Its About More Than Money: are you charging what youreworth?
| Category: Home Based Business - Finance | Date: 2003-06-18 |
Last April I had a surreal experience with a popular womens magazine I used to write for.
An editorial assistant emailed me: "Sorry about not getting back to you sooner about article X. Wed like to publish it. What are your rates?"
My eyes lit up. "Money. You beauty," I thought. I may have chortled aloud. Possibly I danced a jig around my crowded office.
Unseemly glee, you think. Youre right. I remembered that the check hadnt cleared the bank and focused on the task at hand. Negotiation.
I hit the Reply button.
Then my fingertips stilled on the keyboard. Eh? What did she mean, what are my rates? They know what my rates are. My rates are exactly the same as theyve been since 1995. Or 1992. Theyre what this publishing conglomerate pays. Theyre standard across all the magazines they own. Theyre going up, the editors promise. Next month. Next year. When hell freezes over.
What the heck. I typed happily, already deciding what I could buy with the money. Printer cartridges. Dog worming tablets. Maybe a new pair of jeans, even. "Your usual rates are fine. You paid me $X for the 800 word Christmas article."
So a week later the assistant emails me to say theyre not publishing the piece. They cant afford my rates.
Well praise the lord and pass the ammunition. The rates arent going up. Theyre going down.
That day I decided that I was out of the magazine writing business.
In the magazine writing business, I was a price taker. I decided to saddle up for the happy hunting ground of copywriting, where I was a price maker.
= Charging what youre worth
How much are you worth? You cant stay in business if you dont know. (If youre unsure how to set your basic prices, read Elena Fawkners piece on the Web site, the URLs below in Additional Resource.)
However, theres more to pricing than setting your basic prices. If you have years of experience, offer fast turnaround, and are prepared to handle jobs on weekends, and overnight, you can charge more.
What if you up your rates, and your clients wont pay your increased prices? I promise you, if you up the price to what youre honestly worth (and you know this, you must, if youve been at your trade for any time at all) and you lose clients, you would have lost them anyway.
Who knows why clients bail? Paradoxically, Ive lost clients when I lowered my fees, never when I upped them. Go figure. Maybe they thought my services were worth less because I charged less. The reason I lowered my fees was always because I liked that particular client, and wanted to do them a good turn. Which proves the adage that no good deed goes unpunished.
Nowadays Im tempted to up my rates if I like working for a particular client.
== Value adding--- your secret weapon, the proposal
A diamond is worth more than a lump of coal: you can charge more if you deliver more.
Proposals are my favorite value-adding tool. If you can see an area where the client needs some input, why not create a proposal?
Proposals cost little: maybe a couple of hours of research, and an hour to write. Theyre a supreme goodwill gesture. They show the client that youve been thinking about his business.
The worst that can happen is that the client says no.
If youre unsure about how to write a proposal, type "writing a proposal" into any search engine for loads of resources.
So, are you a price taker, or a price maker? If youre unhappy with what youre being paid, it will show in your work. For that reason, you must work out a pricing strategy youre happy with. And stick with it.
== Additional Resource
If youre a newly independent creative, or want to brush up on your pricing skills, check out :
http://www.digital-e.biz/articles.html
This is Elena Fawkners excellent piece called: "Pricing Yourself to Get and Stay In Business".
Copyright (c) 2002 by Angela Booth
About the author.***Resource box: if using, please include***
*Article Use Guidelines*
Use in opt-in publications, or on Web sites, but please include
the resource box. If you could send a copy to me at email
address: ab@digital-e.biz , I appreciate it. Many thanks.
**
When your words sound good, you sound good. Author and copywriter Angela Booth crafts words for your business --- words to sell, educate or persuade.
ab@digital-e.biz
http://www.digital-e.biz/
An editorial assistant emailed me: "Sorry about not getting back to you sooner about article X. Wed like to publish it. What are your rates?"
My eyes lit up. "Money. You beauty," I thought. I may have chortled aloud. Possibly I danced a jig around my crowded office.
Unseemly glee, you think. Youre right. I remembered that the check hadnt cleared the bank and focused on the task at hand. Negotiation.
I hit the Reply button.
Then my fingertips stilled on the keyboard. Eh? What did she mean, what are my rates? They know what my rates are. My rates are exactly the same as theyve been since 1995. Or 1992. Theyre what this publishing conglomerate pays. Theyre standard across all the magazines they own. Theyre going up, the editors promise. Next month. Next year. When hell freezes over.
What the heck. I typed happily, already deciding what I could buy with the money. Printer cartridges. Dog worming tablets. Maybe a new pair of jeans, even. "Your usual rates are fine. You paid me $X for the 800 word Christmas article."
So a week later the assistant emails me to say theyre not publishing the piece. They cant afford my rates.
Well praise the lord and pass the ammunition. The rates arent going up. Theyre going down.
That day I decided that I was out of the magazine writing business.
In the magazine writing business, I was a price taker. I decided to saddle up for the happy hunting ground of copywriting, where I was a price maker.
= Charging what youre worth
How much are you worth? You cant stay in business if you dont know. (If youre unsure how to set your basic prices, read Elena Fawkners piece on the Web site, the URLs below in Additional Resource.)
However, theres more to pricing than setting your basic prices. If you have years of experience, offer fast turnaround, and are prepared to handle jobs on weekends, and overnight, you can charge more.
What if you up your rates, and your clients wont pay your increased prices? I promise you, if you up the price to what youre honestly worth (and you know this, you must, if youve been at your trade for any time at all) and you lose clients, you would have lost them anyway.
Who knows why clients bail? Paradoxically, Ive lost clients when I lowered my fees, never when I upped them. Go figure. Maybe they thought my services were worth less because I charged less. The reason I lowered my fees was always because I liked that particular client, and wanted to do them a good turn. Which proves the adage that no good deed goes unpunished.
Nowadays Im tempted to up my rates if I like working for a particular client.
== Value adding--- your secret weapon, the proposal
A diamond is worth more than a lump of coal: you can charge more if you deliver more.
Proposals are my favorite value-adding tool. If you can see an area where the client needs some input, why not create a proposal?
Proposals cost little: maybe a couple of hours of research, and an hour to write. Theyre a supreme goodwill gesture. They show the client that youve been thinking about his business.
The worst that can happen is that the client says no.
If youre unsure about how to write a proposal, type "writing a proposal" into any search engine for loads of resources.
So, are you a price taker, or a price maker? If youre unhappy with what youre being paid, it will show in your work. For that reason, you must work out a pricing strategy youre happy with. And stick with it.
== Additional Resource
If youre a newly independent creative, or want to brush up on your pricing skills, check out :
http://www.digital-e.biz/articles.html
This is Elena Fawkners excellent piece called: "Pricing Yourself to Get and Stay In Business".
Copyright (c) 2002 by Angela Booth
About the author.***Resource box: if using, please include***
*Article Use Guidelines*
Use in opt-in publications, or on Web sites, but please include
the resource box. If you could send a copy to me at email
address: ab@digital-e.biz , I appreciate it. Many thanks.
**
When your words sound good, you sound good. Author and copywriter Angela Booth crafts words for your business --- words to sell, educate or persuade.
ab@digital-e.biz
http://www.digital-e.biz/
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