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Potential first client - unsure of what to charge

by Scott Kennedy
12 replies
I have a potential first client, a national franchise of Restaurants with just under 20 franchisees. I contacted them about a redesign of their site (made in 1999..) and they were quite interested. I quoted the redesign at $697 with an additional $200 if they want professional photos of their dishes. However, my dilemma lies with social marketing.

This restaurant chain gets an insane amount of local searches per month (talking 4000+ EXACT for the name) and there's already 600+ people who have liked an unofficial fan page and 120 people who have "checked in". I explained the benefits of setting up a facebook page and putting an autoresponder on the site in order to have customers participate and stay loyal to the chain.

I'm thinking of charging $1200 per month to manage the FB page, autoresponder series in addition to updating all the Places pages. I feel like I'm lowballing myself with this figure and have $2200 in mind, but for some reason I'm uneasy about pitching this amount to the head office. This is my first client and I don't want to blow my residual income by suggesting too much but then again I don't want to lower the value of my time.

What price would you guys charge in the same circumstances? Considering the average person spends $28 at the restaurant and I would only have to acquire 78 new customers a month or create incentives for 78 people to visit more often in order for the company to break even. Considering they are nation wide, it seems like a reachable figure to obtain. But I'm still uneasy for some reason.

EDIT - I should also mention that the head office is in another state. I initially contacted the marketing director via email and we have subsequently spoken on the phone twice regarding the redesign. So a face to face meeting is out of the question.
#charge #client #potential #unsure
  • Profile picture of the author aaron_nimocks
    I would start off small and work your way up until you are comfortable pitching a higher price. Also you can measure how much people are willing to pay this way.
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  • Profile picture of the author akazo
    Originally Posted by Scott Kennedy View Post

    I have a potential first client, a national franchise of Restaurants with just under 20 franchisees. I contacted them about a redesign of their site (made in 1999..) and they were quite interested. I quoted the redesign at $697 with an additional $200 if they want professional photos of their dishes. However, my dilemma lies with social marketing.

    This restaurant chain gets an insane amount of local searches per month (talking 4000+ EXACT for the name) and there's already 600+ people who have liked an unofficial fan page and 120 people who have "checked in". I explained the benefits of setting up a facebook page and putting an autoresponder on the site in order to have customers participate and stay loyal to the chain.

    I'm thinking of charging $1200 per month to manage the FB page, autoresponder series in addition to updating all the Places pages. I feel like I'm lowballing myself with this figure and have $2200 in mind, but for some reason I'm uneasy about pitching this amount to the head office. This is my first client and I don't want to blow my residual income by suggesting too much but then again I don't want to lower the value of my time.

    What price would you guys charge in the same circumstances? Considering the average person spends $28 at the restaurant and I would only have to acquire 78 new customers a month or create incentives for 78 people to visit more often in order for the company to break even. Considering they are nation wide, it seems like a reachable figure to obtain. But I'm still uneasy for some reason.

    EDIT - I should also mention that the head office is in another state. I initially contacted the marketing director via email and we have subsequently spoken on the phone twice regarding the redesign. So a face to face meeting is out of the question.
    This is a common theme on this board, "how much do you think I can get?" Like it is some kind of game with a big prize at the end. Figure out how much time you think it will take you, add a little buffer because most people underestimate, and then calculate how much you would like to make per hour at fair and competitive rates. It really is that simple.

    Some people don't want to work for less than $100 per hour and some will work for $50 (just examples, you might want nothing less than $200 or might be happy with $20, it is only you not some stranger on the internet that can make that choice for you). Since it is your first major client and it would be an excellent reference, I would suggest you pick a number that is on the low end of what you are willing to work for, but only you can pick that number.

    And forget about the stories you read on this forum from people saying that they are get "5 bazillion" dollars a month doing such and such. I'm not saying that people are exaggerating, but if the stories are true, then they are mostly exceptions. Don't think you can set your rates based on wild claims from strangers on an internet forum.

    Bottom line, pick a number that reflects value to both you and the customer. If they accept great, if not, you didn't want to be an indentured servant just to get the account anyways, right?
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    • Profile picture of the author www_retireonme_com
      Originally Posted by akazo View Post

      This is a common theme on this board, "how much do you think I can get?" Like it is some kind of game with a big prize at the end. Figure out how much time you think it will take you, add a little buffer because most people underestimate, and then calculate how much you would like to make per hour at fair and competitive rates. It really is that simple.

      Some people don't want to work for less than $100 per hour and some will work for $50 (just examples, you might want nothing less than $200 or might be happy with $20, it is only you not some stranger on the internet that can make that choice for you). Since it is your first major client and it would be an excellent reference, I would suggest you pick a number that is on the low end of what you are willing to work for, but only you can pick that number.

      And forget about the stories you read on this forum from people saying that they are get "5 bazillion" dollars a month doing such and such. I'm not saying that people are exaggerating, but if the stories are true, then they are mostly exceptions. Don't think you can set your rates based on wild claims from strangers on an internet forum.

      Bottom line, pick a number that reflects value to both you and the customer. If they accept great, if not, you didn't want to be an indentured servant just to get the account anyways, right?



      This is a very good responce! I agree, you have to balance this situation. You will need some clients in the beginning to be able to show examples of what you are capable of to your new prospects. So, my idea would be this, Start offering just a partial service upfront, maybe just video marketing for them, or just handle one store's social marketing efforts, that way you will be able to showcase your abilities at that price and then you can upscale your retainer to handle all the stores as one. Make sure you leave yourself room to upcharge. Because that way if you are doing well with one location's marketing , you will make a good case to be able to charge more to handle more stores.

      I made a mistake once by shooting myself in the foot , by charging too low upfront, and then had a HARD time getting more out of my client. Therefore, all my clents from there were on a sliding scale, started off doing just a few things for them, that way as I added features to their account, I was able to charge more.

      Tommy
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    • Profile picture of the author warrior realm
      DITTO!

      Well said akazo!

      We've made the mistake in the past of low-balling a client just to get in the door. We quickly discovered that was a bad idea. Overworked and underpaid! Not anymore. Be careful who you crawl in bed with. And be sure you have an "out" if needed.
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  • Profile picture of the author Creativegirl
    Do you have a good plan for what you will provide for the $1200? And if so, did you build in a decent profit (or one you won't resent)? If so, stick with that number because a) it's profitable, b) you can upsell more services and c) you can probably outsource in a month or 2 and increase your profit margin. The benefits of a client like that can be exponential.

    On the other hand if the scope of services aren't well defined and you're not sure what your real profit margin will be then I'd consider bumping it up another $300-400 or build in some sort of performance increase.

    Congrats, I hope you get it.
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  • Profile picture of the author Zentech
    If you feel iffy about the higher price, then trust your instincts. Something's trying to tell you that quoting the higher price would be a mistake. That doesn't mean the client won't go for it - maybe they will. But if it doesn't feel right, don't do it.
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    • Profile picture of the author Hugh Thyer
      Make sure you spell out in your proposal exactly what you'll do for them, and why. This will make a higher price easier to justify because it's no longer a high price, it's great value.

      And make sure you're clear on what it's worth to you too. You don't want to begrudge doing the work for them every month because it's become uneconomical. However, for a first client it's OK to take a hit to get them on board.

      But remember three more important things.

      1. They're a big group, so $1,200 a month could be like small change for them.

      2. Price is probably not their #1 criteria for choosing someone to help them in this area

      3. You will not look overly professional if your quote is far lower than other prices they've been charged.
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  • Profile picture of the author jrod014
    IMO, break your services down in modules. Have a SEO module, social media marketing module, email marketing module etc.

    Then, like those stated before me, break everything down in your proposal. Then you can negotiate the pricing based on what modules you would sell them on.

    Might make it a little easier.

    Jerry
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    • Profile picture of the author Scott Kennedy
      Originally Posted by jrod014 View Post

      IMO, break your services down in modules. Have a SEO module, social media marketing module, email marketing module etc.

      Then, like those stated before me, break everything down in your proposal. Then you can negotiate the pricing based on what modules you would sell them on.

      Might make it a little easier.

      Jerry
      This is exactly what I have done today. After breaking everything down into modules, I outlined the expected time it would take to complete each task to show them the value of my time. Once the site is live, I will set my price at $1700 to allow for some negotiating but have calculated that it would not be worth my time to except anything less than $1300 a month.

      I have also included the approx. number of customers I would be able to obtain/make participate more in eating at their establishments. It comes out to 4 extra customers per month, per store for them to break even. That's 1 family a month. Extremely doable.

      Many thanks for all the tips. I'll keep this thread updated when I pitch my price.
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  • Profile picture of the author Diver's
    You are like another 'marketing officer' for their company's marketing department. Hiring a permanent stuff to do all the 'marketing' for their chains would cost them like $3,500 over in salary/incentives permonth. Having you as a consultant doing the same chores without them hiring you permanently, $1,200-$1,400 wouldnt sound that much. But you have to clearly spell out what kind of service they will get for that price, so you wont feel like youre dragging yourself to do stuff that youre underpaid.

    Tell them they are only investing $15k-16k peryear to get proper client management and sales advertising service and support for them managed by professionals on autopilot, for one year period that has potential of some $30k-$50k more profitable returns,

    I would agree with Jerry, in terms of creating modules and by giving them option in certain package. People want options and you can increase your bottom line from there.

    Shah
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  • Profile picture of the author Joshyybaxx
    it's simple.

    What do you need to survive? That's your base line.

    If it's your first client don't go too much higher than your base line if you know it'll work to your advantage and you can get more work from it down the track, build up experience then up the price each time as you go up
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    • Profile picture of the author AndrewCavanagh
      Work out what kind of fee you'd be thrilled to do the work for and make sure you get that amount of money upfront before you do anything.

      As a guideline for what you should charge most people don't charge enough starting out so you could start by working out what kind of fee you'd be thrilled to get paid doing the work and triple that as a starting figure.

      Remember that in most cases you charge 50% upfront for a project and charge any monthly fees a month in advance.

      So still stick to the first guideline of making sure that you get paid enough upfront that even if you never get paid another cent you're happy doing the work.

      Kindest regards,
      Andrew Cavanagh
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