9 Pricing Mistakes Freelancers Make In Their Proposal

As a freelancer, one of the critical mistakes is when you don’t price the proposal right. It can lead to either be underpaid than what you are worth or not win the project at all.

Pricing is an essential factor in the freelancing and outsourcing industry. It has made many freelancers believe the price is the only factor in winning a project, which is a myth, or else I wouldn’t be paid a reasonable hourly rate on Upwork.

In a proposal, if everything else remains the same, proposal with a low price will be preferred by the client. The word to focus on is “everything” and not “price”.

So here are some of the common mistakes new freelancers make when pricing their proposals.

1. Pricing Within the Client Budget

On Upwork, the client budget amount that we see isn’t the maximum amount client is willing to spend on the job.

It is just a ballpark figure client is willing to spend based on their understanding of the complexity of the task.

Convince the client in the proposal if the project isn’t feasible the way you want it done in their budget.

Just to win a project and deliver within the client budget, don’t go for a subpar product or service. It never works.

Clients will negotiate, but you also need negotiation skills.

Often clients may call the project as a pilot project for more work in the future, or they may tell you they have low offers from other freelancers. These are techniques used by clients to negotiate.

2. Ignoring the Cost

If something is going to cost you a lot more than what the client is willing to spend, it is better to let the client decide if he is willing to pay the right price and work with you.

I will share a recent incident with a client.

He wanted me to submit his already ready app in the Android play store and iOS app store for $150.

The cost to submit the app is $99 in iOS and $25 in the play store. No matter what payment option I choose, the project wasn’t feasible.

On top of that, I was sure the submission process would have hiccups, and code may need bug fixes before it can be approved. Otherwise, the original developer would have submitted it to the client.

So my price was much higher, and he wasn’t convinced. So I was not willing to increase the budget.

Such clients often trap freelancers. Either they don’t know the cost of iOS / Android marketplace submission, or if they know the cost, they ignore assuming it is merely a submission.

3. Upfront Price

If you don’t understand the client’s requirement as to what needs to be done, there is no point in having a price tag.

Clients prefer developers who know what they want. If the overall requirement isn’t clear, ask relevant questions and keep the price to be added at a later stage.

Putting the price tag isn’t the most crucial task, but it is imperative to understand what the client wants. Still, freelancers try to put in the price upfront and are one of the most common of the mistakes related to pricing.

Let them know you understand their requirements and can deliver within the deadline.

4. No Details of Price

Price isn’t just a number, and you have to provide a lot more details.

I give more information for the price I quote as to how and why the cost of the project is what it is.

Information on the pricing and setting the milestone can help the client alter the budget as needed or even prioritize the milestones or can also omit some milestones to adhere to the budget.

5. Pricing the proposal Too low

Often freelancer likes to see the price range for proposals and set their price lower than the lowest amount.

Clients are a lot smarter on freelancing sites, and often they just ignore the lowballers as they know such lowballers are a mere waste of time.

6. Pricing the proposal Very High

A client often gives a randomly high budget to see if freelancers are willing to read and understand the requirement and quote accordingly.

If you don’t put a reasonable price, clients are eager to ignore the high-ballers as well.

7. The Choice of Niche

The choice of freelancing niche is very important. There is a limit to how much one can make per hour in a particular niche, and there is no denying it.

Nobody will hire a data entry operator for $100 per hour or a Developer for $5000 per hour.

As a developer, if I increase the hourly rate by ten times, will I still get the same number of projects?

Possibly not.

But if I change the niche to marketing, I can.

There can be a limit to price for a niche.

8. Multiple Price Points

Unnecessary details can add numerous prices in a proposal unknowingly and is one of the most common pricing mistakes among freelancers. Say the price in the proposal is $800 but within the proposal, you have mentioned

I can get this in the next 24-hours.

When you provide hours as well as the amount, the client will confirm the hourly rates. One can’t be working for more than 10 hours in a day. So if the hourly rate doesn’t match the quoted price, the chances of your proposal being accepted reduce drastically.

9. Understanding the True Worth

Often freelancers limit their thinking about what they are worth. Clients aren’t hiring freelancer only for lower price but because of their knowledge and expertise in a specific area.

If you don’t value your services, why will clients value it more?

See yourself as an asset to the client and know your true worth. If you aren’t able to see yourself as more worthy than your price, learn something new.