What’s an idea worth? Customers hiring a salesforce.com consultancy inevitably ask, “What is your hourly rate”.  I suppose that charging an hourly rate for things like generic field customization is OK. That function is a commodity with little value.

When companies and consultants focus on Salesforce solutions that address specific goals, you add value. This approach speaks specifically to deliverables that align to real world situations. It takes into account available resources, technology options, competitive environment, processes, adoption and built-in simplicity. This is much harder.

Comprehensive analysis and solution development should not be time clock driven. I would suggest that developing elegant Cloud strategies is also art and can depend greatly on experience.

Focus on strategy, approach and outcome. Consider a flat rate approach, not hourly, with clear deliverables. Getting the lowest hourly rate does not mean a better or lower cost solution.