When you’re just starting out in your virtual assistant business, figuring out your prices and getting clients can be big stumbling points. They definitely were for me.
A lot of that had to do with a mindset shift that needed to happen. I had to go from thinking like someone’s employee to thinking like a business owner. That didn’t happen overnight.
A particular question came up again the other day in my Virtual Assistant Empowerment Facebook group, and it received so many great responses that I felt it important to share the conversation.
Yadi Ray York of yorkvirtualservices.com got our conversation started off.
Here’s the question:
“How do I handle a client that wants to pay less than what I proposed? I don’t want lose a potential client, but I don’t want to cut myself short.”
Let’s be honest—we’ve all thought about this before. You’re new. You don’t have any clients yet, or maybe you have one and you’re looking for more. You have experience from your past job, but you haven’t officially done this work for an actual client in your business yet. And you really want this whole business thing to work. You want to get started.
So, what do you do?
As I mentioned, the number one thing at play here is mindset.
You need to remember that YOU are the business owner here and YOU set your rates—not someone else.
Crystal Curran of revaville.com really drives the point home about how you let people treat you in your business and how they perceive you:
If you’ve worked out what your rates should be, and they reflect your skills as well as the amount you’ve decided you want to make in your business, then there’s no need to feel bad about the numbers you’ve chosen.
If you’re targeting your ideal client, you’ll find the match you’re looking for.
Yolanda Crowley of crowleyassistant.com echoes this sentiment:
What about giving discounts?
Again, it’s YOUR decision to make. This is not to say that you should never offer a discount to a client, but it should be on YOUR terms. But just remember that starting out at a discounted rate with someone could set you up for the expectation of always providing them with “deals” instead of focusing on the outcome of your work, and the benefits and solutions that you provide to your clients.
What’s the best solution?
All in all, here’s my favorite way to handle it. If this does seem like a good client fit for you, but the cost is an issue for them, adjust what services you can offer them in order to meet their budget.
Here’s what Cindy Bidar of virtuallythriving.com has to say about this:
Think about it like this. You might have to remove some things from your initial quote. But when the client sees the results you’re getting for them, they may very quickly want to bump up to your next package.
In the end, it all comes down to how you want to run your business and how you want others to treat you as a business owner. You’re the one who gets to make those decisions.
I like the way that Joseph Holmin of josephholmin.com sums it up here:
What are your thoughts? Have you dealt with a situation that made you question your rates? Leave a comment below.