现实吗?
Let’s say Agency A takes 4 hours to deliver something that Agency B takes 1 hour to deliver. 尽管A公司的时薪是一半, they still work out double the cost of Agency B for this piece of work (£400 vs £200).
诚然，这是一个人为的例子, it is not at all uncommon – more competent agencies will, 通过定义, both charge more 和 require fewer hours to deliver outcomes.
So, you might argue that comparing hourly rates is meaningless, without also knowing the the total number of hours required for a piece of work.
那么你怎么知道需要多少小时呢?
一根绳子有多长?
If you’ve ever tried to predict the future, you may know it’s pretty difficult.
当然, agencies that deliver the same project 5 times in a row should be able to predict with relative confidence how long it will take the 6th time round.
然而, 对于像我们这样的定制机构来说, 每个项目都与上一个不同, predicting how long things will take becomes more challenging.
出于这个原因, going into any bespoke project brings with it a level of risk, since there are so many moving parts it means nobody can know with absolute certainty how the project will play out.
小时工资毫无意义
假设代理商C的时薪是固定的, 和 they estimate a piece of work will take 100 hours to deliver. In the end, the work takes 120 hours to deliver instead.
When agencies exceed their original estimates, they have two options:
- 额外的20个小时, meaning the cost to the client increases without any change in what is being delivered.
- Don’t bill any extra, absorb the cost of the extra 20 hours, 和 try to estimate better next time.
对于第一个选项, what is the point of knowing the hourly rate 和 the number of hours up front, 如果整体价格可以随意改变以后? 对于第二个选项, 代理商现在只报一个固定价格, so what is the point of presenting it as an hourly rate in the first place?
In both cases, again, the hourly rate is meaningless as a way to measure the cost of a piece of work. The only way to really measure the cost is to know the final amount up front.
除了, both of these options result in an unfair distribution of risk – option 1 leaves the risk entirely with the client, 选择二则完全由机构负责.
固定的价格，固定的结果
So, hourly rates are meaningless both as a way to compare agency prices, 作为衡量可交付成果成本的一种方法. 那么什么是更好的方法呢?
We work using a fixed price for a fixed outcome policy.
客户事先签署了明确的工作范围, 要明白，任何加法, 超额或偏差将额外收费.
Huddle提供固定的总价格, with the promise that this won’t change unless the scope of work changes.
价格受许多因素的影响, including both an estimate of the amount of work involved 和 an estimate of the value of the work to the client. Pricing in this way makes Huddle inherently motivated to deliver outcomes that are both delivered efficiently for us 和 对客户有高价值.
对双方都好
“当我们需要一个新网站的时候, Tom’s straightforward 和 engaging style helped us work out what we really needed.
Rarely are such projects on time 和 in budget – ours was both."
安德鲁·哈维，欧洲营销联盟
对客户的好处是很多的:
- 对价格和相关结果有一个清晰的概念
- Predictability of spend 和 ability to plan budgets reliably
- Don’t need to be concerned with timesheets or hours spent
Not to mention why Huddle prefer working in this way:
- 我们有可预测的收入和现金流
- No need for us to formally log hours, leaving more time to deliver value
- We are motivated to deliver work faster 和 more efficiently, knowing it won’t mean that we charge less for our increased efforts
加强客户合作关系
Given that both sides are agreeing something fixed up front (fixed price, (固定的工作范围)风险被平均地分担.
Rather than giving clients the illusion of certainty in the form of an hourly rate, we give actual certainty in the form of a truly fixed price for fixed outcome.
We have worked in this way for over 5 years, after we ditched the hourly rates years ago.
自从这样做之后, not only have our client relationships been stronger, but we are more driven than ever to deliver more valuable 和 higher quality outcomes more efficiently.
