Pricing creative work is a new concept for most freelancers who are starting their business. We are used to being paid for our time, either by an hourly wage or an annual salary. It makes it simple to quantify how much value we think we are putting into a job. The more hours we work, the more we get paid. But there are a few flaws in the hourly pricing model that will limit the amount you can earn as a freelancer.

对于大多数开始创业的自由职业者来说，对创意作品进行定价是一个新概念。 我们习惯于按小时或年薪来支付时间。 它可以很容易地量化我们认为我们要投入多少价值。 我们工作的时间越长，我们获得的报酬就越多。 但是，按小时收费模式存在一些缺陷，这些缺陷会限制您作为自由职业者可以赚取的金额。

金钱交易时间 (Trading time for money)

Suppose a client is looking to hire one of two freelancers. The project is estimated to take around 20 hours and their budget is $2000.

假设某个客户希望雇用两名自由职业者之一。 该项目估计需要20个小时左右，预算为$ 2000。

• Freelancer A is a recent design grad student that charges $50/hour.Freelancer A是最近设计的研究生，每小时收费50美元。
• Freelancer B is an experienced professional that charges $100/hour.Freelancer B是一位经验丰富的专业人员，每小时收费100美元。

方案A —客户雇用了自由职业者A (Scenario A — The client hires Freelancer A)

The client compares the hourly rates and goes with the cheaper one. Freelancer A works for 20 hours, but the designs don’t meet the client’s expectations. Since they are charging half the rate, the client has the budget to keep working with them, although it will now take more time. They finish the project after 40 hours of work and the final work is fantastic. Freelancer A gets paid $2000.

客户比较小时费率，然后选择便宜的费率。 Freelancer A可以工作20个小时，但是设计不能满足客户的期望。 由于他们只收取一半的费用，因此客户有预算继续与他们合作，尽管现在将花费更多时间。 经过40个小时的工作，他们完成了项目，最终工作非常出色。 自由职业者A的收入为$ 2000。

方案B —客户雇用了自由职业者B (Scenario B — The client hires Freelancer B)

Although Freelancer B charges a higher hourly rate, the client believes that a professional designer will create quality work. Since they have years of experience, Freelancer B is able to finish the project in 15 hours. The final work is fantastic, but they only get paid $1500.

尽管Freelancer B收取更高的小时费，但客户认为专业设计师将创造出高质量的作品。 由于他们拥有多年的经验，因此Freelancer B能够在15小时内完成项目。 最终的工作很棒，但他们只得到1500美元的报酬。

让我们分解一下 (Let’s break it down)

Freelancer A took longer to finish the project as their quality of work did not meet the client’s expectations at the 20-hour mark. Freelancer B was able to finish the project and meet the client’s expectations in only 15 hours. Thus, time is not an indicator of work quality.

自由职业者A花了更长的时间才能完成该项目，因为他们的工作质量在20小时内没有达到客户的期望。 Freelancer B仅在15小时内就完成了项目并达到了客户的期望。 因此， 时间不是工作质量的指标。

As a business person, the client most likely values their time, so it would make sense to hire Freelancer B. They only spent 15 hours working on the project, which allowed the client to focus the rest of their time on running their business. However, instead of being rewarded for their expertise, Freelancer B is punished for being efficient, since the quicker they finish, the less they earn.

作为业务人员，客户很可能会珍惜自己的时间，因此聘请Freelancer B是有意义的。他们只花了15个小时从事该项目，这使客户可以将其余时间集中在经营业务上。 但是，Freelancer B并没有因为其专业知识而获得回报，而是因为效率高而受到惩罚，因为他们完成得越快，他们赚到的钱就越少。

That is the problem with the hourly pricing model. Freelancers can gain from working more hours, but most clients are interested in spending less time on a project, not more of it.

这是按小时定价模型的问题。 自由职业者可以通过增加工作时间而受益，但是大多数客户有兴趣减少在项目上花费的时间，而不是花更多的时间。

物有所值 (Trading value for money)

Hourly rate pricing also limits your potential client base. When clients hear your hourly rate, they will assume things such as your experience level and quality of your work.

每小时费率定价也限制了您的潜在客户群。 当客户听到您的小时费率时，他们会承担诸如您的经验水平和工作质量之类的事情。

By following a value-based pricing model, you are pricing the client, not the job. Clients want to feel that they are receiving a fair value for what they pay. A few factors can influence the value of the work to the client.

通过遵循基于价值的定价模型，您是在定价客户，而不是工作。 客户希望感觉到自己所支付的费用正在获得公允价值。 一些因素会影响工作对客户的价值。

风险暴露 (Risk exposure)

If the Mom-and-Pop shop implements a new logo, they probably have to update their business cards, storefront and perhaps a few other marketing materials. The large business would have many more touchpoints, such as numerous storefronts, merchandise, a website, a mobile app, etc.

如果“夫妻店”实施了新徽标，则他们可能必须更新其名片，店面以及其他一些营销材料。 大型企业将拥有更多接触点，例如众多店面，商品，网站，移动应用程序等。

Updating all of these touchpoints will cost much more than the design work, so the client will want the designs to be right the first time. The risk of getting the logo wrong is higher for the large business, as they have a higher cost of implementation.

更新所有这些接触点将比设计工作花费更多的钱，因此客户将希望设计在第一时间就正确。 对于大型企业而言，错误标识徽标的风险更高，因为它们的实施成本更高。

Thus, the large business would ideally want to hire someone with a track record of successful projects and a certain level of confidence in their craft, unlike what Uber’s CEO did. Hiring a professional freelancer or agency will come at a much higher price than working with someone less experienced.

因此， 与Uber的首席执行官不同 ，大型企业理想地希望雇用具有成功项目记录并对其Craft.io有一定信心的人 。 雇用专业的自由职业者或代理人比与缺乏经验的人一起工作要付出高得多的代价。

预算 (Budget)

The client’s budget comes from a percentage of their gross revenue for the year. Since clients come in all sizes, their budgets will range. A business that earns more revenue will have a larger budget to spend on services like design.

客户的预算来自其当年总收入的百分比。 由于客户规模各异，因此他们的预算范围会有所不同。 赚取更多收入的企业将有更大的预算用于设计等服务。

If I sell the exact same logo to a Mom-and-Pop shop and a large established business, the Mom-and-Pop shop will have a much smaller budget to work with, so I would charge them less than a large business.

如果我将完全相同的徽标卖给一家夫妻商店和一家大型企业，那么夫妻商店的预算将少得多，因此，我向他们收取的费用要少于一家大型企业。

But how do you figure out exactly what to charge the client?

但是，您如何弄清楚向客户收取什么费用呢？

确定对客户的价值 (Determining the value to the client)

Many freelancers approach a client by first discussing the scope of the project, followed by price and value. This method keeps the focus of the value on the work itself. By providing a breakdown of your services, presumably with the timeline and rate included, the client has the power to negotiate down.

许多自由职业者通过首先讨论项目范围，然后讨论价格和价值来接近客户。 这种方法将价值的重点放在工作本身上。 通过提供您的服务明细(大概包括时间表和费率)，客户可以进行协商。

设定背景 (Setting context)

By adopting a strategic approach, focus the conversation around the business. Dig deep into their goals and KPIs for the project. By understanding what areas need improvement and what their desired future state looks like, now you can tie your proposal directly to those metrics.

通过采用战略性方法，可以使对话围绕业务展开。 深入了解他们的项目目标和关键绩效指标。 通过了解哪些领域需要改进以及它们的期望未来状态如何，现在您可以将您的提案直接与这些指标联系起来。

Desired Future State → Success Metrics → Value → Price

期望的未来状态→成功指标→价值→价格

For example, you determine that the client wants to increase their ecommerce sales by $100,000. If you convince them that you can build an optimized website that could result in an extra $100,000 in revenue, ask how much it would be worth for them to pay. This will get them thinking about how much they really value the work.

例如，您确定客户希望将其电子商务销售额增加100,000美元。 如果您说服他们可以建立一个优化的网站，从而带来额外的100,000美元的收入，请询问他们应该付出多少钱。 这将使他们思考他们对工作的真正重视。

定价业务价值 (Pricing business value)

Suggest pricing the work at a percentage of the expected additional revenue. By then setting a price of 20% of the expected revenue, you would be able to charge $20,000 for the website.

建议按预期的额外收入的百分比为作品定价。 通过将价格设置为预期收入的20％，您将可以为该网站收取20,000美元。

If you hadn’t set the context in terms of business value, then bidding $20,000 on the project probably wouldn’t have gotten you the client. By following the value-based pricing model, the client decides how much they value the work in relation to their business without factoring in the time or effort it would take you to complete it.

如果您没有根据业务价值设置上下文，那么对该项目出价20,000美元可能不会吸引您。 通过遵循基于价值的定价模型，客户可以决定他们相对于业务对工作的重视程度， 而无需考虑完成该工作所花费的时间或精力 。

处理怀疑的客户 (Handling skeptical clients)

If the client is risk-averse or still skeptical about the business impact that your work will create, then you need to steer the conversation in a way that will make them buy into the value-based approach.

如果客户不愿冒险或对您的工作将对业务产生的影响仍持怀疑态度，那么您需要以一种使他们认同基于价值的方法的方式来引导对话。

Ask the client if they are willing to invest $20,000 into their business to potentially gain $100,000 in revenue. To most businesses, the potential to 5X their money on an investment with little downside should be a no-brainer.

询问客户他们是否愿意为自己的业务投资20,000美元，以潜在地获得100,000美元的收入。 对于大多数企业而言，将投资资金减少5倍而几乎没有负面影响的潜力应该是轻而易举的事。

However, if the client isn’t willing to offer enough to meet your minimum level of engagement, then you have to decide when to move on. Never feel pressured to take a lower price because you feel like you have to. You could possibly adjust your deliverables to be able to meet the client at their price point. But as long as you have sufficient runway saved up, then you should be able to say “No” to clients that can’t pay you for what you are valued.

但是，如果客户不愿意提供足够的钱来满足您的最低参与水平 ，那么您必须决定何时继续。 永远不要因为要降低价格而承受压力。 您可以调整可交付成果，以便能够以他们的价格与客户见面。 但是，只要您有足够的跑道积蓄 ，那么您应该能够对无法为您付出的钱付钱的客户说“不”。

As a designer, it’s important to think like a business person if you are going to run a successful freelance practice. The art of negotiating is tricky to master and takes years of practice to be able to perfect. It won’t be easy at first to implement a value-based pricing model with your freelance business. But once you open your mind to charging based on value instead of your time, you will remove the limits to how much you can make.

作为设计师，如果您要进行成功的自由职业，像商人一样思考是很重要的。 谈判的技巧很难掌握，需要多年的实践才能完善。 首先，要与自由职业者实施基于价值的定价模型并非易事。 但是，一旦您打开基于价值而不是时间的收费的想法，就将消除可以赚多少钱的限制。