Yeah, I totally agree with Claus about pricing. There are just too
many bad clients out there, where at the end of the day the associated
stress and pain of completing a project with them means you end up with
a net loss. Offering cheap prices (below market rate), or any kind of
incentive to get their business (how many times have you heard "Do us a
good price on this one, and there will be heaps more work later!"), is
just like holding up a red flag to the bad-client-bull.
Generally our process is to have an initial meeting with the prospective
client to find out exactly what the project will entail, what the
deadlines are, and how prepared they actually are. If possible (ie you
are confident in your quoting skills) we usually give a rough cost
estimate (ie roughly how many thousand $), otherwise do this a day or so
later. If any of the first attributes (project scope, deadlines,
preparation) are looking flakey, then this cost estimate will be
substantially higher than what it should actually cost to develop.
Remember, what looks bad at the first meeting will be at least 10x worse
by the end of the project. If they baulk at this cost estimate, good -
you've just saved yourself a world of pain :) And wasting a few hours
on a meeting and a cost estimate to find your client is an unorganised
cheap-skate is better than finding that after signing any kind of contract.
Of course, this can only work if the client actually wants YOU to work
on their project - you aren't just another name in the yellow pages.
All I can say about that is that it's 80% marketing (not advertising),
and 20% portfolio.
I also agree with Claus about making yourself indispensible. While
doing so may stop them from going elsewhere (or make it difficult), it
also makes it very difficult for you to move on if you so decide. I
have found a number of clients who initially looked like they would be
keepers, but after a few months it turns out to be a lot of overhead to
do the same old boring, low paid work. Do you really want to lock
yourself into this, and not be able to recommend another freelancer?
Regards,
Grant Cox
Claus Wahlers wrote:
That's interesting.. i usually do the exact opposite (of course, this
is me, and probably doesn't apply to everyone and everything).
I usually offer new clients my regular rate and offer discounts when i
feel that my relationship to the client is good and of a potentially
long term nature. Most of the time, the client continues to pay me my
regular rate for follow up projects though.
Also, apart from trying to do a good job and making the client happy
of course, i never ever do anything to make myself indispensible. To
the contrary actually. For a long term, good client relationship imho
it's absolutely necessary to give the client assurance that if for
whatever reason i might not be available to continue working on a
project (e.g. i get ill), he can continue without much hassle with
another similarly skilled developer.
cheers,
Claus.
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