6
The Big Secrets No One Talks About
“Look. I’ll show you mine if you show me yours.”
I had taken a deep breath before slamming out the words, doing my best to come off sounding boldly confident within the limited abilities of a text world.
I stared at the chat box on my screen, nervously awaiting a response.
…is typing… The greyed-out phrase popped up, nearly making me break out in a cold sweat.
What would she say? Decline politely? Laugh and move the conversation on? Hand me excuses? I prepared my response to all three potential outcomes. ‘No problem,’ I’d type, in a semblance of uncaring smoothness.
Bah. Silliness. Since when did I ever show fear? My fingers hit the keyboard again as I plunged into decisive action. I’d go first, and to hell with the consequences.
“Here. I’ll do it.” I was crazy. “Oka-…”
She beat me to it.
The chat box lit up. There it was in plain sight, intimate details for my viewing pleasure.
It was like candy for starving kids. We both began typing back and forth as fast as we could, sharing all sorts of secrets now that we’d gotten over that first nervous hurdle.
We still both gave each other a warning. “Don’t you dare tell people,” I typed, and she was just as quick with her response. “Right back at you!”
You’d think discussing money would be easier, wouldn’t you?
It’s not. Writers often keep their rates as highly guarded secrets in some secret file well hidden from view. Some writers do post their rates for all to see, but more often than not, standard rates are something we writers prefer not to reveal.
The woman I spoke with confirmed exactly what I already knew: “I appreciate the insight,” she wrote. “Rates are so cloistered, it’s hard to get a handle on what’s realistic.”
She’s right. There are no standard rates for writing, even though a few associations try to offer suggestions. People charge what they want, and many individual factors come into play as well. Economy, location, cost of living, etc.
Even worse, writers who try to find answers go from blog to blog, reading motivational “charge what you’re worth” posts. They find articles that push writers to demand better rates and read websites about how to make a decent living through freelancing… and these blogs don’t offer up much transparency about those rates we should all be aiming for.
(Yes, I include our blog in that group. We’re not perfect.)
Why, though? Anyone could email us and ask about our rates, and we’d be perfectly willing to share the information. That’s business. So why not post rates in plain view?
There are benefits to doing so. Posting rates eliminates unnecessary steps and saves time. It helps weed out tire-kickers and window shoppers. It helps potential clients make decisions. It improves customer service and profitability.
In fact, posting rates is one of the timesaving tips I discuss in the Unlimited Freelancer – and yet I don’t practice what I preach.
I’m not alone by any means. Plenty of writers have the same usual reasons for not posting rates: “I like to give personalized pricing for each project.” “No project is the same.” “It’s hard to standardize rates.” “I want to be flexible.” “Different projects incur different costs.”
Those are all excuses. They really are. The true reason writers don’t like to post their rates comes down to five simple points:
- Fear of embarrassment
- Fear of losing clients
- Fear of being overpriced
- Fear of being underpriced
- Fear of the competition
There are other fears involved with posting rates, but I’d say that those five sum it all up nicely – and only one has to do with clients. The other four all have to do with the perception of our peer group.
Peers can be nasty. (Remember elementary school?) No one likes whispers behind backs and hearing condescending remarks. No one enjoys being shown up or listening to acid comments fromsnotty people and arTEESTes. No one likes to drop pants in public. No one enjoys justifying personal decisions.
Rates are personal, when you really think about it. We wrap up a ton of self-worth in the prices we charge. We shouldn’t, of course, but we do. Posting rates makes us feel vulnerable and exposed to the people best placed to point fingers, judge and critique.
Not fun.
My views on the subject didn’t sway my decision to post our rates – not yet, anyways. I wanted to see what other writers (and any freelancer) felt about the matter. Am I out there? Think I’m wrong? Nodding your head the whole way through? Drop a comment and let me know how you feel about posting rates, whether you did or not and how you felt about it.
And if you’re feeling really brave (braver than me, that is)… drop your pants. Let’s see what you charge. Who knows? Maybe we’ll all end up going naked with our rates.
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“Instead of losing them because of price, you could sub-contract the work to a freelancer just starting out who wants experience and charges less, pass the work to an employee whose billable rate is less than yours, or simply refer the work to another copywriter with lower rates who is willing to pay you a finder’s fee.”
Or do what I do: GIVE it away to someone else.
I think it’s funny that most of the blogging world agrees that success in social networking doesn’t come from tit for tat but rather from being generous – you give and you will get.
I’ve given away all excess and unsuitable work since the day I started. I ask nothing in return, and sometimes that’s just what I get. More often I get much more than I ever would have gotten from subbing it out or asking for a referral fee.
Try it – you’ll feel good and it can pay off big.
Tony Lawrence´s last blog post…Microsoft Fans can be touchy
It’s helpful for new freelancers to see what others are charging. It can be the key to having the confidence to charge a fair rate.
Terry Heath´s last blog post…The Emperor’s New Blog
At the pinnacle of the direct response copywriting universe, the ex-King Kong of the industry, Gary Bencivenga would charge a flat fee of something like $25, 000 for a package (usually a magalog).
He wouldn’t negotiate. You agreed to pay this or you didn’t work with him.
This mindset seems to have leaked onto Bob Bly. He lists his fees for everything from writing an email to writing a book-a-log to writing a full blown taguchi tested website sales page package.
His thinking is that if some of his gigundo prospects don’t see his rates they might think he’s gouging them when he quotes his asking price.
Then you have Dan Kennedy who refuses to be listed in the publication “Who’s charging what” because he wants to be in his own class.
He considers anytime spent talking business with you as consulting time so only after you and him have gone through a diagnosis of what your business needs and you’ve paid him his phone consultation fee will you ever get a fee from him.
In his thinking his vision see’s further than most of his clients who are less savvy than he is when it comes to marketing. They might get on the call with him just wanting a brochure but soon they see that a brochure is only a teeny piece of what Dan calls an effective sales system.
These people come to realize having the direct mail piece, voice mail broadcast scripts, postcards, a squeeze page, a long copy sales page, and a script for a DVD would serve their purposes much better than a mere brochure, what they thought they were going to invest rises.
But all the tire kickers get weeded out long before they’ve even had the chance to speak with him because of the hoops he makes people go through to get to him. After finally gotten a phone appointment with him, and paid $800 per hour phone consultation fee, you’ve already got in your mind this ain’t the dollar store.
He says he’s been using this “Take Away” selling approach since they beginning, before he was the big shot he is now.
His posture puts clients in the position of chasing him and feeling blessed they might have the opportunity to do business with him. All of the marketing of his books and business massively support this posture. And the fact that he is busy and he does get results doesn’t hurt either.
Kennedy bases his fees on how many hours (writing days) he thinks it will take him to finish a project. Then multiplies that by his per day $10 or $12,000 consultation fee and there’s your price. Plus, he gets a piece of the gross sales.
I follow Kennedy’s and Harlan Kilstein’s (who learned from Kennedy as well as people like John Carlton) modus operandi.
My Jay Abraham training has also helped me to keep in mind at all time what’s in the best interest of the client.
If they come to me saying they just need a #10 letter and after digging into their business I discover they’d be leaving all kinds of money on the table because they don’t know about the power of a sales system, I’d be cheating them out of getting the highest and best results if I didn’t at least bring to their attention what would better serve their purpose of sending the letter.
I like Kilstein’s approach to a client saying your fee is too expensive. He just starts asking them what parts of their sales system they’d like to leave out.
As of this weekend I’m doing an evaluation like this and on Tuesday I might have to use this phrase. Maybe not. But like Tony and few other people here, I won’t fret if they can’t afford the fully loaded package.
I know as long as don’t studder and stammer when quoting my fee, I’ll be just fine.
Talk to you and Harry again soon,
Note Taking Nerd #2
P.S. Magnificent slide from your opening into your topic James. That for me, was a joyful experience.
Note Taking Nerd #2´s last blog post…If I Could Hear The Questions You Ask Yourself Would I Think I Was In The Presence of a Leader Or a Victim?
I’m glad that you revealed the secret, James. I enjoyed your article very much!
wilson´s last blog post…Your Body Type Determine Your Healthy Condition
“By posting rates, I would basically be starting the conversation on price.”
Actually Michael, I think posting your rates steers the conversation AWAY from your price. If they don’t know what you charge, isn’t that one of the their biggest questions when they approach you for work?
Chad Kettner – Sports Copywriter´s last blog post…Which 2009 Super Bowl Advertisement “Sold†You?
Always intriguing how the whole ‘money’ thing can bring people out in a cold sweat.
Even if you’re confident in your service and know that you’re bloody good, a huge number of people find it awkward to talk about money, rates or pricing.
This is about peers, as you point out, but it’s about what judgements you fear they’ll make about you as a result of your rate. Sometimes, it’s about what you expect people to judge you as – which, of course, is pretty much pure fiction.
I’ve just realised that I don’t have my rate on my site, simply because there’s no logical place for it (which gives me a job to add to my list!), but it’s £100 for 50 minutes.
There, I said it. Judge me.
Steve Errey – The Confidence Guy´s last blog post…Is There a Hero Inside You?
I’m still relatively new to the freelance writing world. I don’t want to under charge or over charge. But I do want to make a living. This is a great article. I need to focus on rates for future client projects.
Cleverly written, well argued. Thanks.
Richard Skaare´s last blog post…A Preposterously Sensible,Workable Reorganization of Communication
I don’t post my rates on my site either. If I’m honest, I do partially agree with most of your reasons why I do this – insecurity about competition and over- or underpricing.
But, more than that, if someone has never outsourced a writing or editing project before, or used a freelancer, they probably have a misconception (in most, not all, cases) about how much it costs – as outsourcing might initially seem like the “cheap” option. I like to know exactly what the project is and provide the client with a written outline/breakdown of what I’ll deliver, how I’ll deliver it and when I’ll deliver alongside my rates. Not just the rates by themselves – without context.
Nine times out of ten, that gets me the gigs. Still working towards converting that to 10 out of 10.
Iris Jumbe´s last blog post…How to send me scurrying your competitors’ arms