The effects of pricing on the client and freelancer - both subtle and otherwise - has always fascinated me. I find that dealing with bargain shoppers is definitely the wrong way to go - unless you are going to launch some kind of service where you don’t actually consult personally with the client.

Also my impression has always been that the client somehow already has a magic number in mind when they ask you for the quote, and if you hit it, they go with you, if you go too low - they might not go with you b/c they think you don’t have the experience - and if you go too high they also don’t go with you b/c they just can’t afford it.

Also these days I try harder to kind of smoke the client out and see if they have a budget and if so what it is, that way you know what you’re working with.

Great series. I’m a freelance designer from brazil, and, goddam, these three adjectives don’t work out great together. It’s a damn awfull getting freelance jobs in a country used to anticquaties and old-fashion business thoughts. By reading freelanceswitch I’mm thinking better about my work, and about the market reality I have to live in.

Thanks, guys, for this articles and well… Me and some friends v’been thinkin’ about starting a freelance blog for our own. Maybe if we do, we can discuss about it, some relations, and stuff!

Abraços Brasileiros, amigos =D

Cheap and High Quality - can be done, if the FAST side is slowed down and the freelancer decides that, in return for extra time, they can add (on their own time and own dime) extra features that the freelancer WANTS to do (say, as a jewel in the portfolio crown).

In other words, ‘let me take my time, and I’ll do an AMAZING quality job, at no extra $$ cost to you, client-person”.

It could happen… I myself do some pro-bono websites, (the ultimate cheap = free), and I have free hand on the design and features (aside from what the client asks for over time). I think they are some of my best work, since the deadline is up to me.

When freelancing, I fo8und that price leveles also depend on the size of a client.

A very small company might be very price sensitive while a large corporation might just be used to a certain price level when dealing with freelancers. But this could build a ceiling in the prices you mightbe able to get, too.

It’s always a good idea to find out about going rates not only for your particular service but for other type of services as well. It’s liekly that the person finally agreeing on a service contract oversees other service contracts as well - so he might compare apples with bananas, which does not make sense, but he might do it anyway.

If you sell your servcie to companies which are also in the service business, find out about their rates, as they usually use it as benchmark.

I’m with Aurel. You can have it cheap and fast or you can have it well done in a reasonable time frame. Which would you prefer?

Great articles, Skellie - a very nice series overall.

I love this 5 part series… you guys must do some more. Keep up the great work!

Great article series!
As I hire other freelancers regularly I find this part very usefull, keep up the good work !

Nice stuff Steven. We recently upped our pricing structure quite a bit. We’ve since continued on a steady pace but the client face has changed quite a bit. We are no longer getting the folks that have $2,000 but want a $15,000 web site. Our clients seem to have a much better appreciation of what we’re offering as well. Of course a lot of our older clients have slowly disappeared due to the increased costs. It’s actually quite sad to see them go but I have to remind myself, we are targeting a specific group as we grow and we just simply don’t mesh anymore.

To help manage potential clients expectations; we’ve included a “How much will it cost page”. It’s been a big hit. It’s here if you’re interested - http://onwired.com/how-much-will-it-cost

What we’ve learned is by raising our prices is: We are still doing the same amount of work and taking the same amount of time to build a site but we simply get larger clients, and/or clients with a much greater appreciation of what they’ll be receiving.

Good articles. Another way that your prices affect your own mindset is, if you charge higher, you KNOW you better make the client happy or he’ll wonder “why on earth did I pay you so much?!” and be very disappointed. Not only that, but, if you are charging higher AND are charging per project instead of per hour, you have more time to spend on the project, because you’ll still be making decent money.

And on the other hand, if you charge low, you might tend to think “he’s not paying me very much, I’m not going to put that much time and effort into this.” Or worse “I can’t afford to spend much time on this project. I need to get more projects done so I can pay my mortgage this month.”

What do you do in a case of a client that you have worked with on a project based on project scope and now will move to an hourly revision or updated fee and they ask for that they have no pbms in paying for additional service but they find the hourly fee a bit too steep. I would be grateful if you could adjust to market.

How to deal with that?

@ Bejamshi: If you’ve already gone this far with them it’s going to be a big hassle for them to find another freelancer. Have they stated outright that they can’t afford it, or have they simply said it seems expensive to them? If the latter, it sounds to me like they’re probably willing to pay it, but are trying to see if they can get a bargain first. I’d suggest reading the 25% challenge article earlier in the series for some more information on sensing when a client is bluffing.

@ Everyone: The series kind of happened by accident as a whole bunch of our writers submitted articles to do with rates at the same time. I’m really glad it did :). It’s something I’d definitely like to do more of in future.

Steven, excellent article. I agree that perception of quality and price go hand in hand, and I think many clients and prospects would agree. My business partner, who ran Top Design in LA for a long time, often used what he calls, “The Magic Three.” When trying to get an idea of a client’s budget, he says, “Tell me where you fall on this spectrum. Is it as low as five thousand? Is it as much as fifteen? Or up to fifty?” (Actual numbers may vary.)

Often times, they choose the highest, or middle number but not usually the lowest. I believe that’s because cheap prices indicate low quality, and smart clients value quality. For that reason alone, they usually won’t choose your lowest number.

At the risk of promoting myself, this is addressed in depth in my brand new book (co-authored with Peleg Top) that literally just hit Amazon today. It’s called, “The Designer’s Guide to Marketing & Pricing: How to Win Clients and What to Charge Them.” It is specific to the trials and tribulations of designers and deals a lot with pricing issues.