[tightbookkeeper]

I've been advised to charge for a discovery, but at a ridiculously low price, say $500. It's likely they can expense it without approval, shows they are serious, and, helps you feel good about putting effort into a serious proposal.

Have you seen anything like that succeed?

[rukuu001]

I’ve seen folks successfully implement a process where discovery is ‘free’ if the client hires them for the implementation. Otherwise discovery is $10K or whatever

[seanwilson]

I haven't had problems with discovery projects. The framing is usually that both sides genuinely don't know enough about what needs to be done, you'll produce a rough plan at the end of it, and you've agreed to a rough ballpark budget beforehand where discovery is helping you decide on the scope and specifics.

Otherwise, even for simple projects, the process is usually you do a couple of rounds of questions for a few hours, then you're forced to give a quote when you don't know enough which is bad for both sides.

People get weird about charging for discovery, but gathering requirements, evaluating the current situation, researching options and proposing a solution, is tricky and valuable work, and doing this properly can save a lot of pain later.