You’ve been talking to a new client about a project. The client has been disappointed with other freelancers, seems to like you. Has lots of work. The client asks for a quote.
You want this project, you want this client. So you think very carefully about the fee.
After a lot of head-scratching and figuring, you finally settle on $2100.
You type up the email, send it off to the client, with fingers crossed.
A few hours later, the client replies to the email: “Okay. That sounds good. Let’s get started right away.”
Except you notice that, in your email to the client, where you had meant to type $2100, you actually typed $3100. One thousand dollars more.
What do you do now?
Just tell them that you made a mistake, you’ll win loyalty that way. Plus, it makes other quotes that you may provide the client with in the future seem arbitrary.
To add to my last post… future quotes would seem arbitrary if you don’t tell them you made a typo.
Hmmm… That’s an interesting dilemma.
You could obviously tell the client that it was a typo. Most clients would respect the honesty and be pleasantly surprised that they’ll be spending $1000 less than they thought. There may be some folks who call your attention to detail into question though. But if you lose the project over a typo that is $1000 in their favor, there’s probably no pleasing them anyway!
Another option is to “go the extra mile”. Really make the project shine and do all the little things that you sometimes don’t do because of time and budget restraints. Hopefully the result is a project in your portfolio that really represents what kind of quality craftsmanship you’re capable of (and wins you more of this type of work). And the client will (they should!) be absolutely thrilled.
The client reviewed your portfolio? They really like what you do? You want to work with them? and they want to pay you 3100?
Well, it’s time you consider raising you’re fee on all projects.
That works too!
Agreed. I’d still be tempted to correct the initial error, just because I have a thing for honesty, but I would definitely be looking at raising my rates in the future.
I agree. If you’re open about the services you’re going to provide and the client is satisfied to pay $1000 extra than you intended, it’s likely you’re under-valuing yourself.
Youssef has a really good point.
Admit to the mistake. Ask them if they would like to go above your original $2100 to receive some extra work to improve the product.
Who knows, some clients might agree to meet you in the middle. Then you make a little more than you intended and they are pleased with your honesty and will tell other potential clients about that quality of yours.
Keep ma mouth shut and thank God for $3100!
Depending on whether you’re getting paid up-front or upon completion of the job, I’d do one of two things:
Paid up front – admit the error and re-send my invoice.
Paid upon completion – make a note for myself to reveal the error when discussing the finished project. From experience in a different industry, if you wait until the job is done and impress the client with the work, you have a slightly better chance of getting paid the extra anyway, even after telling the client of your initial mistake.
They’ll not only be appreciative of your honesty but will likely spread word of your honesty, professionalism and excellent work; their satisfaction with your overall service.
It really comes down to this…
You are a very hard worker and you have had the 2100 fee for quite some time. Then this happens and it acts as a spark, a spark that pushes you to the next level. With your added value you up the bar and you become a better designer, or whatever it is you do.
This has nothing to do with the client, the client has already said yes, that’s sorted. It’s all about you and weather or not you feel you may have being undervaluing yourself.
It’s about being honest with yourself, not the client.
If they are OK with the budget it will surely send me a “signal” to increase my overall rates. It means I am selling myself short. Yes, I would do all I can for the client to be VERY pleased. This means going the extra 10 miles if needed. He’ll get an outstanding project and I’ll improve my rates and portfolio.
Everyone on here is playing the public ethics game. The reality is that 99% of every person on the planet would take the money and run. I’ve seen it a million times, especially in this industry – that’s right, modern day snake oil salesman AKA Webmasters.
I’ve heard the most ridiculous stories over the past 10 years from potential clients about competitors in this industry. They promised the site would cost X amount of dollars but in the final delivery it was 3Xs the cost with no scope creep.
I’ve heard about SEO companies charging $1,000 per month on attorney websites to bring them higher rankings and when I checked the site, the law firm didn’t even have meta tags.
I’m calling BS on the comments. Most of you would not tell the client, you’d keep your mouth shut and keep the money.
I’ll give you an example of real ethics – I was managing a client’s Google Ad Words campaign. The Reporting GUI was only displaying the previous week impression/clicks/total cost and the budget ran over what my client wanted to spend. It was my mistake. I told the client about the error – she said “no big deal, don’t worry about it.” I replied, “Absolutely not, it was my mistake, I’ll pay the difference.”
Well the difference was over $2,400.00. I paid it.
I’ve been in this business for over 10 years and the ethics are worse in this industry than a car mechanic. I’ve had clients tell me they paid people and they dissappeared – literally never came back, never provided any service. Nothing.
I’ve seen multi-million dollar companies screw Government agencies out of hundreds of thousands of dollars and can still sleep at night. So let’s not kid anyone – most of you wouldn’t say anything to the client. You’d pocket the money, take your girlfriend out to a nice dinner with a shit-eating grin on your face.
Just tell the truth next time and stop pretending that you’re a monk or a priest just because your comments are online. You know damn well what you’d do – you’d keep your mouth shut and raise your prices.
Lou:
Bad form. Obviously, your ethics are above reproach. But don’t assume that everyone else HERE is a crook.
And, just sayin’, if you want to raise the ethics in your industry, raise them. Be wonderful. Be remarkable. Be endearingly transparent.
But bashing is a bad strategy. Name ONE company/freelancer/artist who EVER got anywhere by saying “Everybody is a cheating charlatan, except us.”
I get your frustration, but it’s not about running over the client’s budget or running with the money. It’s about an initial proposal that the client ACCEPTED with no issues. A bit different
Great question and comments. I’d follow Laneth’s suggestion but, like Youssef, I’d also consider that it’s time to raise my rates. Especially if I know my client is well informed, and knows the value of good work. There are far too many freelancers in my business (advertising and direct marketing) who undervalue themselves.