Charge more: Articles on negotiating with clients
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I have just found a few gems on the web on this subject:
"How Professionals Negotiate Price"
http://www.functionfox.com/articles/article17.aspx"Negotiating With Clients 101"
http://freelancefolder.com/negotiations-101-for-freelancers/"Charge More, You're worth it"
http://www.businesspundit.com/charge-more-you%E2%80%99re-worth-it/And a final one in a more comedic tone:
"Why I Charge More: A Designer's Open Letter to His Future Clients"
http://www.winwithoutpitching.com/why-i-charge-more -
Hi, Miguel:
Thanks for this. They were each very enlightening. I saw these principles very applicable for non-freelancers, too. -
Another good one, language NSFW:
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Good stuff, thanks guys.
They all make sense and valuable to a freelancer to get his/her worth and avoid being screwed.
On the other hand it requires a set of people skills that I do not posses, is it confidence in my product or myself that creates insecurities? I dunno as I sell myself short all the time, that's when I'm selling myself and not being dictated to and just accepting terms and deadlines then busting my balls to achieve beyond my requirements, which always takes away from the creative side of the business.
My solution is to get my wife to handle the business side, she has my best interests at heart and that way I can concentrate on being creative and she can take care of the money side. After all my wife is a successful businesswoman with skills I can not compete with when it comes to finances, she also knows about the industry being a CKD designer.
Just realized, I'm not a freelancer as I thought...I work for my wife.
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I think it is always good to know two numbers going into a negotiation. The number you need and the number you want. One is your ideal margin and the other your bottom line. The bottom line number is the most important as it will keep you in business. It is your fallback in a negotiation. This can only be determined by truly knowing your cost to operate and live. The rest is your margin beyond this and if you get what you want, you are making out. However this number should never be arbitrary as you need to stay competitive in your marketplace. It should be a percentage above what you NEED to make. At least this is how I think of it.
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I was talking with two colleagues about this.
They agree that if you lower your price in front of the client without rationalizing why you lower it, the client can assume you were going to earn that extra money "for free". So we agreed that we should only lower a price in exchange for something, for example, getting more credit for the work done, or doing less work.
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In my business, we cannot lower our standard of care, nor is there much room for limitation of services. Why? Because we have to maintain practice liability insurance, and limiting any part of our customary services puts us at risk. If limitation is unavoidable, all we have to protect us is some type of written agreement clearly spelling out what those limits are. If the kinds of demands from the client seem to compromise your principles, you need to walk away from it. Not doing so could be worse than accepting it in the long run.
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@earthmover said:
I think it is always good to know two numbers going into a negotiation. The number you need and the number you want.
My policy too - it works most of the time but sometimes, especially recently, you just walk away as it doesnt make sense paying for work!!
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