Comments on: How grateful are you for your clients?

By: Clive Walker

Clive Walker — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 13:03:04 +0000

Interesting point about no-one complaining when prices were raised. Have heard similar stories and even one where a well-known web designer doubled his prices on a random day every month. He found that they were accepted! Mind you, he is a talented guy and a bit of a web celebrity (now) so I am sure he’s worth it.

By: Clive Walker

Clive Walker — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 12:59:43 +0000

Thanks for the comment Fiona. I have benchmarked myself against other UK and local companies in various ways, through surreptitious (heh heh) enquiries to competitior web designers (where I was in the middle of the range) and in online web designer surveys (I was at the lower end). I think I offer higher quality in some areas so I need to assess this again.

Based on Karen’s price range in her comment above, I’m at the lower end so that’s food for thought as well

By: Karen Skidmore

Karen Skidmore — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 10:37:43 +0000

Well said, Sadie – thanks for sharing your experiences : )

By: Sadie Knight

Sadie Knight — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 10:31:58 +0000

Great post. this is something that I believe hits anyone in the service industry – certainly it did for me in the early days of setting up my web design business.

I pitched myself with low prices in order to build up a portfolio, but interestingly as I upped the prices it didn’t reduce the amount of work coming in – infact sometimes it seemed to increase!

Bear in mind the old adage ‘you get what you pay for’. If you price yourself too low then many people will believe you are not very good at what you do, even when they can look at your portfolio of previous work.

Value yourself and your skills & time.

By: Karen Skidmore

Karen Skidmore — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 10:09:04 +0000

Thanks Fiona – that’s a very valid point. Bigger invoice doesn’t always mean more expensive. And low price often means less customer service and quality control. Depends on what a client is looking for, doesn’t it?

By: Fiona Humberstone

Fiona Humberstone — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 10:06:14 +0000

Clive I’d also recommend that you benchmark yourself against the competition. Is what you’re offering more or less valuable? Is your quality higher or lower? That will give you an insight into how your prices should differ from your competitors.

By: Karen Skidmore

Karen Skidmore — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 10:01:55 +0000

Competition research is a great place to start but don’t get caught up with the “they charge that so I couldn’t charge more”. It gives a good bench mark, but don’t let other people’s prices hold you back. I also wouldn’t recommend asking potential clients – you never get the truth! Ask someone how much they would pay, and they will always say a cheaper price than they may end up paying when presented with the full benefits : )

What I would recommend is you work out exactly how many hours you spend on working on a client project. In your case, Clive – it’s website design and hosting, isn’t it? So in theory it should be quite easy to work out exactly what you would do – remembering never to under estimate! Work out next what you feel you are worth in hourly rate and then do the sums. £30 to £75 an hour is perfectly acceptable for web work, depending on the level of expertise you are offering. And I know some who charge more.

One final recommendation is that if you feel the price of your packages start to feel too expensive – offer your clients 3 options: bronze, silver and gold (obviously not with those names!) – this way your client can decide on what level of service they are getting for the money, rather than try to negotiate you down on your price and hourly rate.

Hope that helps Clive and thanks for stopping by.

By: Clive Walker

Clive Walker — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 20:31:38 +0000

I think the issue of low rates or undervaluing yourself is especially tricky when you are first starting out. What do you suggest? I did some competition research on prices which helped.

By: Trish Gant

Trish Gant — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 14:32:34 +0000

This must be a photographer thing. We chew ourselves up inside because we’re constantly told there’s no longer any value in photography. But that can’t be right. We are living in a very savvy image conscious society now but not just anyone can take a great picture. What is it exactly we’re selling? We are selling ourselves, our knowledge, our eye. It took me 7 years as a freelance assistant before I went out there to get my own work. That’s some training! And I’m still learning with every job I do. That’s before I’ve even started to learn the latest technological thingermy.

So if you don’t value yourself, how can you expect others to?