I generally don’t offer a discount but here are 5 occasions where I offer a discount and I think every freelancer should offer the same
I am never in favor of offering a discount as a freelancer. Rather I prefer to add more value to my services. However, it doesn’t mean you should never offer a discount. Here are 5 occasions where every freelancer should offer a discount for their services to clients.
So let’s see when I prefer to offer a discount.
1. Simple Requirements
Understand the complete requirement, what is needed, and how simple or complex it will be to implement. If you find things to be really simple and without much mental exhaustion, freelancers can offer a discount for their services.
I have seen that many developers estimate things assuming a lot of things. As for an international client who needs a payment gateway, they assume it to be PayPal which can be easily integrated over a local payment processor.
Understanding the requirement is half the battle won. You can easily estimate the amount of work or hours needed and depending on your availability, put a deadline to get things done.
2. Non-Financial Benefits
If you are allowed to share or reuse what is being developed, you can always work for less as a freelancer and consider offering a discount.
If I see clients have a very good requirement but are short on the budget I propose them to allow me to share the code as a plugin or add-on to the open-source community. It helps me build my personal brand and reputation as well as help me use it as samples for future clients.
Recently I was offered to contribute to Xenforo WordPress Bridge by a client. Clients wanted me to work on the project and contribute changes to the plugin. So I took that task at a very discounted price.
3. Better Forex Payment Methods
If a client offers me an alternate payment method like Payoneer or PingPongX over PayPal or Upwork, I offer them a discount because of better forex rates. Moreover, I think every freelancer should consider offering a discount when a client is offering a payment method that helps you make more money.
As I have noticed, PayPal to Payoneer can vary by almost 10% on any given day. PayPal has close to 5% as transaction fees and forex rates are lower by 4 to 5% when compared to Payoneer.
Apart from Payoneer, I also offer a discount for payment in Indian currency directly.
4. Long-term Contract
Though I don’t accept too many long term contracts and at the most one ongoing long term contract. Recently I had an invite from a client where I was not willing to quote a price because I already have an ongoing long term work. However, he insisted to let him know my best rate if it is a monthly or yearly contract.
You will have to provide your best rates to clients who are willing to offer you a longer-term contract along with a retainer or are ready to hire you for minimum hours per week.
5. Offer to Work in New Technology
The most important of all the discounts that I offer is when I have the opportunity to learn something new.
Many of my existing clients want me to work on many of their other projects as well. I grab the opportunity with both hands. I never charge them extra money for the time I spend in learning and this is even true even today.
When I started freelancing, starting with vBulletin was for me as lucky because I was in the right technology at the right time. Similarly, starting a forum over a blog in 2004 was to help me a better freelancer than a blogger. Over time, I am moving over from freelancing to blogging and from being a developer to being a writer.
You never know what is in store for you. So when I am offered to work in something new, I am really excited about it. So I always offer my time to clients and don’t charge for learning it and I think it is really helping me.
