We all have had propositions from clients which seem absolutely ridiculous. I have given possible solutions to my favourite proposals from clients which angered me and were rather offensive in some ways.
1. “Do you have an IM account?”
We kick off with a somewhat less irritating question. The dilemma begins when the client is a real pain in the gluteus maximus and assumes that having you on their IM account means you are now their friend who will help them in any web related issue they conjure up. You don’t want this guy constantly pestering you about every stupid error or problem he lives with because, lets be fair, it is his problem when he attracts a virus from ‘those sorts’ of sites and has absolutely diddly squat to do with a freelancer. Yes, it’s good to offer continuous support to your clients after you’ve done some work for them, as they may have trouble with the blog you’ve set up for them, for example, but that doesn’t mean they can pester you all the time about all their web related problems.
You could just decline and say “No, I don’t”, and provide them with alternate contact information such as a telephone number which they’re less likely to continuously My personal approach is to give them the details of an account I visit as often as my grandma…who’s dead.
2. “Dude, I like this site. Can you copy it?”
Totally copying is just wrong, dude. If this isn’t written in the constitution, it ought to be. It is good when a client brings several ideas and explains what they want, like “You know that colour scheme its the sort of thing I want”.
You could reply by saying “Not entirely, but if you like aspects of it I could include it in the code/design”
3. “Can I have a discount”
I know many freelancers who will reply with a stern “No”. Personally I believe that if you can offer even a 10% discount, it plays excellently with the client’s psychology and they may feel indebted to you just for such a simple gesture.
Drive a hard negotiation, but do agree at one point. The client will also feel less inclined to get you to do extra little jobs which some clients take for granted. Which leads beautifully to…
4. “Could you just do this as well, I forgot to mention it before”
This is when a simple job, for which you have given a quote, has babies. So you will make an initial quote based on the initial information, but when you are doing the job the client says “Oh I wanted this and that”. We know that this will now effect the initial quote. The client, sometimes, may need reminding.
As opposed to saying anything in an offensive way, just say “Sure, no problem. I’ll send you an updated invoice”. If they just fall for it, you can charge whatever reasonable price you like, and if they don’t, you will not have to do the extra work which was never included in the contract.
5. “Can you do a sample for what I need”
Sometimes the client may think you are a whore. What does a sample mean, you want a taste of it? So basically the douche bag wants you to work for free and then say “Na”
There may be times when you are fickle with this. For example, if you are a web designer about to embark on an enormous project and they just want you to make one page as a sample…consider it.
If this is not the case you may wish to reply “Of course, that will be $100″
6. “Is it OK with you if I pay it all in the end?”
Depending on the size of this project, you may want to consider a reduction to a 50:50 rule and change it to 33% down payment. I, however, would never work for free, without a guarantee of payment in hand.
Explain to the client that it is not normal policy to do this and a down payment will be required.
7. “Can you do this by the end of Christmas” on 20th December
The others may not be offensive, but this definitely is! Never honour this unless they are paying you millions. A client has no say over when you do your work, however, from time to time they can start to think that.
A gentle reminder will set the record straight. You may want to overestimate the deadline for them, so that when they do ask for a reduction, it is feasible. Again, don’t become a freelancer whore.
Conclusion
Every rule has its exceptions and of course there are exceptions to everything I’ve mentioned. Tell us below if you believe these points to be valid or whether its just me that thinks this. What kind of indecent proposals do you get?
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August 1st, 2009 at 2:23 pm
These questions are spot on. I am right now in the middle of a nightmarish, never end job, and it was not looking out for things like this that got me into it.
In my defense, I did not line up the job. It was a friend who has a client who needed some work done fast. I accepted, not realizing she had promised him the world on what I consider a discount budget. Now I am stuck dealing with him as a matter of reputation, or should I say, not losing reputation.
I will never fall into this trap again. I am hearing most of these questions from the client, and my friend that originally brought me the job has since bailed. Go figure.
August 1st, 2009 at 2:49 pm
I just posted a blog entry last night called… “10 Red Flags that Predict a Deadbeat Client.” It fits right in with what you are saying. Click on my name to see them.
August 2nd, 2009 at 1:00 am
We need to have a freelance constitution and make one of the first articles “No helping friends”. Seriously, I have ‘helped’ friends’ friends and it always goes wrong. Reputation, friendship and so much other bollocks is all of a sudden at stake with a simple job.
Another thing about it is that they (friends’ friends/distant friends) will almost always have negative comments – unless you do it for free – which is like CLOSE friends only. I’ve noticed they will say things like “and he charged me, dude!!”. I’m like “huh?!” You think I’m your bitch now? lol.
August 2nd, 2009 at 8:51 am
Spot on, if it doesn’t pay the bills it doesn’t count.
You took time to earn your knowledge, just like a doctor took time to gain his so why should the doctor or *insert random field person* get paid and you have to do samples for some client? Knowledge and experience equals money, if a client doesn’t know that they’re probably better of not being your client.
I find the best way to be is just be real. Everyone has lives, no one has 100 years to work on a website. If they keep asking for changes, you might want to tell them that more time = more money. Or perhaps charge a on a weekly or bi-weekly basis, this way you continually get income as opposed to a static price for a website. For a big project, it’s probably ideal to charge by time but maybe not by hour. This would remind the client that your time is valuable and that they can’t waste it with petty tacky features. Of course every situation is different so evaluate your options.
I definitely agree with and “love” these above statements. Working for free definitely isn’t cool and I also do a 50 to 50 ratio. You’re quite unlikely to get burned by someone if they’re willing to put money in your hand from day one. It also shows they trust your character and understand that this is a service, not a spec contest.
August 2nd, 2009 at 9:52 am
@Daquan. Exactly, I once remember having a solicitor who gave advise for free (I’m sure you realise that means it was rather a while ago!). I would ask her and call her SO much. Now I have a solicitor who charges £170 (ex VAT) an hour. I almost never call him, unless I really need to because he will charge me £17 (ex VAT) per 5 minutes on the phone.
Of course I think this is too high, he may be the best, but he is a blood sucking unfair piece of shit. Freelancers should make their time look valuable, similar to the way this solicitor does, but never charge stupid things like that. A phone call/email/IM conversation should never be charged. The point I’m trying to make, while ranting about my solicitor is, I agree – give yourself some value, within the means of normality (as it is measured by people on Earth and not planet Law Society)
August 3rd, 2009 at 6:27 am
Q: Prospect will ask for detailed answers in the form of a “I’m not sure if I want to hire you just yet; but if you tell me what I need to know. . .” question.
A: I charge $XXX.XX an hour for consultations(Don’t work for free).
Q: I have more projects(work) coming; can I get the first one for at lower price or free?
A: I charge $XXX.XX an hour for that service(Don’t work for free).
August 3rd, 2009 at 10:04 am
@Carlunes. I also feel that the client will sometimes try and get a lower price on the basis of “there will be more work” I suppose these two questions should be added to the list. Nice one.
August 4th, 2009 at 3:39 am
Hey thanks for your thoughts- I feel not alone now!!
re No. 3: “Personally I believe that if you can offer even a 10% discount, it plays excellently with the client’s psychology and they may feel indebted to you just for such a simple gesture.”
Just a suggestion from a business point of view I would never ever discount on a quote; we take great care to be as lean as possible and don’t want to give our clients the impression that we inflate our prices so much we can easily knock off 5- 10 % here or there:-) Another way to handle this difficult question is to add value to the project; for example add another page or graphic design or some free SEO or whatever would be useful and valuable to client, but is not too time consuming for you.
We also structure our proposals in such a way that if someone doesn’t want to pay the full price we can take out items (eg the CMS or the copywriting or photography or some feature of the website like a forum…) Hope this helps!
August 4th, 2009 at 11:24 am
@Kate,
I feel your approach is better than mine. It is true, the client can easily think “If he can just offer me that straight away, he must be charging me a lot”. I suppose another form of the discount is to offer extra services which are not too hard for yourself.
Some nice points there, thank you, I am sure everyone can learn from them.
August 5th, 2009 at 7:55 am
Great article!
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September 26th, 2009 at 10:32 am
Great Article! Made me laugh! I used to do these mistakes all the time.
October 4th, 2009 at 9:04 pm
I really enjoy reading . It’s very interesting. Hope you will post something like this again.