Common Quotes Questions
As a freelance writer it can be quite exciting to find an email in your inbox asking for a quote and more information about your business. With that being said, it can also be stressful if you do not know how to answer the questions that are asked of you. Through my experience, I have found that most clients ask three questions. Once you know your standard answer to these inquiries, you will not have any problems.
1. How much money do you charge? In most cases this is the first question that a potential client will ask via email. Make sure that you are very careful when answering this question. Stick to your rate sheet even if you think that you could get away with higher prices. If the client wants to negotiate, you can then make a decision on how to proceed.
2. What do I get for your quoted price? As you can imagine, there is a big difference between a 500 word keyword article and 2,000 word review. Make sure that you give an honest and accurate quote while also supplying information on what this price includes. This is the best way to protect yourself against a client twisting your words in the future.
3. Do you offer a bulk rate discount? This is a common question that is usually asked by webmasters. While there is nothing wrong with offering a lower price for a bulk order, make sure that you work out your hourly rate to ensure that you are not short changing yourself.
These are three of the most common questions related to quotes. When you know how to answer these, you will be able to quickly and efficiently respond to any inquiry.
March 24th, 2008 at 6:14 pm
Bulk discounts are an interesting thing – a lot of people expect them when they’re buying but you have to make sure there’s a good reason for you to do it. I’ve been thinking about this recently. In most cases you do have a savings with a larger project (or ongoing work) because you can just do the work without spending unpaid time seeking out more clients just to bill the same amount – assuming, of course, that the client requesting the large project isn’t a lot of trouble to deal with.
If you give a percentage discount for projects over a certain size that will put some people in a situation where they would ask you to do more so they can pay you less – this might work for you (if it’s just a little extra work it will be a nice bonus that the client will appreciate) but if you don’t like the idea you might want to quote the initial part of the project a full price and any work over that at a discounted price.