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Started charging a $75 "vibe check" fee for first calls and my close rate went up, not down
Honestly I was sure this would backfire. I design packaging for small food brands, and I got tired of 45 minute calls where people picked my brain then ghosted, so in March I started charging $75 for the first call, and it comes off the invoice if they book. Six of the first seven people paid it without a word, and the ones who pushed back were exactly the time wasters I wanted to lose. Now I can't tell if I'm filtering out bad clients or just got lucky with a good stretch, so I'm torn on whether to keep it. Anyone else tried paid discovery and had it flop after a few months?
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finleybutler2d ago
Did you set the fee as a credit toward the project or just a flat charge? What worked for me was making the deposit clearly come off the final bill so it felt like a commitment, not a toll. The first month felt great, then I had a slow patch where two people paid and still ghosted, so I stopped reading too much into short runs like that. Give it a full quarter before you decide, since six out of seven is a good sign but not enough to call it yet.
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