Moving from hourly billing to fixed pricing

The Pricing Queen

In this episode:

• How to fix a price and still make money
• How to create boundaries with your client
• How to communicate new pricing structures with existing clients
• Don’t be afraid to outsource
• Price in less than 15 minutes!

Sally quashes the popular notion that fixed pricing means you won’t charge enough. Do you charge the client for the hours you’ve spent ‘thinking’ about the project? What about calls to the client – do you charge for those? Hourly billing can be messy and unpredictable, especially when the client doesn’t know how much they’re going to have to spend. It might take you longer than expected which could frustrate a client who was expecting to pay less. But invariably with any task you will always get quicker and more efficient at it and hourly billing will penalise this.

Sally recommends recording your time accurately for each element of your job so you can self-assess how long a project has takes you, allowing you to quote effectively for future jobs. Sally warns against diluting your value by doing lots more hours.

Sally explains how fixed pricing allows you to set clear boundaries with your client to prevent scope creep and manage expectations. Be clear about what your price includes (and if necessary, what it doesn’t!)

Sally recommends starting any new pricing structures with new clients and then introduce it to existing clients based on your existing knowledge of how long each client’s work takes. It’s ok to experiment with pricing, changing it as necessary with new clients until you get it right.

Be wary of other people’s money stories and don’t be afraid to put prices out there. Sally explains how the price could cast a reflection on the quality of the work that will be delivered, so don’t worry about cheap competitors.

Selected links from this episode

Connect with Sally on Instagram @thepricingqueen and on LinkedIn

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The Pricing Queen podcast is produced by Decibelle Creative