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Some very good points FTA:

1: Provide time-billing transparency 2: Give away some free time, but make it visible

#2 was a very obvious point, but one that I hadn't really thought about until reading it. Qualifying the value you're providing can definitely improve the relationship you have with your customer.

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I recently started consulting for us govt. Such an odd world. Things like #2 are illegal.

As they should be IMHO. Introducing free into a business relationship of any kind is a good way to disappoint people without knowing why (e.g. "That was free last time, why did it cost this time" or "I felt disappointed at result X, why wasn't it free?").

That's interesting; I had no idea. How do they manage to make that illegal?

It's often illegal for government employees or agencies to accept certain kinds of 'gifts'. It definitely depends on how strictly they follow the rules.

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