So I made a mistake…
A colleague reached out to me and needed a website for their business so that they could sell to customers online before the rapidly approaching Mother’s Day. I got a good grasp as to what they were looking to accomplish with the site and put in the hours to learn new things about WordPress as I was building their e-commerce site (such as how to use WooCommerce), worked with them to fill it with content, got their site launched before the holiday, but we forgot to discuss one important thing…
“HOW MUCH IS THIS GOING TO COST?”
Early on I was asked this question and I said that we would address it later after I understood better what they were looking for, and when approached again I was told to bill “whatever you think is fair,” words that when you hear should send you into clarity seeking mode. But I didn’t put more thought into it until I had already begun creating the site and ultimately it was ready to go live.
I knew that the conversation was inevitable, so I set a meeting with the client to discuss the topic postmortem. As I expected, their budget in mind was less than my budget in mind – something that could have easily been negotiated early on… but at this point, it was time to salvage the situation. I agreed to discount my services for the error on my part and was still able to recover more than their original counteroffer. I made sure to create an official proposal and was able to maintain my relationship with the client for future work that will absolutely be outlined and communicated clearly.
Don’t make the same mistake I did when you are getting started with freelance work, create a proposal after talking with your client, and be sure to clearly communicate expectations before you begin the work.
Does anyone else have any sales horror stories?
testacr22