It’s been an interesting, COVID-filled few weeks.
You read that right. I have COVID. I contracted it from my mother, who’d fallen and broken some bones, ended up in a rehab facility, and contracted it from someone there.
We’re both mending, but this post isn’t about that.
It’s about the expectations you set with your clients. Some of you are doing it really well. Some of you are phoning it in.
Let’s look at an example:
Robin and Kathy are former colleagues, both now freelancing. Whenever the opportunity arises, one will bring the other in on a client project or proposal for a project.
Recently, Kathy called Robin about a gig she was trying to land. Big corporate client, deep pockets, and the work was plentiful.
Robin was more than happy to participate.
However, it turned out that Kathy didn’t actually have the project, nor had she wooed the client yet. And the big client with deep pockets? It was a discount seller/manufacturer with questionable manufacturing behavior.
Hmmm.
Still, without more information, Robin was willing to hear more. So she sat down and wrote up a one-page proposal for the end client, complete with total project fees and a break-down of what those fees entailed. She handed it over to the client.
Before she did so, she checked in with Kathy, whom she hadn’t heard from in two days. “My proposal is coming” was the promise. At the eleventh hour, Kathy’s proposal did come. It was one line: “I charge XX for YY and ZZ work.”
The client reviewed the project parameters and fees, saw the total from all contractors, and wanted to lower the price. He was quite happy with Robin’s bid as she’d broken everything out, making it easy to see where the total cost was coming from.
Kathy’s, not so much.
In fact, Kathy could well end up losing this gig. She’d put in minimal effort to secure it, and showed no reason why her price is her price. If the client has to cut the project rate, why wouldn’t he choose to cut the freelancer who’s not really doing anything to prove her fee is justified?
Now, Kathy may shout “Foul!” all day long, for she was the one who’d brought Robin in, not the other way around. However, her shouts fall on deaf ears if she’s not made her case to the client for her fee.
Kathy, by taking the quick, lazy way out, could have lost both the client in front of her and any connections he may have. These could well be passed on to Robin.
—
Are you Kathy or Robin?
It’s rather obvious what Kathy had to do in order to impress her client. A more detailed, thoughtful quote of her rate, especially after seeing how Robin had presented hers, could have impressed the client.
The client would have seen that Kathy:
- Was invested in the scope of the project
- Was serious about doing the job right
- Was paying attention
[bctt tweet=”Show your #freelancewriting clients that you take their project seriously.” username=”LoriWidmer”]
In most cases, formalizing in some way your fee sends the message to the client that you’re taking them and their needs seriously. Yes, I’ve had one client balk and insult me after I’d sent a formal proposal, but that’s on him, not me. His rude behavior in no way stops me from doing the job right for the next client. It simply means he’s not my client, nor will he ever be. Amen.
Writers, how formal do you get with your proposals?
Have you ever scored a gig because you went those extra steps?
2 responses to “1 Habit Pro Freelancers Have”
I hope both you and your mom are feeling better every day, Lori! (Yes. An exclamation point. And I mean it.)
When I sought bids to have my garage roof replaced, the one thing that separated the winning bid wasn’t price. It was clarity.
The garage is only 19×19′ but it has a big pyramidal roof that raccoons have made a few holes in. (This is the same garage roof that my FORMER homeowner’s insurance company somehow thought was not damaged by the same hail/wind storm than trashed the house’s roof, siding, and gutters. But I digress.) Estimates ranged from “$2,350 plus $80 for each sheet underlayment” all the way to a very detailed estimate $6,750+ estimate that was hand-delivered a day later in a custom-printed 4-color folder. The latter clearly didn’t want to be bothered with such a small job.
Some bids were simply a number scrawled on the back of a business card. The one that was something like $3,153.64 was handwritten while they were still in the driveway. Pretty sure that guy thought not-rounding made it look more honest. The guy with no sense of personal space wasn’t going to get hired anyway (my creep-a-zoid radar went off fast with that guy) – he showed up without noticed while I was on an interview, parked in the driveway writing out his “bid” without as much as walking down the driveway to evaluate the roof. When I finished my interview, I went out. He handed me his card with a $3,700 written on it, but asked to look inside the garage. There’s an attic so he couldn’t see much of the roof from inside. “Oh, it’s gonna need all new underlayment. That’s another grand.” Buh-bye.
The winning bid, which I’m looking at right now, clearly listed all of the work that would be done. The roof vent is optional — the unheated garage is 100 years old and has done fine all this time without a vent. Below that he broke down materials and labor. The bid even noted they’re fully insured and their employees maintain strict safety requirements the entire time, and all job-related debris is cleaned up. This company did great jobs on two neighboring homes, but the clincher was that when he presented the estimate — $2,6939 — he said, “That’s if we have to replace all of the wood, which is $30/sheet”
By giving the worst case scenario price, I didn’t have to worry about uncharges. That’s what I try to do with my clients.
Later, a roofer said some of the facia is rotted. They said it would be another couple hundred dollars. When I asked the good bidder about replacing the facia, he said it’s about $8/board, unpainted, so about $80 more in materials if it all needs replacing, he said it would be minimal labor.
Before we start, I’ll have him give a new estimate —a piece of drip edge (a beautiful detail on the garage) came loose, so I want to ask about some other repairs. Also, I was about hire them start when the pandemic hit, but one of my clients informed me they were temporarily ceasing publication, so I didn’t want to spend money I might need to live on.
Hope you’re both feeling better, Lori.