Pricing the freelancing service you offer can be a pretty challenging task especially at the beginning of your freelancing career. Customers LOVE a Good Value but they also associate Premium Pricing with Premium Value. If you are starting out, offer a low priced-taste, and once they are hooked, you can accurately price your follow up services! If you are established, then you already know what to do! Don’t price-gouge, but don’t undercut yourself!
Under practical circumstances, you cannot necessarily tag your services with a very high price until you establish yourself as a professional service provider. First, you need to build your profile with several feedback and comments of the satisfied customer. These comments are directly influential to draw the attention of the clients.
This article emphasizes the ways you can price your freelance service without being too greedy. Before you setup the prices, you should do the following without fail
- Have a precise idea about the value of the service you provide (how much it means to your customers)
Before anything else, you need to take a deep breath and have a precise idea about the value of the service you are going to offer. Define how much it will mean to others. For instance, if you are a graphic designer, define the facts that distinguish you from the other graphic designers. Do you have any unique skill set to put on the table?
However, at the beginning, it will be difficult to figure out what sort of skills are going to be unique; you should start from somewhere, however, and do some tweaks to your services as you go on. You should constantly update your profile to match the demands to your skills.
When contacting a potential customer, clearly emphasize the way you are going to complete the task. Clear communication is essential to build a strong business relationship. You should let them know how much attentive, dedicated and professional you are; they will have no obligation in paying the price you have quoted.
The real problem arises when you ask someone to pay for something actually they don’t want! No matter how skillful you are as a service provider, you will not be able to develop your freelance career if you can’t convince your clients to rely on you.
- Know your target market very well
After making it clear about the value of the service you are going to provide, you should thoroughly study the target market segment intend to cater. You need to identify who are going to appreciate the value of the service. In fact, at the initial stage, this process going to be really tricky; you will have very less bargaining power until you distinguish yourself. Start with a large range of segments and gradually narrow it down as you proceed.
As you go on, you will realize that the different segments are attracted to different price ranges. Pick the best match for your services and start approaching such segments with prominence. Then slightly adjust your price tags to be complying with the segment’s demand. Sometime, you may have to bring down the price up to a significantly lower amount compared to the intended value. But, the most important thing is to move on until you have a good number of feedbacks in the portfolio.
Contd: Price your freelance service correctly – Part II
