What's your Appetite for Answers?

Ever had a job come across your desk and realised you have zero idea how to quote it?

Yep. Me too. Been there.

After 14 years, I think I have seen at least 90% of potential quoting scenarios (so much so that I wrote an ebook on it)

Something I quietly opened up last year was a place for people to submit their quoting questions, I call it Appetite for Answers.

Basically, any quoting conundrum or pricing pickle you have on your plate, you can submit anonymously and I'll dish out the answers to what you are craving.

Ok let's use an example of a past question...

"I'm struggling to quote a 40 page document my client wants me to design. They're providing the copy but there will also be charts and graphs. How do I quote, I have no idea how long it will take!"

My answer:

So for this particular job, I would break it down in to parts. Page Layout, Extras e.g. Charts and Graphs, Value.

Page Layout: Firstly, I would take the number of pages and work out a per page price in my calculations (read: not to the client, own calculations). Because I've done long form documents in the past, I know if I allow myself 45 mins per page, that covers me for the layout and inevitable changes ahead of me. So the initial pricing would be 45mins x 40 pages, making it a 30 hour job.

Extras: If I wasn't sure how many charts or graphs, I might ask for the copy beforehand and allocate how many I can see. This could also be applied to infographics or diagrams. I'd then give myself an hour per graph, so let's say there is 5 graphs. This is now a 35 hour job.

Value: Now, if its a bigger company, or a larger job, I might include a little bump to reflect the value. Bigger businesses get charged more because the value I am providing is different. Also, larger projects like this require co-ordination, ensuring things go smoothly, almost like project management but I do it myself. This would be something I allocate an extra block of time for (+5 hours) but I have also in the past just done a flat fee.

Now that I have all my time and value based ingredients, time to calculate with my internal hourly rate. For this example, let's say it's $100/hr (calculated using my Pricing Calculator of course!).

So for this job in particular, it would be 40 hours x $100/hr, making it a $4k job.

I might decide to serve this in a number of different ways depending on the client and the scope potential, as well as thinking about upsell opportunities. Remember, where possible, it's always helpful to provide a few options to your client so they can make the decision based on multiple choices (all of which are still working with you btw!)

This is how I have quoted in the past with my clients, and of course there is always more than one way to quote, BUT I find that creating some method in the madness can calm the nerves and stop you from undercharging or panic pricing.

Submit a question for Appetite for Answers here or check out my new ebook, AHow to Price Anything, that has all of these pricing structures laid out with step by step recipes for you to follow so you can quote with confidence.

Ok, I think it's time for a snack, that was a beefy email...

P.s. If this email helped you, I would LOVE you to take a screenshot and share on instagram, tag me (@yourpricingqueen) so I can share the good news!