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When a quote is too high for a client/potential client, what do you do?
When a client or potential client comes back to you and says that the quote you gave them is too high. Especially if you’re just starting out freelancing, do you offer to reduce the quote? Do you pass on that project or offer an hourly rate? This happened to me recently and was wondering what other people have done in similar situations?
DS
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Every. Single. Project. I only remember one project where the client didn't complain the price was too high. The advice you've already had below is really good. Here's my view:
1. Explain why it costs what it does - a lot of the time, they are only looking at the number, not the value. Explain why actually it's worth spending that amount. That quite often resolves the concern.
2. Ask what they do want to invest - and rescope. Don't discount what you're charging them, but often them a reduced delivery for what they can afford. If it's not enough to do what they need, they'll need to invest more.
3. Walk Away - it's the hardest thing to do, to turn down a project, but being confident in the value of the project is important, else, they will push down your rates every single time they work with you. You're worth what you charge.
4. Offer a discount on the project, not the day rate - if you're super keen to work with the client, or need the income, discount the total price as goodwill, but DO NOT change your day rate - else when they add additional work, you'll be held to the lower day-rate.
5. Finally - try and get a budget up-front, so you can make a decision on whether to create a proposal at all. Don't forget that all of the time you're spending on the proposal, scope, project planning, etc, is costing you money, and costing them nothing. So do what you can to have money conversations up front!
MK
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I was discussing this with someone earlier, and came to the same conclusion about point 5. If we know what budget they are aiming towards, even if it's a rough idea, it could stop us from wasting time on a proposal that's not going to be agreed to, or the scope of the proposal can be done accordingly. For example, instead of designing and building a custom icon set for the website or app, you would use a pre-made library as that fits in their budget. I'm going to move forward, and try and get budgets from clients before starting on proposals so as not to waste time.
But I think, part of the problem also is that some people only care about the monetary value, and not the value, such as the quality of the code, design files, maintainability, etc. Though I guess a potential solution to that is to try and avoid those sorts of clients if they aren't willing to get educated about why those things matter.
DS
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Hi Dhruve, it's a tricky one, as obviously you deserve to be paid what you're worth! If you have the time to do the work, you might want to offer them a small discount as a one-off - especially if they will look good on your client roster. That said, I'm always slightly wary of clients who try and barter on my rates - they often end up being the most troublesome. I've also learnt to follow my gut instinct when it comes to who to work with (I've been freelance for around 1.5 years) Hope this helps! Tamsin.
TI
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Agreed, you wouldn't go to a store or shop and barter for a product you're buying, or a service from a company such as Apple or Google, so they ideally shouldn't here either.
From what I've gathered, it's generally better to reduce the scope of the work and therefore the cost, rather than simply reducing the cost, as it may make you appear more amateurish, and in some cases, that your original quote wasn't really honest.
DS
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It depends. If its a client you really want then it may be worth taking a hit to win the business as it could lead to more work, or look good on your site or CV.
The other thing to consider, and it doesn't necessarily fix the original situation, is that many clients, especially larger ones will ask you to revise your quote down, so it feels like their commercial team are doing their job. There are methods to combat this - walk away (not so easy when you are starting out), deliver a very detailed quote and say you can reduce the price by reducing the deliverables, or add a margin to your quote that you are prepared to remove as a one off to win the business :-)
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The only thing with the margin, I can see being an issue, as I just mentioned above, is that it could be seen as I was giving a dishonest price originally and potentially sour the relationship
DS
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It all depends on your client, and only you will know them best. In my experience large clients, and the public sector, all have large commercial teams that look to squeeze on price and will expect a discount on every deal.
