It’s a pretty common scenario. You’re talking to a client, and you want to price your services accordingly, but how? 😩
When quoting any agency project, you need to communicate value to the client. It sounds simple enough, but how do you do that? How can you avoid the inevitable “Oh, wow. That’s expensive” comment from clients?
You need to turn the conversation from price to value with these money-can’t-buy value factors. 🤑
Start having the value conversation with clients early on.
By explaining you’re not charging for time, you’re charging for value, using these 7 value factors.
For example, think about FedEx. When they have something designed, like a logo, they have to spend millions of dollars to reprint everything, including putting a new logo on buildings and planes. It’s an expensive proposition if they get it wrong.
It’s not a flat number.
Logos, just like web design, can have a negative business impact if their customers hate it.
Remember, you have to price the client, not the job.
And that conversation needs to hinge on value. Consider how important your services are to your client’s business. Both you and the client need to understand there’s some risk involved with picking the wrong company to work with, so you need to switch the conversation to focus on value.
Let’s explore these value factors for how to price your services. Remember to use them in your next client meeting!
1. Work out your true cost
To get away from selling dollars for hours, you need to know your true cost before you can accurately scope and quote projects. To work out your true cost, take your total overhead cost and divide it by the number of staff you have, including yourself. Include things like software, rent, utilities, and any other expenses you have to run your business. Add project management and meeting time, as well as on-boarding and handover time.
2. Hourly versus project pricing
What if a client asks about hourly rate? You could say, ‘if it takes me X number of hours, should I charge you less if it takes me less time?’ They may answer yes. And you ask, “should I charge you more if it takes more hours?’ They may pause. Remind them that they shouldn’t be penalising you for being efficient and effective, because you can create something that they’ll be proud of, that’s going to help them make a lot of money.
3. Size, turnover, and nature of the business
You wouldn’t charge the same to a mum-and-pop shop as you would a big corporate. Price accordingly. Pricing is variable. Calculate what it costs you to do business, so your rates could increase per client. Ask them, “what’s your budget? What happens if things wrong? What criteria are you using to assess a marketer/copywriter/agency?” This will give you a good indication of how they view what you’re going to do for them with your services. 👩💻
4. Value
You need to know what the client’s customers are worth to the business. What’s a new customer worth to the client that you’re talking to? Are they worth $10 or are they worth $10,000? Or maybe $20,000? How much are they willing to pay to acquire a new customer? You need to be a good business person, so you can talk about these things with clients and understand how you can get them results.
5. Competition
Consider how competitive the market is. How competitive is the niche or target market that the customer is in? Is it hyper-competitive and it’s difficult to break into? Or is there a window or avenue you can see?
6. Your skill and experience level
Is this your first project, or are you a pro? Would you consider yourself a beginner, intermediate or advanced? What’s your skill level? You can build your authority. Talk about your opt-in rate, conversion rate, ROI, and some get case studies together.
7. Confidence and experience in your skills
Consider how confident are you in your own ability to deliver results. You could launch your projects at $5K, but you’d put a lot more pressure on yourself to get results. The best way to gain experience in other aspects of marketing is to partner with someone who is an expert with a proven track record until you learn enough to get results on your own.
Packages and pricing
When you’re looking at how to price your services, you may want to consider package pricing, so you can provide your services at scale:
Packages can include:
- Upfront build fee + monthly maintenance (you run it all)
- Upfront build fee + monthly maintenance (tech support only – client manages customer live chat)
- Monthly maintenance only (roll your build fee into this – higher per month)
- Upfront build fee + yearly or monthly licensing fee upfront build fee + monthly maintenance only
- Training or consulting fee to train internal staff (one-off charge)
Keep all of this in mind next time you price your services and you’ll feel happier about the work you’re creating, and your client will respect and trust you even more.
👉 Need some personalised 1:1 help to land your next high-ticket client?
If you’re struggling to price your services, or looking for expert strategies to rebuff client objections, book a time for a one-hour workshop with me.
When we work together one-on-one, I’ll help you craft ready-to-go sales scripts to help you approach your client with confidence and clarity, so you can land that deal!
