Local Clients Wanting Everything For Free !

Yeah I get clients always asking for free stuff done to their site. I will do it if it is minor but if it takes more than like 30 minutes I will charge for it. Just gotta explain to them before hand that any additional work they want done will cost extra

Did you tell them that you will be charging that rate before you began your work?

I mean this in the nicest way. If 62 clients treat you like this, and that's all the clients you have...you are training them to treat you this way.


A couple guys here have just asked if the charges were spelled out. I always...always quote a price before I start work. If they call me, I always tell the the price however you calculate it) before I go out.


No offence, but if you just came out and didn't quote me a price, I would assume you are just doing me a favor...or that the service was included in what I was already paying you.

The misunderstanding is because you didn't make it clear.

I agree with Claude you are being unclear which is leading to these issues.

Be upfront with your customers about what you think it will cost. Business owners hate surprised like oh yeah here is a bill for $180.

This is why I tell my wife. Dont get to friendly with your clients. Sure you got to be nice but if they feel they have that "relationship" they will often times see how far it can go. There has to be some guidelines and I think that comes with the first meeting.

If you tell them we can "work something out" when stuff comes up that means anything is possible including free. It is just hard to get out of that mind set but think about it..When does our grocery store or a store you frequent make things free for you just because you say hi to them and are nice????

tac88,

You have received a lot of great advice here...

As for the referrals, I believe you are approaching it from the "wrong end"..... You are doing "free work" in the anticipation you'll get referrals... What I would do is "reward" your clients for a referral after you actually close the deal...

Take some time, sit down and work out a referral bonus plan... That way, you can casually mention it... If they are interested, give them the details... People love free "stuff"...

You could do that in a variety of ways....

Buy him a gift certificate to a nice restaurant.... Everyone loves free food....

Offer them a service of their choice for one month... This gives them a "sample" of your service... Which could easily lead to them deciding to keep it....

The important thing is you establish boundaries... They must directly correlate closed referrals to "cool" free stuff...

Now, it appears you are training them to provide sporadic referrals for lots of free work. Flip the script!

Take Care,

Rich Beck BCIP, MCSD, MCIS

If you are not setting expectations before work is started, then you are going to run in to problems because there is no way to align your expectations with your clients.

This can be done with contracts, pricing lists, or by just stating before you start the work how long you think it will take plus how much it will cost. Especially on these "rush right now" jobs, mentioning that since this is a rush job that the hour rate is X and if they are ok with that since it should take Y amount of time.

This used to happen to me until I started to use the words price, costs, amount etc etc in my vocabulary more often with clients. You do not have a big price board like a McDonald's nor do you have pricing stickers on items like a Walmart. So the only way clients know how much things cost and that they DO cost money, is to keep letting them know.

Also, do not "sometimes" let things slide in case of referrals. You need to work on your business/marketing plan to exactly define how things are done and what you are willing to pay/give in return for referrals. Doing it wishy washy will get you lots of headaches down the road.

I like your attitude...
But think ....If you are doing free work and getting referrals, what kind of referrals are you getting? Referrals expecting free work. You are building a clientele expecting free work.

You do a free job for one client, and he calls his friend "Man, I really recommend this guy. He even does a lot of the work for free. And he's always there when I need him...for free".

That's why you are having problems.

You can be accommodating, but not for free. People expect to pay for your services. You are actually training them to deal with you in a new way.

Smile, say you'll show up right away, and say "My regular fee of (whatever) applies." or "I'll be right out. My fee for emergency service is (whatever). Is that agreed?"

Nobody will get angry. You won't lose any good clients.

If all your clients expect more of your time and extra services for free then you may be giving them the impression that you're a bit of a push-over, you may be coming across as too-nice-a-person to be taken seriously.

Be more assertive in pricing extra work and start showing them that it's a serious business.

They'll have more respect for you and your business when you train them on how you want you and the business to be treated.

"$185.00"... "$85.00" ..? Wait, is this serious?... What are these figures?

Look, your client wanted the service for free because he doesn't see the value in you or what you do and these laughable numbers do nothing to aid your cause.

So for goodness sake, stop this bottom feeding!

Forget this hourly B.S, if that's how you choose to live then you might as well get a 9-5. I mean, just imagine if you had been charging appropriate rates from day one... $15,000 for basic web design + $5000 for any extras. You certainly wouldn't need to "drop-everything" for one measly client - that, i can assure you.

This "do it myself" mentality needs to stop... Raise your rates TODAY! Pay a few scumbags to work their fingers to the bone for you ...get some marketing and I.T graduates on board, hire a graphics guy, get a sales team together and THEN see how many complaints about life you'd have..

My whole philosophy on life is, "if you are going do something, then go ALL IN!"... Right now, you're giving off a very lackluster-ish 'half-hearted' vibe.. I mean, the mere fact that you are out there making 'home visits' really makes your entire operation seem elementary, feeble and just a plain old waste of time. So, I am not surprised that your client failed to take you seriously.

The price you put out there, attracts it's equal in the form of clientele.. So at $185, you shouldn't expect anything more than your clients to use you as some kind of machine washable doormat.

The only advice I can offer you, is to raise your rates today... right now! Before it's too late.

- Adrian

I will tell you that people are people and no matter the industry it's our job as business owners to train our prospects how we want to be treated, how we bill, etc.

I found that in the first year or two of my business (not selling Offline to local businesses) people always wanted to haggle me down on price, get more than they paid for, or otherwise beat me up.

Once I realized I was the best around and started acting that way, from how I spoke to my scripts to my copy to my marketing materials, people stopped acting that way.

It's easy to blame the client and hard to remember that it is our job to control the relationship we have with our clients. If we aren't controlling it that leaves only one other person in the relationship who can control it. And if we allow the client to control the relationship life can get pretty tough.

I've said this before, but you set the tone, boundaries, and expectations for the whole life of your relationship with your clients during the sales process.

Being unclear and resorting to cheap prices, gets you clients that shall be a PITA and comes along tons of headaches. Doing free work or offering cheap rates, to get referrals only brings in poor quality clients (-most of the time-)

You gotta be firm on your offer and deals and stick with it. Be upfront about everything from day 1 and stay with it. By doing this, your client or potential client, knows what to expect and they can either take your proposed deal or hit the road...

I don't have many "offline" clients like most others here (most of my IM income comes from affiliate marketing/leadgen). But on the rare occasion I do meet someone in person to discuss what I can do for their business, I tell them up-front how much the meeting is going to cost them....and that's $300 for 1 hour.

If they decide to use my services, I'll credit $150 of that original $300 back towards whatever service of mine they select. If not, then it's thank you for the meeting, now give me my money!

• I know for sure that weeds out the tire-kicking PITAs.
• Keeps them from pumping you for free (yet valueable) information that they can run off and find a low-baller to implement or even DIY.
• And finally, it sets the tone for how I do business. As Rus Sells so eloquently put it in another thread "It's my way or the highway!"

tac88

From reading your post do you just do websites? If so that is the problem - its a commodity. If you do OFFLINE marketing the conversation should be a totally different conversation. It should not be about service fulfillment but about the value of each new client that has exposure to their business and leads that are generated from that exposure.

When the conversation shifts to that, then you are much more easily able to charge more and the clients is eager for you to start right away if you do not have a back log of work.

The point .... having 62 clients that bitch and complain and only pay small amounts versus 20 clients that pay $1,000/month and are excited about any conversation you have with them and how can they pay more to get more.

So the question is how are you presenting your service and setting the expectation. And what is the life-time value of their client.

All this said I am not sure what you offer, but if it includes a wider array of services than websites this could apply to you.

Ideally charge for EVERYTHING.

Then when you don't charge it's going to be a big deal for
your clients.

At its core your clients should be valuing your time and
expertise and they should expect to pay for it.

So don't disappoint them or make them wonder about the
value of your service by not charging them.

Every time you charge and every time they pay it reaffirms
in their mind the value of your service.

Especially if, at some point in the process, you invest a few
minutes in explaining to them the dollar value of what you're
charging for.


If all your clients are treating you like they should be getting
your services free then you need to work harder on your
posture and and building the value of your service and your
expertise in every interaction you have with them.

You're not doing yourself or your clients any favors by not
charging them.

Also the MORE you charge the more they'll value your services.

It sounds crazy but your best clients are almost always the ones
who pay you premium fees.

Kindest regards,
Andrew Cavanagh

I know exactly what you mean and as a few people have already said, I always make it clear before working with anyone that all additional work/services will be billed at a stated hourly rate.