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773a4e0f
Community Member

Convince clients to change Hourly offers to Fixed-price

Hi,
I repeatedly find myself offering clients to switch from Hourly contract to Fixed-Price because of three reasons:
1. Product Design is an expensive and ongoing service, so I wish to offer something I can deliver without pushing the client's budget limit along the process.
2. Some clients choose the hourly option because it seems cheaper at first. They don't know what project duration to expect, so that's the way they can compare designer's prices, but in reality, a "cheaper" designer may work much longer.
3. Many of the clients that are new to Upwork choose the hourly option by default. Some get convinced that a fixed price is better for them but can't manage to change it technically or lose interest and disappear.

I wish there were an option to send my offer regardless of the client's first offer. In many of the cases, the first offer is just a sketch offer to start a dialog. But there isn't. So, in this case, do you have a winner Call To Action for making a client switch the contract method?

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a_lipsey
Community Member


Avshalom N wrote:

Hi,
I repeatedly find myself offering clients to switch from Hourly contract to Fixed-Price because of three reasons:
1. Product Design is an expensive and ongoing service, so I wish to offer something I can deliver without pushing the client's budget limit along the process.
2. Some clients choose the hourly option because it seems cheaper at first. They don't know what project duration to expect, so that's the way they can compare designer's prices, but in reality, a "cheaper" designer may work much longer.
3. Many of the clients that are new to Upwork choose the hourly option by default. Some get convinced that a fixed price is better for them but can't manage to change it technically or lose interest and disappear.

I wish there were an option to send my offer regardless of the client's first offer. In many of the cases, the first offer is just a sketch offer to start a dialog. But there isn't. So, in this case, do you have a winner Call To Action for making a client switch the contract method?


I prefer fixed rate often myself. I simply put in my proposal that while this quote is hourly, I prefer to work fixed-price and will give them a detailed scope of work and bid after our initial consultation.  It never seems to be a problem.  I also explain that it helps me keep their costs within their budget. 

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11 REPLIES 11
lysis10
Community Member

I go the opposite direction and only work hourly. I just tell them I only work hourly these days.

For me? Hourly. Definitely.

 

I respect those freelancers who have mastered the art of the fixed-price contract. But I am not there yet.

 

But if a client posts a job offer with a contract type you don't prefer, just apply anyway and tell them what type you would prefer to use and why that would benefit them.

a_lipsey
Community Member


Avshalom N wrote:

Hi,
I repeatedly find myself offering clients to switch from Hourly contract to Fixed-Price because of three reasons:
1. Product Design is an expensive and ongoing service, so I wish to offer something I can deliver without pushing the client's budget limit along the process.
2. Some clients choose the hourly option because it seems cheaper at first. They don't know what project duration to expect, so that's the way they can compare designer's prices, but in reality, a "cheaper" designer may work much longer.
3. Many of the clients that are new to Upwork choose the hourly option by default. Some get convinced that a fixed price is better for them but can't manage to change it technically or lose interest and disappear.

I wish there were an option to send my offer regardless of the client's first offer. In many of the cases, the first offer is just a sketch offer to start a dialog. But there isn't. So, in this case, do you have a winner Call To Action for making a client switch the contract method?


I prefer fixed rate often myself. I simply put in my proposal that while this quote is hourly, I prefer to work fixed-price and will give them a detailed scope of work and bid after our initial consultation.  It never seems to be a problem.  I also explain that it helps me keep their costs within their budget. 

Amanda and Tonya described the situation the way I experienced it with my clients.
Once I get an invitation, I go by the client's preferences and give them an hourly bid but also ask them whether they would like to go hourly or fixed.

"Hourly" works for me only when I complete a fixed price project and the clients are happy with the results but want to add things or continue development. With new projects, my process requires research before developing a concept, and only then I dive into the core design using CAD work that clients expect. If I start with "hourly" they could lose patience and find my early stages unworthy for them.

So we agree on the "what", but I guess my problem is with the "how".
Once I offer to consider "fixed", even if they agree it would be better, they often disappear. It could be that they find it complicated to switch contract type, they might find it as hesitation, I can't put my finger on a specific reason.

The window of opportunity for a dialog with a new client is short as they are picky and jump fast between offers searching for the perfect match.


I am searching for the most appropriate CTA for making a new client consider a fixed price.

lysis10
Community Member


Avshalom N wrote:

Amanda and Tonya described the situation the way I experienced it with my clients.
Once I get an invitation, I go by the client's preferences and give them an hourly bid but also ask them whether they would like to go hourly or fixed.

"Hourly" works for me only when I complete a fixed price project and the clients are happy with the results but want to add things or continue development. With new projects, my process requires research before developing a concept, and only then I dive into the core design using CAD work that clients expect. If I start with "hourly" they could lose patience and find my early stages unworthy for them.

So we agree on the "what", but I guess my problem is with the "how".
Once I offer to consider "fixed", even if they agree it would be better, they often disappear. It could be that they find it complicated to switch contract type, they might find it as hesitation, I can't put my finger on a specific reason.

The window of opportunity for a dialog with a new client is short as they are picky and jump fast between offers searching for the perfect match.


I am searching for the most appropriate CTA for making a new client consider a fixed price.


You will lose them if they are against flat rate. 

tlbp
Community Member


Avshalom N wrote:

Hi,
I repeatedly find myself offering clients to switch from Hourly contract to Fixed-Price because of three reasons:
1. Product Design is an expensive and ongoing service, so I wish to offer something I can deliver without pushing the client's budget limit along the process.
2. Some clients choose the hourly option because it seems cheaper at first. They don't know what project duration to expect, so that's the way they can compare designer's prices, but in reality, a "cheaper" designer may work much longer.
3. Many of the clients that are new to Upwork choose the hourly option by default. Some get convinced that a fixed price is better for them but can't manage to change it technically or lose interest and disappear.

I wish there were an option to send my offer regardless of the client's first offer. In many of the cases, the first offer is just a sketch offer to start a dialog. But there isn't. So, in this case, do you have a winner Call To Action for making a client switch the contract method?


Your entire proposal is your option to send your offer. The job post is a request for bids. Your proposal is your bid. Include whatever you want in your bid. Just make sure that if the client hires you, they send you an offer that includes what you both agreed.  

"My proposal includes my hourly rate. However, for this contract, I would prefer to complete the work for a fixed price of $X." 

lucioric
Community Member

I aggree all you have been saying. At first, hourly contracts looks cheaper, but when the weeks have passes and the job is not done already, clients starts to lose patience. But in the other side fixed prices are often lopsided against freelancer. Much fixed price jobs are $50, and although sometimes I have finished a $50 job in a single day, I have found $50 or $100 that have entertained me for a week or more. And, as the contract is fixed-price, you cannot say nothing. in this case, who lose patience is me, but I can't say nothing to the client, because we had an aggreed price. Indeed I have lost an hourly job because of not being able to commit so much time because of the extended time requirement of one small fixed price job. You may imagine how i felt that day.


Lucio Ricardo M wrote:

I aggree all you have been saying. At first, hourly contracts looks cheaper, but when the weeks have passes and the job is not done already, clients starts to lose patience. But in the other side fixed prices are often lopsided against freelancer. Much fixed price jobs are $50, and although sometimes I have finished a $50 job in a single day, I have found $50 or $100 that have entertained me for a week or more. And, as the contract is fixed-price, you cannot say nothing. in this case, who lose patience is me, but I can't say nothing to the client, because we had an aggreed price. Indeed I have lost an hourly job because of not being able to commit so much time because of the extended time requirement of one small fixed price job. You may imagine how i felt that day.


Just because a client posts a fixed price job for $50, it doesn't mean that you have to bid $50. Determine a fair price yourself and bid that amount, or if details aren't provided in the project description, say that your price is a placeholder or an estimate only; also say how many revisions are included, if any. You can also ask the client to add a new milestone or switch to an hourly contract if the scope changes or if they're requesting more revisions than you initially agreed to. 

r2streu
Community Member


Lucio Ricardo M wrote:

I aggree all you have been saying. At first, hourly contracts looks cheaper, but when the weeks have passes and the job is not done already, clients starts to lose patience. But in the other side fixed prices are often lopsided against freelancer. Much fixed price jobs are $50, and although sometimes I have finished a $50 job in a single day, I have found $50 or $100 that have entertained me for a week or more. And, as the contract is fixed-price, you cannot say nothing. in this case, who lose patience is me, but I can't say nothing to the client, because we had an aggreed price. Indeed I have lost an hourly job because of not being able to commit so much time because of the extended time requirement of one small fixed price job. You may imagine how i felt that day.


Part of the issue here is scope. If you're bidding on a job, you need to know how much work/time you're willing to put into it and include it in the bid. Be upfront about it. I know a lot of designers, for example, who will put in a bid and tell the prospective client, "bid includes x number of revisions."

As a voice talent, I tell my clients that at a certain rate (depending on the size of the job), they will get up to two complete takes and up to two small (single sentence or less) edits (changes to script) after delivery.

Because of the kind of work I do, I also do not do hourly contracts. For most small jobs it usually doesn't take me very long to get them done (the client doesn't need to know HOW long it doesn't take), and if I were to break that time down into an hourly fee, the rate would send them screaming.

wlyonsatl
Community Member

Upwork's bidding system should allow the freelancer to include an estimate of time required as part of each hourly proposal, so the client can get a feel for their total cost of hiring that freelancer.

 

Comparing only the stated hourly rate between freelancer bids has always seemed pretty silly to me. (My bid for spending 6 hours completing a project at a rate of $10 an hour is much cheaper than the client spending $6 an hour for a freelancer who will need 15 hours for the same work. And the client also gets the project completed sooner, but the client currently has no way of knowing that or comparing apples to apples in terms of total cost.)

 

In every proposal I send I include an estimate of hours I expect a project will take. Whether that information currently helps me win bids I have no way of knowing, but I believe it would if the total expected cost of my bids were easy for potential clients to see and compare to other freelancers' proposals.

07cde080
Community Member

Hi there,

I understand your frustration with the hourly contract option. It can be difficult to convince clients to switch to a fixed-price contract, especially if they are new to Upwork or have a tight budget. However, there are some benefits of a fixed-price contract that you can highlight to persuade them.

Some of the benefits of a fixed-price contract are:

• It gives you and the client more clarity and certainty about the scope, deliverables, and timeline of the project. You can agree on the milestones and payment schedule upfront, and avoid any disputes or misunderstandings later on.

• It allows you to focus on the quality and creativity of your work, rather than the quantity and speed. You can work at your own pace and deliver the best results possible, without worrying about tracking your hours or meeting a certain quota.

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