This is the 2nd post in the series
Reduced Fees, Sliding Scales, and Lessons Learned.
The series actually begins here.
Does Your Client Need or Just Want a Reduced Fee?
I don’t know anyone these days who isn’t looking for a bargain – including me. It’s important to determine ahead of time if your client really needs a reduced fee to access your services.
I learned this lesson when one of my clients
(who was receiving a substantial discount on my fee) mentioned that he would be out of town the following week. He was vacationing at a rather pricey resort. That was a clue . . . .
Then, I decided to walk him out to the parking lot where he proceeded to get into his shiny, late model car . . . that cost about twice as much as my car.
Of course, most of us need a break and most of us need reliable transportation. However, my goal was not to fund those needs for my client before I could fund them for myself. It’s important to determine how you will decide who needs the reduced fee and who does not.
Do you have similar stories that you can share? If so, drop us a line below so that we can chuckle at your lessons learned, too.
I think this is a very valid point, It actually made me think about my own work situation, as I often do home visits, and I think I can apply the same boundaries here as I can with the reduced fee issue, does the client have transportation to the office, does it fit with my schedule and own needs, am I meeting my own transportation and financial needs, etc… Maybe you can address those issues? When do you provide extra services for convenience, such as home visits or school visits?
Welcome back, Jill! You absolutely can apply the same boundaries. I, too, provide services on the go and have some additional thoughts to share about those. I’ll try to get those posted in the next few weeks.
Hi Tamara,
I’m also on the Linked In group “psychologists, coach”, I’d thought I would comment to your group comment. If lawyers did ‘quid pro quo” to all their cases, there wouldn’t be any lawyers…hey, no there’s a concept. I agree with your website, ensure you have your finances in order first, otherwise, the therapist wouldn’t be around long enough to help. Thank you, Doug
Hi, Doug! Thanks so much for dropping in here to chat! I’m not shy about saying that it was a hard lesson for me to learn but I’ve got it down now! So many of us in the helping professions entered our disciplines oblivious to our own baggage – believing that other folks have baggage but not us! And, some of that baggage, for me, was about putting on the white cape and saving the world . . . without asking for any financial compensation.
I just about starved to death the first 5 years in private practice because I kept clinging to that myth (and whining – at least in my head) about how unfair it was that I was working so hard and not managing to even break even financially. When I finally got around to cleaning up some of that baggage (from my own family’s beliefs about money and charity and “good works,”), my practice started to thrive!
Doug, you are so right – you don’t see other professions impaired with this stinking thinking – just those of us who were arrogant enough to think that the white capes belonged to us!