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Dare to DREAM: Ami Sanyal and how to pitch value-based pricing.

Value-based pricing is the holy grail of freelancing. It's how you make a lot of money by showing your clients that you can give them results. It's also not easy to make the switch to this pricing structure!

Returning guest Ami Sanyal shares his DREAM framework for getting clients on board with paying you more! He walks you through:

  • Discovery
  • Repel
  • Establish Packages
  • Address Risk
  • Money

Ami was able to transform his agency with this approach, and he was good enough to share his framework with Clients From Hell!

Want Ami's script for this approach? Text EZGROW to 393939 for a step-by-step guide! 

Today's links: 

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I'm a freelance website developer. A client tried to send me some information on an event and new logo they wanted to be posted on their website.

Client:  All the information for the event is already on the internet. I sent the link to your email. Don't know why you don't have it.

Me:  I'll check my spam folder to see if it went there.

Client: Okay.

Me: I'm sorry, I still haven't received it.

Client:  That's weird. It's already on the internet. I just need it on my website.

Me: Where is it posted? If you send me the URL to the page I can copy it from there.

Client: Sure, it's (reading slowly) file-colon-backslash-backslash-backslash-capital-C-colon-backslash-users-backslash-client-backslash-desktop-backslash-eventinfo.jpg.

Me: Uh ... that's not a URL. It's the directory path showing where the file is stored on your compu - wait, did you just drag the document into your browser?

Client: Yes! Now it's on the internet. I wanted to make it easy for you --

(obscured by the sound of me banging my head on my desk.)

Me: Unfortunately, I can't pull a document uploaded to a browser window on your personal home computer.

Client: Would it help if I sent you a screenshot?

Me: No.

The client then sent me the EXACT SAME FILEPATH in an email.

Client: I just resent it. Oh, I just remembered- I need a hundred large size copies to post around town.

Me: First, I need you to send me the file in a way I can retrieve it. Have you sent attachments in an email before?

Client: Sure, I do that all the time.

Me: I want you to make a new email. Attach your document to it and send it to me. Only attach the eventinfo.jpg.

Client: Can I send the logo also?

Me: Yes. I need that file to be as large as possible. Ideally, it should be in vector format.

Client: A vector?

Me: It's an editable format that can be scaled to any size without losing the quality of your logo. The file type should be .ai, .psd, .eps, etc.

Client: I can do that. It's a .jpg but I can save it as one of the others.

Me: That's not how it works.

Wait for it...

Client: What do you want me to save it in? I have two of the ones you mentioned but I don't have "etc." format.

I'm beginning to question this career path.

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Client:  Please use bright dark colors.

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My sister is a graduating design student and she usually takes some design projects on the side to earn money to pay for her rent. I sometimes act as her middleman since I'm more socially active and tend to stumble upon people who are looking for designers like her.

I recently went out for dinner with an old friend and our conversation went something like this:

Client: Hey, your sister is a design student right? Can you ask her if she can make a logo and do some branding works for our nutrition business?

Me: Yea. Perfect! She's looking to take some more projects right now. Why don't you send me the details. I'm meeting up with her tomorrow, she can give you a quote then.

Client: Quote? I was hoping she could do it for free.

Me: Oh... sorry. I don't think she's taking free projects right now.

Client: Wait, people pay her? But she's just a student!

Me: Yea, well, these things take time and effort.

Client: Come on, if she knows it's me asking I'm sure she'll do it for free. I've known her since she was little.

Me: Nah, man. I don't think so.

Client: Can you just ask her?

So I told my sister about this project and she just gave me an "Are you serious? Of course not!" look. I told my friend that my sister won't take the project on and I received a lengthy message from my friend about me not knowing the value of friendship and how selfish my sister has become.

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Get an absurd number of beautiful fonts for only $15!

This week's deal is on 138 fonts in 43 families with a BONUS of over 200 templates and illustrations for only $15! 

> It's a ridiculous amount of design goodness at an absurd price. 

You don't have to have a ginormous collection of fonts to be a great designer, but let's face it: it helps. Get sans serif clean with Harley, vintage cool with Houston, dignified airs with Espoir and many, many more. If this bundle replaced all the out-of-the-box fonts that come with Illustrator or Photoshop, you wouldn't even be mad because they're great and they cover a lot of bases. Throw in illustrations and templates that pair beautifully with these fonts and you have a heck of a deal that's 98% off for the next week.

The full asking price for everything in this bundle is $672, but you can save 98% and get them all for only $15. That's a minuscule price for adding this much versatility to your toolkit. 

> Check out the deal here! 

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I own a large format print shop and graphics studio in Smalltown, USA and have over 15 years of design experience.

Client: Can you print this letter for me? 

Me: Well, you know we really only do large format printing, but I've got some resume paper; I'd be happy to print it on my desktop, but... just wondering, why don't you go to the UPS store? They could certainly print it for you there.

Client: I don't feel like driving all the way over there.

The store was literally half a mile away. 

Client: Also, my computer just updated and says that I'm running an unlicensed version of Word and won't let me save. So could you also retype this for me?

Me: ...

Client: I can wait.

Me: Well, unfortunately, I'm in the middle of another project. If I need to retype it then I'll have to charge design time. 

Client: And what's that?

Me: $50 minimum.

Client: I think I can go to the library.

 

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When presenting a poster concept for a concert featuring a headlining band with five black men...

Client: We can't have just black people on the poster.

Me: Uh.... well, that's the band.

Client: I know that, but they can't all be black.

Me: ... 

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We were in the middle of building a website and designing the look and feel so it worked with the clients' corporate identity.

Client: I hate that! Why are you using round edges and that colour blue?

Me: Um, because it reflects your brand identity?

Client: Oh. No, no, ignore that. We hate it. Let's just use the colours of our competitor's brand and keep everything really square like theirs. Actually, can you just copy everything they've done and make the site identical and put our name on it?

 

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I have been working with a client that is representing an up-and-coming band. They wanted to start branding themselves by getting a website. I contacted them about helping them out and was even going to give them a huge discount to have their website in my portfolio. After the client missed the first appointment, we rescheduled to meet again. 

After our conversation, I was going to work up a sample and he would get me a check to start working. A few weeks go by and they haven't been able to get me a check. 

Six weeks go by, and the client starts out with this:

Client: Hey [my name, misspelled]. I wanted to reach out to you and let you know that I will be sending you photos this weekend. When would we be able to get together again to complete the web page sample?

Me: I have been working on quite a few projects lately and have come up with some estimates and contracts to sign just to cover bases. Let me start by sending you over a quote for services so we can get started again.

Client: Yes.

I send the estimate over and stated that I was still going to honor the labor discount I originally offered. The total estimate was under $300 for a great looking website. A week goes by and I hear nothing from him again - so I reach out. 

Me: Hey, I wanted to reach out to see if you have any questions. Hopefully, we could move forward on this project.

Client: We have decided to place the website on hold due to finance. Right now that is out of our budget.

Trying to decide whether or not I should just never contact them again if they can't afford something this cheap. 

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I got a gig directing some videos for online classes. Very simple stuff, one camera filming some talking heads. talking.

The client had approved the script, the art direction, style, casting, etc. Everything was fine.

I delivered the first cut and the client approved everything and gave a lot of compliments. 

I sent the final cut and got another call from the client:

Client: Uh... my boss doesn't like it. Can we redo everything? 

Me: We can, but you'll have to pay me for the extra work.

At this point, she got very, very upset. Then she called my boss complaining about my attitude.

We have another meeting next week. It's gonna be a very, very long week.

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