Write your quote without saying “my fee is” or “I charge” or “I require” or “my hourly rate is.”
Leave out words like cost, pay, payment, check or money.
Use the word I no more than three times.
Your quote is not about what you want, what you demand, what your fee is, what your policy is, how much you want, when you get paid.
(That is precisely what we’re thinking about, of course. But we are pros here. We keep our greed tucked in, out of sight.)
Oh, and leave your old anger and frustrations out of it. It only makes clients suspicious of you.
The quote is about what they get.
It’s about them and what they want, how things will look from their end.
“The budget for the new web content would involve $XXXX, which will cover all the product descriptions we spoke about, as well as the application stories you’re looking for. You can plan on having the finished content in XX days.”
“You could handle the logo re-design and the new stationery for about $XXXX, and have it all buttoned up within 30 days or so. You will receive hi-res originals of all the artwork to use for any other applications that come up.”
“It would involve between $XXXX and $XXXX for the on-site shoot, or even less if the conference doesn’t run as long as you’re anticipating. ”
“For the four documents we discussed, you could have full French translations for $XXXX. That would include your custom glossary, and proofreading by a French specialist.”
“The chapter illustrations — in the style we agreed on — would entail xx to xx hours at an hourly rate of $XXX. You will always get to approve rough sketches before we launch into the finals. Naturally, you will receive the paper originals, plus hi-res digital masters in whatever format you need.”
“Half the project budget will be invoiced when your work gets underway, with the remaining amount invoiced when you have the final designs.”
“As soon as the initial $XXXX invoice is taken care of, you’ll have your shoot day booked. You can settle the remaining amount can be settled on the shoot day itself. ”
“The paperwork is pretty simple. There’s an invoice for one-third of the budget when we start. The second third won’t be billed until you have all the modules for review. The rest is billed when you have all the finals on your desk and ready to go.”