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Nothing against spec work, but theres one thing I dont do, which is discounts. I'll either charge full price, or work for free, nothing in between. If you char

Nothing against spec work, but theres one thing I dont do, which is discounts. I'll either charge full price, or work for free, nothing in between. If you charge full price you're sufficiently motivated to do the work, if you work for free, you'll do the work if you feel like it and the client its likely to have no expectations. However if you work for a discount, the client has the same expectations as if they paid full price and you have less motivation to get the work done, which can lead to trouble.

lawnchair_larry 15y ago
Your motivation for discounted work is that you want them to come back and continue to give you work, and you want them to recommend you to others. Forest, trees, etc.
- TamDenholm 15y ago
  Problem is, the discounted work rate is what they'll expect every time they keep coming back.
  - itsnotvalid 15y ago
    Worse still, if you increase your price, they would not come back, which make the first discount even less useful.
    - zachinglis 15y ago
      That's not a problem with spec work. That's a problem with the company. If they are happy for your work, and not trying to short change you anyway, then they'll not complain.
  - alexqgb 15y ago
    And when they recommend you to others, they're sure to mention that you're "dirt cheap." The fact that you do really solid work will be cited as an extra added bonus.
- byrneseyeview 15y ago
  I know a company that did this. They found a big client, and did a small project at breakeven. Result: the client was impressed, so now one of their biggest clients is paying breakeven rates; factor in the cost of flying an account person out to the client's headquarters, dropping everything when they change their minds about something, etc., and it's a big drag on growth. Whenever I heard about this, I fantasized about being VP of marketing at basically any big company. Being on the other side of that transaction is surely a lot of fun.

lawnchair_larry 15y ago

Your motivation for discounted work is that you want them to come back and continue to give you work, and you want them to recommend you to others. Forest, trees, etc.

TamDenholm 15y ago
Problem is, the discounted work rate is what they'll expect every time they keep coming back.
- itsnotvalid 15y ago
  Worse still, if you increase your price, they would not come back, which make the first discount even less useful.
  - zachinglis 15y ago
    That's not a problem with spec work. That's a problem with the company. If they are happy for your work, and not trying to short change you anyway, then they'll not complain.
- alexqgb 15y ago
  And when they recommend you to others, they're sure to mention that you're "dirt cheap." The fact that you do really solid work will be cited as an extra added bonus.
byrneseyeview 15y ago
I know a company that did this. They found a big client, and did a small project at breakeven. Result: the client was impressed, so now one of their biggest clients is paying breakeven rates; factor in the cost of flying an account person out to the client's headquarters, dropping everything when they change their minds about something, etc., and it's a big drag on growth. Whenever I heard about this, I fantasized about being VP of marketing at basically any big company. Being on the other side of that transaction is surely a lot of fun.