In today's economy, it's easy to fear that you're
charging too much...or that you couldn't possibly
charge X. And, in some instances, you are probably
right - that the customer will only pay so much. But,
over this past year, I've had two experiences (and
heard of others having the same) that has taught me
to be less fearful!
Situation #1: Though I am a nationwide speaker,
earning thousands per keynote, I was asked to kick
off a weight loss program for about 350 participating
employees at a very large company. Knowing the
economy and realizing this wasn't my typical keynote
at a conference (but more like a brown bag seminar),
I reduced my fee and submitted my proposal.
When they called several weeks later to tell me they
were using someone else, I asked them who they
went with and
why...and it turned out they chose a pro football star
(who I
think we can all assume was charging way more than
me). So, it wasn't a money issue.
Situation #2: A restaurant chain asked me to submit a
flat-fee proposal for a project. While I can't give you all
the details, it was definitely within my scope of work.
Unfortunately, it was vague enough that without diving
into the project I didn't know how many hours it would
take.
But, I took my best guess and submitted a quote of $X
along
with a breakdown of what I would be doing (the scope
of the project). She called me back the very next day
and said that my breakdown of the scope was correct,
except she wanted me to also add one more task.
Then, she said, "And, for this project along with this
extra work, would you say $2X would be a reasonable
fee?"
What that told me was that 1) she had a better idea of
how lengthy the project would be and 2) I had
underbid based on perhaps what she had in her
budget for the project. Ouch!
What did I learn from these two experiences? Ask for
more details about the project entails. Always ask
your client what
their budget (or range) is for the project. Then, lastly,
discuss your idea of an appropriate quote, if possible,
over the phone...to judge their reception - and, to work
with them to resolve any discrepancies.
I hope all of you are members of the ADA Nutrition
Entrepreneurs (NE) practice group. If you're
not...please join now! It's easy to send out a request
on the NE listserve to get an idea of how much to
charge (you have to ask members to email you
privately since fees can not be discussed on the
listserve).
