How to reply to a professional who gives you a rate

Friend of VeraSage, Jim Hart, and I traded a few messages on Facebook today. During one of the exchanges we had this conversation:

Jim: Buddy... this world is still upside down.

Ed: How so?

Jim: I am trying to engage a lawyer. I met with her yesterday and she gave me a “rate.” Because I thought you would enjoy that I am standing on premise, here is my response:

Ed: Do tell.

Jim: Hi NameWithheld:

I’m hoping we can work together. I have been consulting for many years. I don’t charge by the hour. As a corollary to that, I also don’t pay by the hour. You see, I’m paying for your knowledge and expertise; not your effort.

That said, my hope would be that we could meet, agree on a scope of work and you could give me a price for that expertise.

Let me know if that would be acceptable.

So far, there has been no reply. I think that this is fantastic response to the professional who tosses out a rate. If you are a potential customer of a professional firm who has just quoted you a rate, go ahead and try a version of the above reply. Alternatively, you could just go to the VeraSage List.