November 4, 200916 yr Charging for Design Work It is inevitable and if it hasn’t happened to yourself yet, it is not far round the corner especially in the economic times were in. Quite often, a potential client will challenge you on your pricing. i.e your rate per hour, total price etc The first time it happened to us, we were hit with this painful urge to almost apologise, back-track and revise our quote…. Don’t. Handling a pricing objection well will help present yourself as an experienced professional.
November 4, 200916 yr That was a good read Offering different pricing alternatives has worked for me quite well... 1. Tight budget - just the essential items £xxxx 2. Average budget - essentials + useful features £yyyy 3. Normal budget - all the bells and whistles £zzzz 80% end up going for the highest price option even if they have to spend more.
November 4, 200916 yr I agree. The amount of times i've been questioned on my pricing because "they've had a cheaper offer" (usually from an Indian/African Outsourcing company or a UK mega-corp that can do it for £150) is all very well and good - but to be honest it's uneconomical for us to charge any less and as for outsourcing - pfft. It's cost over quality I think.
November 6, 200916 yr I have had clients who would like a cheaper rate and once I actually did give the client what he wanted and what I wanted. I gave him the remainder of his files and he paid me what he wanted to pay me from the start. That way..he was allowed to finish his design for himself...but ask him how the design looks!!!! lol. Please, for individuals who would want a design in the future, pay the designer his dues. We charge as low as we possibly can.
November 6, 200916 yr The most-asked question we get is the hourly rate. For some reason folks seem to think that hiring a designer is the same as hiring a store clerk. I've had potential clients balk at the hourly rate (though almost everything we do is project based) and ask if we can lower it as a special favor to them. I tell them I'm more than happy to do so IF they provide office space, lights, heat/cooling, fund my payroll taxes, corporate taxes, business licenses, health insurance, support the clerical, legal, bookkeeping and accounting duties, AND provide computing equipment, software, web hosting, internet access, telephone service and train any new employees while we are working on their project. That usually helps them realize that we will not be stocking the shelves in their bodega but providing a fully-funded service for which they benefit from tens of thousands of dollars in infrastructure and human capital investment.
November 9, 200916 yr In my general experience, clients that argue with you over cost are not going to be great to work with, and tend not to grasp what they're buying. What normally follows is that we sever the relationship, then a month or so later we visit their domain and they've got a table based site dripping in old school javascript. Read these: http://www.alistapart.com/articles/getting-to-no/ http://mirificampress.com/permalink/10_warning_signs_of_a_bad_client http://www.seroundtable.com/archives/004016.html We all need to make money in the recession - but clients like this can eat your life and cost you dear. Avoid.
November 9, 200916 yr If a client finds the quote too high we set an initial payment and then accept affordable monthly payments for the balance. This has worked for us about 5 times now especially on the higher rate jobs.
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