Shall I tell my clients what my hourly rate is?

I’m not sure if I should put my hourly rate on my site or not (and most importantly, why).

I’m just afraid that people will be turned off by it (even though it’s very reasonable). They’re just not used to being charged by hour, even though I tend to be much cheaper than others in my field.

What are your thoughts on this? I’ve searched the forum and couldn’t find anything related

You know your business best. The answer depends on the message you want to send with your website, who you are trying to reach, etc.

No, don’t post your hourly rate, ever. It’s a no-win situation as I have tested both methods. You’re either too cheap for some or too expensive for others when they see the numbers. Just get them to contact you, get them on the phone somehow, and after you’ve demonstrated your professionalism on the phone and showcased your experience, you can tell them your hourly rate.

But, then, the kicker is tell them that no one just hires you by the hour but instead they get “prepaid blocks of time at a discount.”

Works every time for the sale AND you get paid up front. I’ve been doing it that way for 12 years. I’d say it’s pretty proven.

Thanks a lot lerxtjr. Valuable advice. I appreciate it. :slight_smile:

I never give hourly rate nor charge by the hour, you just give the cost of the job and tell the client, I agree with lerxtjr it is effective.

hope this helps

helen

What business are you in? Instead of putting hourly rates, maybe you can offer different packages to your customers. Perhaps put a low price on the most basic package, then ask them to email you for quotation for higher packages.

If the price is a selling point in your favor, then list your price, but be aware that it limits your flexibility when it comes to pricing something. However, most people do not want to compete on price – it becomes a race to the bottom – so they don’t list it and use their conversation with potential clients to determine the best price to sell their wares.

‘Flexibility in pricing’ is only of value when you are bending your prices for clients. For struggling businesses that could be a good thing. For established businesses with lots of good clients, it’s a time waster.

Unless you’re doing value-based pricing, which works better for good clients and established businesses.

I don’t. But some think it’s the best thing since sliced bread.

That’s a good point. Price war is really undesirable and is a lose-lose situation.

Oh no not this again!

Yes, hopefully not. But one size rarely fits all either. Except for Snuggies, it seems.

Show your clients the cost of your service/product after you have shown them the value of your service/product. And in most cases, don’t price yourself on hourly rates(higher or lower, don’t price yourself). :wink:

When you price yourself, you end up with two bad situations. 1- Not getting quality customers. 2-Limiting yourself to make good profits.

I have tested that for 10 years. And I know what I am saying.

~Mike

Sometimes one size fits that vast, vast majority. The ‘value-based’ debate has happened so many times on this forum, but I have yet to see a REAL example of it working (working = routinely used for a legit, profitable business)

[QUOTE=wihee;4427684]When you price yourself, you end up with two bad situations. 1- Not getting quality customers. 2-Limiting yourself to make good profits./QUOTE]

When you say not to ‘price yourself’ are you saying that you should only do per-project pricing?

If the service/product is repetitive( I mean the same in size, quality, quantity, etc…) you can simply make packages.

And not to say " I do charge you $X by the hour." Just make your calculations private and just put the price to the service/product package. Not on yourself. :wink: follow me now?

Yea, and I would certainly agree with you. However, your perspective really relates to distinct services that are repeatable or can be productized. If you provide a routine service that can be priced abstractly, definitely an hourly rate is just a distraction to the client.

However, if you are pricing based on changing estimates and moving targets, hourly rates can be very effective.

Aswel, how do you count the hours for yourself?
Do you time everything as work or not? For example, you’re scripting something and you want to search for something you’re not sure about. You take a book and read about it, forum or read a tutorial to educate yourself about the problem in your script.
Does this self-education while scripting count aswel as time that your customer should pay?
Because normally it should be something that you have to know and the customer should only pay you for the work you do, not the self-study you’re doing.