Getting paid what you're worth

Later this week we'll be posting highlights from our latest Coffee Break conference call on Money Management last Thursday, but in the meantime.....I got this message from a client about lessons she's learned in the past year and wanted to pass it along in case others are in a similar boat....

Thanks again for a great coffee break talk! I really connected with the part about choosing clients that can pay you and where to find them.

I was thinking back on my experience last year with the director of a museum in California. I followed all the right steps:

• I went to an event, introduced myself and got his card.
• I called him after to thank him for the event and offer my services.
• I sent him samples of my work.
• He called me for a meeting, which went beautifully.
• He asked me to create a proposal to design an online store
• I asked about a budget but couldn't get a definite answer. I knew it would be low but pursued because I wanted to break in to this industry. And I like them. (this was my big mistake)
• They love my proposal. It's so clear, full of ideas and exactly what they need. Only they can't afford it.
• I reduce my fee about 20%, but it's not low enough.
• They go with someone who volunteers their services at a dirt cheap rate.
• My contact says he'll keep me in mind for small projects like postcards, which he can pay about $200 for.

Through recommendations and my own pursuit, last year I met a lot potential clients with too little money and very little or no experience working with design firms - there's A LOT of them out there. And I'm done working for them. It's not just because of the money, but my experience. I am capable of so much more than I get to do with a tiny project.

This year I've changed two of my mistakes. Now I ask about the money. And if it's too low, I pass.

However, this hasn't resolved the frustration of pursuing someone and then finding out they're not a good fit. I know it's part of the process and also a reflection of poor choices on my part. Even with research it's not always clear who has good budgets and experience working with design firms. It seems like a numbers game.

The bottom line - if I want  bigger paying clients with bigger projects, then I need a regular freelancer or staff to share the work load. I know this because I had this once before. The time I had a full time freelancer was my most profitable 2 years of biz. But since then I haven't found a full time freelancer or enough regular high paying biz to support it. And so here I am.

Comments

[Mark Silver]

Sounds like a really frustrating experience. Something that I've seen is that people who have low budgets- they have low budgets because it equals the level of trust/connection they have with you.

Even with a series of follow-ups and well-done meeting, it still hasn't created a depth of intimacy, connection, trust and safety that that client is going to need for a significant project. And yet, I bet you could easily make a rational case that if they spent the money it would be worth it to them financially and otherwise, right?

The issue, I believe, is building trust. And trust takes awhile to build. I wonder instead of going for the big proposal, if there is some sustainable way for you to not only stay in contact, but to be generous, through articles/information/etc to someone like that.

After three contacts within the space of a month he's ready to spend $200.

Perhaps in a year, after 12-14 contacts he might be ready to spend $2-$4K.

It happens all the time. The main issue is creating a sustainable, heart-felt way to keep that connection up, other than personal phone calls.

What do you think of my opinion, Ilise, Colleen, Peleg?

[Colleen Wainwright]

Some excellent points, Mark (as usual).

I think there must always be exceptions to the rule, and I agree that it's great to cultivate relationships, both for work farther out (what could be considered "selfish" motives) and because it's a wonderful thing to do (what are usually called altruistic motives.)

But this assumes a couple of things:

1) you are really "vibing" (cringes at use of hippie, 1960s word) with the person

2) you are not giving more than you can give, in terms of time and money, right now

I'm in the process of developing some articles on "evergreen" topics--those questions I seem to get over and over again, that I'd like to help people with, but don't have the time to repeat each time. That's something I can give anyone who's interested.

When it comes to more personalized information and contact, the waters are trickier to navigate. There are only so many hours in a day, and even if we relish the prospect of working with a particular client, we still have to make sure that the process of getting there--or not--isn't a burden.

Bottom line: I agree with the central idea you put forth in your last paragraph. And I think you do a terrific job of offering information that is both helpful and keeps the lines of communication open.

But I also believe that in the short term, you have to have a way of quickly sorting between "now" and "long-term". It sounds like that is what Ilise's contact is struggling with right now.

[Ilise Benun]

I disagree with Mark because there are lots of clients out there who will never have the money to pay what you need no matter how deep the level of trust. So I would suggest focusing on building trust with those who are in the same financial ballpark. And figuring out who they are means addressing the budget issue up front.

[Deborah Savadra]

"So I would suggest focusing on building trust with those who are in the same financial ballpark. And figuring out who they are means addressing the budget issue up front."

One of the ways I filter out suspected tirekickers is to require them to fill out a project intake questionnaire before the project scope conference call. It's (almost) gotten to the point where I can sniff these people out by the questions they ask during our first conversation.

[Lea Ann Hutter]

Deborah, I like the questionnaire approach. What kind of reaction have you, or others who use this tool, received from potential clients? Do they resist the work involved with filling out a form? Do they prefer answering these questions in a conversation?

[Jezra Kaye]

Deborah, I would also like to know more about your questionnaire. What kinds of things do you ask?

On the issue at hand, I also think you have to pick and choose who to develop (or at least, for what situations). Every time I've dealt with a client who didn't know their budget up front, I've gotten burned--and some of those have been large companies that theoretically had lots of dollars to spend. My take-away is: If they haven't thought carefully about what they're willing to spend, they haven't truly committed to doing this project.

[Dani Nordin]

I have to agree with a lot of the points here, and add something that doesn't seem to be addressed: the power of positive thinking. It sounds hippieish I know, but there's a big difference in the way that you communicate, and the way that you present yourself, when you're focused on getting work that pays well and you're taking your focus away from the folks with unrealistic budgets.

I had a really stressful beginning to my year because I was very focused on all these folks I was spending time doing proposals for who turned me down because they didn't want to spend the money. Sometime around the middle of February, I decided to just stop focusing on what I DIDN'T want, and start focusing on what I DID.

Now, for every cheapskate I end up dealing with, there's at least 1 client that is more than happy to pay me what I am worth, and people in the same exact demographic I was finding all the cheapskates in - solo entrepreneurs who were either starting their business or needed to take it to the next level - were actually FINDING A WAY to pay me what I quoted because they knew I was worth it.