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Comment by maxbrown | Hacker News Reader

The sites look really good - I think they warrant $40-50/hr.

You may want to consider offering multiple "packages" if you don't want to lose those clients. $3000/$40 = 75 hours... if you offer a package that's 25 or 50 hours, you can lower the price and maybe keep the client.

That said,

1. You have to set expectations clearly - if they're not paying for a $3k website, they're not getting a $3k website. (most people will still expect that quality even if they're paying less, for whatever reason) Be clear with them about what they're getting.

2. If you have enough work at that price, don't bother. My guess from you posting this is that you want their business.

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Yes, I'm not getting enough work, and 9 out of 10 people who contact me go elsewhere after hearing my prices, even though all of them love my designs.

The problem with the whole "packages" is that I don't do that. Most people who come to me just want a new design and aren't concern about whether it takes me 10 hours or a hundred. Like-wise I quote a fixed price and not an hourly rate, most being in the $3000-$3500 range.

Right - so what I'm saying is you may need to lower your end-product standards. There are certainly clients that will pay $3000-$3500, but many may only be able to afford $800-$1200 say. If you want their business, you need to be able to deliver a product for that budget. Unfortunately, it won't be as good - that's just the nature of it (that's why you have to be very upfront with clients). It doesn't have to go in your portfolio, just your bank account.

So 9/10 people come to you, most of the time you quote them $3000/$3500 irrespective of their budget and they walk away?

If you don't want to call them "packages", that's fine -- but if you're giving fixed-price quotes of $3000-$3500 irrespective of the client when all they really want/need is 10-20 hours of your time you might be doing yourself a disservice.

By the same token, if your experience tells you that you really need the 75 hours to do a good job for a client, then don't sell yourself short.

Maybe you need to ask your clients to clarify what their expectations are in terms of hours and incorporate that into your quotes?

Maybe you need to clarify that you can be flexible with the overall price in exchange for less time (e.g. maybe do fewer revisions, simpler designs, whatever -- I'm not really a design expert).

Or maybe it's time to start billing by the hour? :)

Of course, you may hold yourself to a high standard and feel that you require that much time to do a "good job" by your clients. That's fine too, but understand that's a business decision that will leave you with fewer clients.

Just my two cents, but hope it provides some food for thought.

Once a client gives me some specifics regarding their projects, I can estimate how much time it'll take, and I quote a fixed price based on that. In most cases my estimate is either spot on, or off by at most an hour.

The problem with offering a "lower price product" is that none of the clients want them, although it is possible that I simply haven't marketed it properly.

So they don't want a lower priced product, but they don't want the higher priced product either?

Confused now. :)

Is it the price or the outcome you're talking about here? I'm not talking about offering a "lower price product", I'm talking about offering your clients a little flexibility to suit their budget (while covering your own bases in terms of time spent on any project).

In any case, there's nothing to stop you from communicating that you're willing to discuss options on the quote if they're willing to make concessions wrt your time/revisions.

Maybe I'm just misunderstanding. Good luck all the same!

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