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Making Clients Pay Your Price Quote
Von admin | 22.Juli 2009
If you are a freelancer, be it any field, you will have to handle your clients by self always. It can be in matters of the price quote, quality of work, delivery date, and anything else related to the project. Quoting a price for the service you offer and making the client agree to it is hard at times. It becomes the more difficult when the client is new in the business and don’t know the various aspects of the service you provide. You may be an experienced professional in the domain and your services may not be like the others. In these situations, the clients may not quote a budget in the first instance, instead ask you to quote one.
If you feel that the business is really tempting, there are certain ways to convince your client to pay you more than what they agree for. You can reduce some additional services you provide in your usual work and simply just cater specifically to their needs alone and work for a lower price suiting you. Or instead of the overall estimate, you can go for an hourly pay. But before opting for this, work out a rough estimate of the time required to complete the work.
Never lose your professional ethics and go for a bargain. Tell them what your services are and stay fixed to your quote. If the client is really interested in quality work, they will fall in for your professional attitude and work. But you must be sure that your quote is realistic and in balance with the other service providers in the industry. Otherwise you can be sidelined as too expensive and they may seek new professionals.
If the client is not willing to pay you your price, spend a little more time with them. Show them a few of your works. Tell them how it has impacted the client’s business and the positive reviews received for the work. Give them time to browse through your work, see every aspect of it, and understand for themselves why you are expensive! By this they will have an opportunity to understand that you are not simply fluffing about your work. But you are indeed worth the price they pay.
Sometimes a promising client may agree that your works are superb and you are the one in demand, but may disagree with the dealing stating that the rate is too high for them. If you feel that the client is one probable of gaining you more good businesses, don’t turn down the offer. Take some time and think about it. You may be capable of doing some adjustments in your service. Lower your rate a bit. Be sure that you don’t go in completely with their offer. Maintain a stand that you are lowering it for the client’s sake. Discuss the work with the client and work out a schedule such that you do not spend time more than required, for this one project. That saved hours can be spend on other profitable projects.
There is another possible way of getting your clients agree to your rate. Apart from the regular services you provide for the mentioned quote, add in one or two more. For example, if you are a web designer and the client wants a website for their new product, make a combo deal for them. Offer to design the logo along with the website. Convince them on how is it profitable for them to make you design the logo than going for a new designer who may charge extra. Clubbing offers and services always work. But you must be good enough in the extra services you provide as well. Extending the services is also good at times. You can extend the service by signing up a contract for a period or so.
There are certain tips to add the professionalism to your services so that clients will not reject you for your expensive rate. Be an expert in what you do. Instead of doing too many things, concentrate on that one or two things you do. This can make your work highly sought after. Keep improving your skills by advancing with the technology and attending workshops in your field. Maintain some high profile clients in client list. This will automatically increase your market value. Follow professional ethics and guidelines in the work you do. If you follow these things in your profession, clients will certain agree to pay you what you charge. And always keep your rates offered to a specific client confidential. Never disclose rate matters to other clients.
You can also use a psychological approach to make your client pay the reasonable amount you demand. Never get into an argument with a client or get irritated when they say you are expensive. Stay calm. If you get irritated, you are spoiling the business. Give your best behaviour to them. Rather than talking strictly on the business lines, try to be a bit casual. Speak about the trends and advancements in the field and get a bit friendly. Finally make your quote. They would not be able to deny you.
Give them good ideas and tell them the different ways in which the idea can be expressed. But do not give them too much of detail. The client must get the idea clearly across that you are definitely capable of doing the job and has lots of ideas. This will make the client feel that paying a bit more than the budget is indeed worth. Sometimes, instead of saying a round figure in the first go, split the charges in your invoice. Tell them what each sub-service would cost them and make them understand the importance of each unit. If the client does not require a particular sub-service, just remove it. But in this method, identify those sub-services which are the most important and charge them accordingly. This way you can charge the client directly for each single work you do to complete the project.
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