Worth noting: good clients tend not to pay anything for the 1-hour "oh cripes" conversation. I'm extremely unlikely to bill for an hour or two of work.

Why does this work? Because I don't bill anyone for an "hour or two of work", and don't have to worry about this level of accounting.

Clients notice. More importantly: clients are much more willing to reach out and ask questions when they know the meter isn't going to be ticking. Matasano has never employed a salesperson; we get our business from repeat customers and word of mouth, in large part because we are very easy to work with.

See what I mean about good practices emerging organically from not billing hourly?