What do you do when you've put forward your (reasonable) price pitch for a branding job and get radio silence?
My mind is telling me i'm not worth the amount I quoted but my gut is telling me to stop being a pushover. I'm 4 hours from sending an email discussing a revised quote - please help me justify my worth!
Replies12
- Hey Elspeth, how did this turn out? I agree with @Vikki Ross, BUT would say that it doesn't hurt to follow–up after a week or two asking for any updates and mentioning you're happy to talk the numbers over and explain what they can get out of your quote in terms of service etc. Then, if you don't hear back, you can move on.
- Hi Elspeth,Agree in all input below.I would only add that if they ask you to re-consider your quotation you raise some key questions to evaluate that accurately: you need to understand the project expectations, its nature, process, etc. and see IF you can do any adjustments without compromising quality.Also bear in mind that you can work around their budget and offer what you consider fair in terms of time & dedication, as long as it does not affect the quality work and you will still meet both yours and the client standards.Negotiation is like a dance when you are both spinning around at different rythms, so hold your breath, be patient and never take it personally: there are many context you are missing especially when you work as a freelance or external contractor.Hope this helps,
- +1 to what @Vikki Ross said
- Hi there, usually radio silence from a client is a message that (a) you were a make-weight in a price-bid and your role was to be a price-comparison or tick-box exercise for their governance, (b) they were doing an ideas trawl or (c) you're dealing with an amateur. Hold your nerve, don't proactively send them a revised quote unless they ask for it & wait and see. If you haven't heard in a reasonable amount of time ('reasonable' being dictated by the deadlines for delivery) I'd call them and ask cheerily how it's going.
- Wait. Not hearing back is not always a reflection on you. They're busy. They're navigating WFH. They're homeschooling. They're doing all sorts of things that have kept them away from their emails. I'm not saying that's right - you deserve a response, but not getting one doesn't mean you did something wrong.Or let it go. Not everyone gets back to everyone. Amazingly, we're all in the business of communications but most people are pretty rubbish at communicating. You may never hear back from them - and this will happen again and again and again - so you have to be able to let it go.Don't use time and energy worrying about something you can't control. Do use time and energy looking ahead - often things not happening make way for better things happening.
- Hi Elspeth.Sleep on it! For now no news is still good news.Give the problem a little space to breathe. You might want to get the project locked-in... especially if your project pipeline has a few holes in it... trust me we’ve all been there.But radio silence can mean so many different things... your potential client could be fighting fires their end and not had a chance to take a proper look.This in no way is a formula for success but before even thinking about undercutting yourself try this...After three days a super quick check-in ‘hey... I didn’t hear back from you, I am just checking to see if you received my proposal?’If you don’t here anything maybe wait another five working days, you dont want to harass them (even if you are really counting on this project to come in)...The next one is a tough one. Really, those two nudges should be enough for the client to get back to you... even just to say ‘yes we’ve received it’ with feedfack or they need time to decide... But if you hear nothing wait maybe another week, week and a half at which point send a super polite email saying something along the lines of ‘Hi, we didn’t hear back from you... its a shame as it sounded like a lovely project to work on, I’m going to guess you’ve gone in a different direction, all the best with the project!’... sometimes just this last moment of kindness can breathe life into a conversation.Sidebar... always charge 50% up front for new clients... *especially* for clients who seemed a little flaky at the proposal stage!
- Thanks @Lauren Stephenson @Kerry Curl @Huseyin Gunduzler and @Gemma Champ for your advice. I am in need of the work so my response back was an enthusiastic but business 'looking forward to starting on your project, let me know if you'd like to discuss my previous email'. I have a bit of wiggle room and have also been advised by @Alice Murray that I could ask what her budget is and offer something that works with that (maybe its just the logo and go from there) or negotiate assets other than money i.e. % of sales in future.
- I usually assume it means they aren't interested anymore but they could have negotiated if they were interested and you'd rather not work with a company if they give you silence! There will always be another job who will communicate better :)
- This is forever a tricky one but I always worry that if I go back with a voluntary revised quote then it shows I wasnt pricing properly the first time, if that makes sense. Can you send a 'just checking you got my email' asking if they had any questions/any other thoughts they have on the project? Have you done anything similar recenly that you can send some images, link too? Be enthusiastic about the brief and check on timelines ?(if you don't know them already)Just thoughts, not a concrete plan to success!
- If you got enough work and finance coming in, on the next one. If not then just explain that the value you'll create is worth £X amount and if they can't afford it either propose them a payment plan and if they're not budging then just on to the next one.
- @Gemma Champ Argh, apologies for the terrible spelling/grammar situation. Fat fingers meet autocorrect!
- Ugh I’ve just had this, and was being promised the brief would come through on Monday and then when they finally got round to the day rate (I’ve worked there before so they know my rate), I know led £50 off for them and then silence. I followed up with an email - more silence - and have now assumed they’ve gone for someone cheaper. I’ve come to expect it. I wish people would communicate though, especially now, when we’re all on edge - it’s terrible for your general well-being to be constantly hoping and constantly let down.
You must sign up or log in before you
add a comment.