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Quoting high avoids awkward discussions and filters undesirable clients. It beats saying: "I don't want to work with you because you're an arsehole" or "I find

by Veen 5y ago

Quoting high avoids awkward discussions and filters undesirable clients. It beats saying: "I don't want to work with you because you're an arsehole" or "I find your project excessively boring". As a freelance copywriter, I do it all the time. I get lots of offers from people and companies I don't want to work for, so I quote them an amount I suspect they won't want to pay. > Do you want the "difficult client" to walk around to other prospects, warning them about how you tried to scam them with an outrageous price? It's not a scam. Freelance contracts specify an agreement between me and a client. I can charge whatever I like and they can say no—everything is transparent. I'm not obligated to charge the industry average. In fact, I also vary my price depending on the client: a big tech company gets a bigger bill than a small local business, for example. > are you hoping that they might accept your outrageous price No. I just don't want to work with them. Also, it's not unusual for attractive clients to back out because they don't want to pay my normal rates—they're on the high end for the industries I work with. But that's not a scam either; I charge what the market will bear and I have no shortage of work (just the opposite).

baobabKoodaa 5y ago
> Quoting high avoids awkward discussions and filters undesirable clients. It beats saying: "I don't want to work with you because you're an arsehole" or "I find your project excessively boring". There are ways of turning down projects without being insulting, and without offering outrageously high quotes. For example, you can say "I'm spread out too thin with all my other projects right now, sorry". > It's not a scam. Freelance contracts specify an agreement between me and a client. I can charge whatever I like and they can say no—everything is transparent. I'm not obligated to charge the industry average. This is your opinion, not the opinion of the "difficult client" that you're presenting the quote to. If you offered me a quote that is outrageously expensive, I will assume you are trying to scam me, and I will tell other people that you tried to scam me. Now, my question to you is, is it a desirable outcome for you to have a "difficult client" going around telling everybody that you're trying to scam people? Yes, you have your opinion that you didn't try to scam them, but they'll be going around telling people you tried to scam them nonetheless. To me it seems like this outcome should be avoided when possible. > Also, it's not unusual for attractive clients to back out because they don't want to pay my normal rates—they're on the high end for the industries I work with. But that's not a scam either; I charge what the market will bear and I have no shortage of work (just the opposite). Offering a rate that you believe the market will pay is distinctly different from offering an outrageously high rate that you believe the market will not pay.
- watt 5y ago
  I think it's valuable to send the message to the prospect that "I don't want to work with you". It sure beats out right lie like "I'm spread out too thin" when you are not, you just don't want to work with an asshole client.
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  - sciprojguy 5y ago
    "I'm spread too thin" isn't an actual lie as much as it's a reframing. Working with difficult people can take a lot of mental energy, which ought to be considered part of the work effort. It's the polite way of saying "I don't have the bandwidth to do the work and manage my way around your issues, so best of luck finding someone who does have that bandwidth" the same way that "Thank you for your input" is a polite way (in the business world) of saying "That was the dumbest thing I have heard all day".
    - varjag 5y ago
      Well quoting outrageously isn't a lie either, it's just a way of saying "you're not going to pay me enough to deal with you".
- Veen 5y ago
  > If you offered me a quote that is outrageously expensive, I will assume you are trying to scam me, and I will tell other people that you tried to scam me. I’m sure some of these people do react this way. They are, after all, assholes. That’s why I didn’t want to work with them in the first place. I can’t deny that it’s a possibility, but it doesn’t seem to have have resulted in any reputation issues.
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by Veen 5y ago

baobabKoodaa 5y ago

> Quoting high avoids awkward discussions and filters undesirable clients. It beats saying: "I don't want to work with you because you're an arsehole" or "I find your project excessively boring". There are ways of turning down projects without being insulting, and without offering outrageously high quotes. For example, you can say "I'm spread out too thin with all my other projects right now, sorry". > It's not a scam. Freelance contracts specify an agreement between me and a client. I can charge whatever I like and they can say no—everything is transparent. I'm not obligated to charge the industry average. This is your opinion, not the opinion of the "difficult client" that you're presenting the quote to. If you offered me a quote that is outrageously expensive, I will assume you are trying to scam me, and I will tell other people that you tried to scam me. Now, my question to you is, is it a desirable outcome for you to have a "difficult client" going around telling everybody that you're trying to scam people? Yes, you have your opinion that you didn't try to scam them, but they'll be going around telling people you tried to scam them nonetheless. To me it seems like this outcome should be avoided when possible. > Also, it's not unusual for attractive clients to back out because they don't want to pay my normal rates—they're on the high end for the industries I work with. But that's not a scam either; I charge what the market will bear and I have no shortage of work (just the opposite). Offering a rate that you believe the market will pay is distinctly different from offering an outrageously high rate that you believe the market will not pay.

watt 5y ago
I think it's valuable to send the message to the prospect that "I don't want to work with you". It sure beats out right lie like "I'm spread out too thin" when you are not, you just don't want to work with an asshole client.
- deleted 5y ago
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- sciprojguy 5y ago
  "I'm spread too thin" isn't an actual lie as much as it's a reframing. Working with difficult people can take a lot of mental energy, which ought to be considered part of the work effort. It's the polite way of saying "I don't have the bandwidth to do the work and manage my way around your issues, so best of luck finding someone who does have that bandwidth" the same way that "Thank you for your input" is a polite way (in the business world) of saying "That was the dumbest thing I have heard all day".
  - varjag 5y ago
    Well quoting outrageously isn't a lie either, it's just a way of saying "you're not going to pay me enough to deal with you".
Veen 5y ago
> If you offered me a quote that is outrageously expensive, I will assume you are trying to scam me, and I will tell other people that you tried to scam me. I’m sure some of these people do react this way. They are, after all, assholes. That’s why I didn’t want to work with them in the first place. I can’t deny that it’s a possibility, but it doesn’t seem to have have resulted in any reputation issues.

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