Minimum Fee Strategy for BPOs: Setting a Floor That Pays
A fee floor protects your hourly rate. Here is how to work out yours.
Accepting every order regardless of fee feels productive until you add up the hours. A minimum fee protects your real hourly rate.
Work out your real time per order
Track a dozen orders: drive, inspection, research and report writing. Many agents find an exterior BPO takes 60 to 90 minutes all-in, and an interior two to three hours.
Decide your target hourly rate
What is your time worth? Divide the fee by the hours to see whether an order clears that bar.
Set floors by order type
- Exterior BPO: the lowest fee that meets your hourly target for a core-area order.
- Interior BPO: higher, reflecting scheduling and access risk.
- Inspection: low fees are fine if they are quick and on your route.
Adjust for distance
Pair your fee floor with your coverage rings: a higher minimum for extended ZIPs.
When to make exceptions
- A new vendor where you want to build a track record.
- An order right next to one you already have.
- A quiet week where any work beats none.
Automate it
In BPOFlow you set a minimum fee per order type, and orders below it are skipped automatically.
Related: how much BPO agents make.