How freelancers and contractors can charge better rates

All freelancers and contractors, including the many clients of Sherwin Currid’s (http://www.sherwincurrid.com) accountants in Surrey, want to be able to charge a lucrative, but nonetheless competitive rate. However, the question “what’s your fee?” has long proved a difficult one to answer for many such professionals, with certain mistaken beliefs needing to be combatted if they are to strengthen their hand in negotiations with prospective clients.

Often, in their anxiety to curry favour with the client in question, a freelancer will be too willing to provide a definite quote, instantly turning what could be an advantageous bargaining position into a passive interview – on which they are on the wrong side. Ultimately, all fees are negotiable, so rather than instantly pricing yourself out of the market with a price twice as much as what any client is willing to pay, you need to keep your options open while asking for more information. After all, the ultimate rate depends on the nature of the work to be undertaken. Savvier clients of a tax accountant in Surrey may even decide to stop having a rate – after all, as the business owner, there’s no obligation for you to have a single fee.

Any freelancer or contractor who quotes a certain price before suggesting that it is “negotiable” is already offering a discount, which in turn can suggest insecurity, so why quote so quickly at all? Instead, a freelancer benefitting from the services of a tax accountant in Surrey should keep asking questions, not least as this also keeps the emphasis firmly on the precise needs of the prospective client. You might ask questions about what it was about your CV that led them to contact you, the urgency of the assignment, who is helming the project, the location of the work and/or the exact expertise in which the client is presently deficient. All of these questions help you to strengthen your negotiating hand as you learn about the value of your skills.

In learning about this value, however, it is important not to lapse into a discussion of your CV and technical expertise, rather than exactly how the client’s needs relate to such experience and expertise. You need to be always talking about them rather than you. This, after all, shores up your position as the expert from whom the client is receiving advice.

You may also find that you can boost demand by suggesting a relative lack of availability, and therefore a choice on your part as to whether you can accept the project at all. Availability, after all, is not valued by needy clients quite like scarcity is. All in all, the client of one of Sherwin Currid’s (http://www.sherwincurrid.com) tax accountants in Surrey can maximise the rates that they achieve by focussing on how they can be valuable, rather than the value that they can command. By rehearsing their responses to common enquiries sufficiently, they will soon be invaluable to their clients.

Editor’s Note: Sherwin Currid (http://www.sherwincurrid.com) are represented by the search engine advertising and digital marketing specialists Jumping Spider Media. Email: info@jumpingspidermedia.co.uk or call: +44 (0)20 3070 1959 / +34 952 783 637.