The freelancer’s guide to price negotiation: Maximising your value and earnings

Figuring out how to set your freelancing price/fee takes a ton of planning. Price yourself excessively high, and you may wind down likely clients; value your work excessively low, and you might pass up merited pay. Arranging your prices is one of the obstacles you should clear to arrive at your salary aspirations while keeping up with or growing your customer base.

Here are a couple of ways you can make positives changes to your negotiation style and get fair prices:

Determine your Minimum Acceptable Rate (MAR)

You should never enter into negotiations without knowing the lowest equivalent hourly rate you are willing to work for. Call this your Minimum Acceptable Rate (or MAR)
The MAR is your main concern, yet it isn’t really the rate that you present to the client. It addresses a number that you won’t go underneath in dealings (except if convincing conditions direct something else)
When you’re just getting started in the world of freelancing, your MAR will be calculated based upon a quality of life that you consider necessary
However, as your business develops, you might find that you change your MAR to mirror the personal satisfaction that you need later on, rather than what you have now

Give yourself some wiggle room

There might also be a time when you are asked to share a cost before you’ve been able to comprehend the degree of the work to be done entirely. In such a situation, make sure to give yourself some room for manoeuvre
Make sure you convey to the client that the initial presented fee can fluctuate. If the client is still interested after that initial exchange, then you can be pretty confident that they’ll agree to your terms

Don’t be afraid of the negotiation process

You will realise that even most prominent clients will attempt to chaffer once you present your cost, very much like in a conventional bid for employment. Don’t assume your only two choices are to lower your rates or lose out on the job
It would be best if you stood by your figure while simultaneously thinking about the particulars of the circumstance. Contemplate what’s reasonable and the numerous advantages that you might get from the project, and take the negotiation forward from that point
As you’re negotiating, always present what you offer the client to assist in defending your rate. Maybe you have more experience than others in your field or have an incredibly great portfolio. Make sure to express these points when a clients comes back to you with a counteroffer (more on this in the next section)
Go over the extent of the undertaking together. If there’s pushback, it’s possible the client has not realised the time and effort it will take to achieve the results they desire
Furthermore, don’t forget to make references to additional projects costs or instruments that are required for you to tackle the work
Be Assertive. You’ve invested the energy and exploration to come up with a reasonable number for your work. You can and should be comfortable fighting for what you deserve

Position yourself as an investment

In all negotiations, your goal should be to present yourself as a venture as opposed to a sunk expense
While you might think that its difficult to persuade a client that you’re an investment as opposed to an expense, the appropriate outcome lies in your responsed
Veteran freelancers quickly can point to their prior results to lead the investment conversation
New freelancers don’t have this luxury; as a result, they will have to become their own biggest advocate
Knowing your value and what you can bring to the client should feature your pitch from the get-go

Price yourself high…But not too high

The monetary goal of any independent activity is to augment your pay.
In some instances, arranging your independent prices at a higher rate might bring in more cash than you expected
That said, providing a cost estimate that is too high can also drive away potential clients
To lessen the opportunity of a rate exchange that costs you out of the venture, utilise a rate based methodology. Take your typical rate and add somewhere close to 10% to 20%
Using this method will leave you with some space for an arrangement without the client considering your offer financially out of the domain of plausibility

Don’t short-change yourself

Both freelancers, those just starting out and those who have a ton of experience, need to win a project with a trusted organisation to build their worth as a freelancer and extend their client base. However, landing that client shouldn’t come at the cost of hiving to go underneath your MAR
Even if the client is a significant name in the business, tolerating an agreement that doesn’t take care of your bills, brings about monetary difficulty in the long haul, or generates sensations of uneasiness or hatred is not worth it

Seek a mutually agreeable outcome

You won’t get far as a freelancer on the off chance that you plan to rip off your clients. A suitable arrangement is about both players leaving with the feeling of having won
Suppose you extract every penny from an imminent client to where they hesitantly consent to your swelled costs. In that case, that relationship isn’t going to last very long. Remember that as a freelancer, repeated business is always the key to building a sustainable career
Thus, make sure that while working on getting yourself a fair price, that the price is also fair for the client

Get it in writing

Although most clients shouldn’t have any issue with signing a contract to solidify your price, you might come across ones who aren’t keen on that concept
Always get an agreement for your work as an independent that clearly defines the extent of the work/role and the agreed price
Legitimate organisations will have no issue drawing up an agreement for your work
If you find that a client is reluctant to place it in a limiting archive, be careful. This could be a warning and result in payment issues down the line