We’re a non profit… Can you do it cheap?
30. Apr, 2010 
1 Comment
I’m a pretty easy going guy. When I started freelancing, you would’ve been hard pressed to insult me. Now, I’m much more professional and do a much better job, but some things can really tick me off.
Sometimes being easy going means that you just don’t care enough.
“We’re a non profit… Can you do it cheap?” Some people seem to think that everything in life is negotiable. They haggle at Harvey Norman, they haggle with their car dealer, they haggle in every shop they go into. Hell, people even used to try Haggle me when I worked at Big W.
Here’s the thing about freelancing – your customers are your boss – they pay your wage. If you work for a company, could you imagine your boss to come in and say, “our newest customer is a non profit so will you take a pay cut?”. It would be absurd.
Just because a freelancer’s income isn’t a fixed wage, doesn’t mean that they can do things “cheap”.
The conversation should be about value
Can you do it cheaper? NO! But I can do less.
Here’s an example. Today, a non-profit asked me for a quote for a website and said “We are a non profit company so can you do us a good price?”.
At first I was slightly insulted. I felt like saying “how about we take the difference out of your wage instead of mine?”
Instead, I said “How about, I will setup your site in a content management system, show you how to use it, and you can add all the content”.
Basically, I was saying - You can pay less if you want less.
Or alternatively, if someone asks for a discount, maybe they can pay in another way.
I had a client that was running a local music festival. They couldn’t afford the full fee, so instead of asking me for a good price, they pre-emptively offered some of the payment as a sponsorship package, AND also gave me a good discount for the sponsorship. Now THAT is someone that at least respected me enough to not ask for something for nothing.
Yesterday, I wrote about seeking out perfect customers. Here’s one more to add to the list of what makes a perfect customer. A perfect customer respects you.
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