After my blog was posted yesterday, I received an email from Mike Maransky, an office managing partner with Fox Rothschild. Here is what Mike said:

Interesting post today.  I was discussing this issue at lunch with two CPAs.  I sent them your thoughts.

Yesterday I was meeting with my office administrator about changing the vendor for our coffee. She had considered changing vendors because she found someone who was cheaper, but decided to stay with our existing vendor when he agreed to match the replacement vendor’s price.

I told her that if that happened to me in my personal life I would not go back to the old vendor because I would be very upset that he wasn’t giving me his best price in the first place.  My feelings are similar to what you expressed in your post today.

Isn’t that the danger? When you discount your hourly rate, won’t your clients be upset that you haven’t always given them your best rate? Again, I believe the better approach is to find ways to add value.