Don’t leave without stating your price
Lets say you are an internet freelancer.
Lets imagine that someone has just contacted you for a potential job to fix a problem and s/he wants it done ASAP - time is of the essence.
You’re now in their office.
What happens next is something that really can be only learned through experience but here is some advice to show the shape of territory that you have to now deal with.
So, you could have gained much interest from your interviewer and there may even be the offer of some work but without saying the vital, vital, vital phrase “and I will need an advance” uttered at the right moment i.e. 10 minutes before you exit the meeting, you can save yourself an awful of hassle and annoyance.
This phrase cuts through the crap in ways that is truly unbelievable.
Why?
1) You gain their commitment and then you know that you can trust them not to walk away from any verbal deal.
2) You now avoid any unnecessary work because you know that if you don’t have the cash / cheque in your hand before you leave, then why would you do any work? Your “client” could do anything in the intervening time between you leaving the office and making your written proposal.
However, ofcourse, there is the problem that you can quote for something that means you will be underpaid. And furthermore, an advance on an unknown total is a difficult thing to get as the business you are selling to doesn’t know what the total will be and they are worried (rightly) about costs escalating.
So how do you do it?
Firstly, get a good handle on what is required. Ask the right questions. Is this site interactive? What’s it meant to do? Do you have all the graphics and text? How much is in preparation? If there’s interaction, you know that will mean some coding will be involved. If there’s graphics and text already then the time to delivery is as short as it can be but if not, then the final payment is later than it could be. So that extra time, should be costed in, otherwise you have effectively been paid on a retainer.
Secondly, cost it so that you take the cost and add half what that figure is. That way you’re covered if theres more to the work than is thought on a brief 30 minute interview / discovery. You could always give a discount after if you feel you want to keep this client on. You do ofcourse risk losing the work because theres someone who can offer a better price, though you’re the best contractor about, and as quality is paramount, that shouldn’t really matter. Once you name a price, and its 1 1/2 times what the reality is, i.e. the actual time taken to do the work, you can always offer a discount. You can’t go up on a price but you can go down, as long as the final price is workable.
You’re under quite a lot of pressure at this point to give a price. Don’t give a price and the client walks; but give a price, and you’ll have the consideration of the contract. You have to live with it, if its underpriced, but at least you can now pay the bills.
Good luck!
