First negotiations

So, the potential client has confirmed the meeting time proposed in the letter (or in a short voice conversation), and the freelancer is preparing to conduct the first negotiations. For simple services, everything will happen in a couple of minutes, but complex ones can require up to an hour of discussions. In this chapter I would like to focus on the latter. What should you think about before starting any negotiations?

What is the purpose of negotiations for a freelancer?

At the beginning of my career, my only goal was to close the deal. There was always not enough money, there was no line of clients outside the door. And each new incoming request became the straw to save the drowning man.

In such conditions, I periodically worked with people whom I did not like from the very beginning. Got involved in dubious projects with tight deadlines. I took on tasks in which I had no experience at all, and did not inform clients about this nuance.

I learned quickly. Communicating with “unpleasant” people improved my negotiation skills, and also allowed me to distinguish those who I did not like based on some far-fetched subjective parameters from those whom I really should have avoided. Working on new tasks expanded the range of my skills and accordingly increased the cost of services. I was lucky: such conditions led to rapid pumping. And some colleagues became disappointed, burned out, gave up and quit freelancing.

I spent a lot of nerves during communication and excess energy while learning new skills. But at that time this was compensated by my good health and energy.

Time passed, my experience, financial safety net and confidence in the future grew. Along with this, the purpose of the first negotiations also changed. Now, instead of chasing a deal, I tried to figure out what exactly the client wanted from me and compare it with what I was ready to offer him. I was no longer so worried about how much money the client had and whether he would want to work with me. I wasn’t afraid of losing him because I wouldn’t be able to please him or wouldn’t fit some criteria.

Apparently, increased attention to the nuances of the client’s task, and not to his money, my calmness and confidence during communication, as well as a clear understanding of what I am ready to take on and what I am not, attracted much more customers than concessions and the desire to grab onto everything.

Since then, I have often found myself in situations where clients were choosing between several performers and chose me. Although my prices were above average. After work, I asked why they still chose me. They answered: “Unlike others, you listened to what we needed, delved into the task, and only then prepared a commercial proposal. Others gave an assessment, clearly not being sufficiently immersed in the task. The difference in price, of course, surprised us, but was not a decisive factor.”

There were also cases when I outright refused the project, seeing that the deal could not be concluded on mutually beneficial terms. For example, I announced in advance how many hours it would take for negotiations, but the client simply could not find that much free time in his busy schedule. And without intermediate negotiations, I could not guarantee quality work. Sometimes it was about fairly large transaction amounts for me, and this surprised clients. How can you refuse money? They remembered me and sometimes came back after some time with stories about how they tried to do a project with other performers, and it didn’t work out very well. Probably every third such client whom I refused became my customer within a year.

Currently my first goal for freelance negotiations isget to know each other, learn as much as possible about the potential client and his task in order to understand whether we are suitable for each other. And only if the answer is yes, move on to the second goal: selling services.

By the way, this may not work for simple services. Let's remember how cashiers greet us at fast food places. “Would you like to try a hamburger combo meal?” This is the first thing they ask us, since they already know in advance that we did not go to the cafe for jewelry. It's trying to make a sale before they even know what we want. And if this sale is not made and the client gloomily shakes his head, then the first question is immediately followed by the second: “What do you want to order?” And if we ask for “hazel grouse a la naturel,” the seller will be able to tell us that he can’t help, but if you still change your mind and want to try a hamburger, then don’t be shy to say so.

What is the potential client's goal?

All my clients were interested in the price and terms. Moreover, they wanted to know these numbers before they talked about their projects. I had to explain that for the assessment I still needed to collect some information. And here are the questions with which clients tried to understand how much they could trust me: “Show me similar projects that you have already done,” “What if we don’t like the result?”, “Are there any guarantees that the work will be completed on time?” Finally, I realized that most clients are not able to evaluate my professional skills, but the level of service is quite adequate. I didn’t force potential customers to work and prepare technical specifications for me, but I did it myself. I constantly worked on the way I communicate with people so that they would feel comfortable with me (for example, smile more often and not judge questions that are stupid from my point of view). And I’m sure that this was a great incentive to make the decision to work with me.

What are our regulations?

I conducted most of the negotiations in instant messengers that allowed me to share the screen, following the principle “It’s better to see once than to hear a hundred times” (and before the advent of such messengers, I went to personal meetings with a laptop). Since my profession is related to interfaces, this is an ideal way to immediately show some real examples, including those that cannot be linked to, and get instant feedback on them. I hardly ever used the webcam (although I always had it on hand just in case), and it never bothered potential clients.

I'm usually on alert ten minutes before the start of the negotiation, and three minutes before I send the potential client a text message: “Dial when you're ready.” This is necessary so that I do not put the person in an uncomfortable position with my call. After all, he might not yet have reached the computer or finished some other negotiations. It will always be safer and calmer if he calls me himself. Plus, this wording gives him the opportunity to call a little earlier, if he is already ready, or a little later, without apologizing for being late.

I specifically do not remind you of upcoming negotiations in advance during the day, because for me this will be one of the indicators of how responsible and respectful a person is with his own and other people’s time. If a potential client is more than ten minutes late and did not warn about his delay in advance, then with a high probability we will not be on the same page. This is not an iron rule; there are indeed many unorganized people in the world, but very good and easy to work with people. But still, there are actually much more of those who will simply waste my time. Later, if we conclude an agreement and he officially becomes my client, I will take control of the negotiation calendar and will always keep the customer informed of what is happening and regularly and in advance remind him of all events. But until this moment, it’s just a person like me, whom we need to get to know and find out if we can be of any use to each other in the future.

I make sure that no negotiation lasts longer than an hour. With very few exceptions, this is the limit of time that people can concentrate on a work conversation. Plus, with this behavior, I once again make it clear to the interlocutor that I have prepared for our negotiations with a high degree of organization and will be able to manage my own and other people’s time in the process of providing a complex service.

Structure of negotiations

I identify five steps in total:

Preparation

This, of course, is not yet the negotiations themselves, but their success depends on the preparation. I try to find out in advance in open sources as much as possible about the person with whom I will communicate, as well as about his project.

Sometimes a potential client himself drops links to the necessary resources before negotiations. If it's something that can be learned within half an hour, then that's what I do. And if we are talking about huge technical tasks or portals that would take hours to study, I send a counter message that I am not ready to dive into the project until we agree on something. Typically, potential clients are understanding of my reluctance to spend my working time for free.

Preliminarily analyzing the information, I make notes and write down questions that will be important not to miss in the upcoming negotiations.

Sometimes you can’t find anything about a person or a project, and then you have to find out everything directly during the conversation.

I monitor the quality and serviceability of the microphone so that it is pleasant to communicate with me. But at the same time I think about my convenience. Most often I use a headset with a microphone, which can be turned off using a physical button. In case some noisy event occurs (for example, they start drilling behind the wall). This way I won’t have to hastily look for a program button in the interface of the program with which we communicate.

I have a phone prepared in advance with a backup mobile Internet channel.

I almost never conduct negotiations in places where there are too many risk factors and discomfort: in coworking spaces, restaurants, outdoors. Only in extreme cases, when there is simply nowhere else to go, or you need to make an emergency call (but usually the first negotiations do not apply to this).

Over the years of working both as a freelancer and as a client for freelance services, I have talked with dozens of people slurping in restaurants, with wheezing headsets, with the Internet falling off, talking while driving. All this was not critical, but sometimes it was annoying (because I perceive such behavior as disrespect, although this is not always the case), and sometimes it really prevented us from agreeing on something. The only exception is the intervention of young children in the negotiation process. For some reason, this factor was always perceived with tenderness and understanding. But the parents of restless children themselves are usually embarrassed and apologetic.

Acquaintance

I start almost every conversation with a polite greeting and introduce myself, even if the potential client knows my name in absentia. This helps with formal introductions. From the first second I try to show friendliness and interest in the interlocutor, and this is not just a game: I am really interested in new people and their projects. Usually the interlocutor immediately understands the rules of the game and also introduces himself and tells a few words about himself. By the reaction to a greeting, you can often immediately see what mood a person is in and how free and comfortable he feels.

Of course, there are difficult and unsuccessful days when there is simply no strength for any kind of friendliness. Then I sit with a gloomy face and talk in a gloomy voice. In such cases, I don’t see the point in fighting my mood, it just takes even more energy. However, politeness, attentiveness and interest do not go away.

At the beginning of my journey, at my first meetings, I felt discomfort, self-doubt and fear of the upcoming conversation, but after a dozen negotiations I felt much better, and the experience I had helped me notice such emotions in my interlocutor. If I feel that a potential client is not ready to communicate freely, then I spend extra time on the so-called ice breaking. This is when we try to break the “wall of ice” between us by chatting for a few minutes on abstract topics and lowering the degree of seriousness of what is happening. At such moments, I can remind the client that now, before making a transaction, we are talking as two people who want to get to know each other and help each other, and not as a client and a performer. But most often this step is not necessary, and after the greeting you can immediately get down to business.

What do you want?

After the greeting, I ask the interlocutor why he came to me and begin to listen carefully, trying not to interrupt and only occasionally asking important questions. At this stage I was faced with two extremes. The first is when the interlocutor has no idea where to start the story and in what form to conduct it. In this case, my task is to get him talking: ask a few leading simple questions, suggest why I need this information, show similar examples. The second extreme is when the interlocutor starts a story and then cannot stop, going into unnecessary details and periodically deviating from the topic. In such cases, you need to remember the rules and guide the person with leading questions, returning to the essence of the conversation.

Sometimes at this moment it becomes clear to me that I am not able to help the interlocutor with his potential order. And sometimes the problem is so insignificant that I solve it right during the negotiations and after that I literally have nothing to offer him. It also happens that a task disappears on its own after a person says it out loud to me and suddenly realizes that everything is in order. In such cases, our negotiations end at this step, we wish each other all the best and part ways. But this happens quite rarely, and usually we move on to the next part of the conversation.

We tell you what we propose to do

If the potential client’s task is generally clear to me and I’m ready to help with it, then I proceed to the selling part. The paradox is that the less I try to persuade the client to make a deal, the easier this transaction happens. I'm just telling you how I see the solution in general; I describe what I propose to do step by step; what artifacts will be produced as a result; I explain how I dealt with something similar in the past. As my experience increased, it became increasingly easier for me to find similar works in my portfolio and show them to a potential client.

Such calmness and confidence on my part, as well as the emphasis of the conversation precisely on solving the problem, and not on how I would like to tackle it, do their job. The potential client sees that I am able to cope with his task, and also notices that I talk about this without enthusiasm, but as something ordinary and understandable - and he no longer needs to further explain why he should try to work with me.

We are announcing the next step in our relationship

So we talked, and everything is clear to the potential client. What's next? The main thing is not to leave your interlocutor in limbo. I end the conversation with clear instructions for further actions. For example: “Great, in general, everything is clear to me regarding your task. Next, I would like to take a break for an hour. Then I will tell you the date and time when I will send you a commercial offer.” There are also cases when I name terms and prices directly during negotiations, but this is rare. I recommend always taking a short break before saying things like this to give yourself time to make an informed and cool decision.

What questions do I avoid when talking with a client?

"What's your budget?". I don't ask this question because I don't care about the answer. Firstly, the client comes to negotiations, already knowing in advance what amounts I work from. Few people “play around” and communicate with me, realizing that they are simply wasting time.

And, secondly, I first find out what problem the potential customer wants to solve. I break it down into components and record it in a document so that the client and I can see and understand exactly what he needs. And then I evaluate the work that needs to be done in order for all these components to be completed.

If the client says “this is expensive,” then I will not suggest reducing the number of components in the problem, because then it will not be solved to the end. Perhaps I will lose a client, but at least I won’t do something inferior or cut-down for him. This behavior will work on my reputation. The client will see that I am not chasing a deal, which means that things are probably going well for me. And maybe it's because I'm a good specialist with a lot of clients. They will come back to me later when the money becomes available. Or they will find another performer. And if at this moment I am not sitting without work with my high prices, then what difference does it make?

I will not hang on the sleeve of a leaving client and say: “Oh, you don’t have enough money for my services? Let's then think together about how we can reduce your task to fit within your budget? By the way, what is your budget? Unless, of course, I’m in a situation where I have so few clients and money that I have to give up on my reputation and some kind of strategic development, and by hook or by crook get this customer.

When I myself acted as a client, I often found myself in situations where it seemed clear that I couldn’t afford what was offered, and I was going to leave, but they wouldn’t let me go so easily. They offer something cheaper, “simpler.” They are trying to figure out how much I am willing to spend. It's unpleasant. But it definitely works to increase sales, although it leaves a residue. Business is business, right?..

If I was immediately asked a question about the budget, not yet understanding the problem, I heard it like this: “Tell me how much money you have, and I will use it every penny. If you tell me more than my work is worth, I'll make a good profit. If you name less, I will make you a reduced offer, which will only partially solve your problem.”

But when providing simple services (when you can point your finger at something, conditionally or literally standing on a shelf), the question “What is your budget?” quite appropriate. If a client needs to buy the best vacuum cleaner within a certain price, then it is worth helping him with this.

“In what time frame would you like to receive the result?”. The logic here is the same as with the previous question. I have my own calendar, which is filled with tasks for different clients, and I’m not ready to rearrange it and let someone down if a new potential customer needs a project “yesterday.”

Such a question would demonstrate a completely opposite approach, which would be perceived as: “I will work within your deadlines because I really need you as a client. I have no other orders now, since my services are not in demand. Both my income and calendar are unstable, so even if I have orders now, I am ready to shift other projects and work through the force. Maybe I’ll even jump over my head. But if something even more expensive and urgent comes along while working on your project, then perhaps it will suffer.” Or this: “I don’t know how to estimate the timing of my own work and would like you to do it for me. But if anything happens, you are responsible for them.”

In fact, if the client has an urgent task and it is important for him that the performer hurry up, he himself will start the conversation with this. And he will constantly remind you of this. Therefore, by not asking the question about the timing, I did not lose anything, but only gained.

“What do you look for when choosing a performer?”. I have never asked such questions to clients and could not even imagine that someone could ask such a thing. But when I myself began to order something from freelancers, I came across some like that. For me it sounded like this: “Everything is so bad for me that I’m ready to change for the sake of working with you. Price, terms, quality - whatever. Whatever you name now may affect the composition of my sales proposal. Or I will find out that according to some criteria I definitely won’t fit, and we can end the negotiations there. But you must have a clear list!”

Total

1. In the first negotiations, I do not try to “get the client.” The main goal is to find out if we can be useful to each other. For a potential client, the benefit lies in my suitability for work and the stated deadlines and prices. For me, it’s working within my own processes and deadlines, getting repeated calls after the project is completed, and receiving multiple enthusiastic recommendations.
2. I create the impression of a person in demand, busy, living according to a schedule, offering his own conditions and being responsible for them, and not adapting to a potential client, just so that he doesn’t “jump off.” Such a contractor will be trusted by more solvent clients who are interested in reliability and guarantees of the result, and not its cost.
3. I do not ask you to send me technical assignments, layouts, or letters. I try not to create work for a potential client that will take up his time in addition to the actual negotiations. With those exceptions, of course, when this cannot be avoided. The client is unlikely to be able to competently evaluate my portfolio, but the level of service - with ease.

At the end of this chapter, I want to once again draw the reader’s close attention to the importance of the financial stability of a freelancer taking on work. If we are in debt, if we are not confident in the future, then we are under constant pressure, which will prevent us from refusing obviously unprofitable deals and concluding profitable ones.

There is even an experiment that shows that people's cognitive abilities decline as financial worries increase. This is due to the fact that their heads are constantly occupied with additional worry, which eats up the brain's processing resources.https://scholar.harvard.edu/files/sendhil/files/976.full_.pdf

There is also a saying by Jordan Peterson, a Canadian professor of psychology, which says: “If you can’t tell someone to go to hell, then you can’t negotiate with them.” This means that when concluding any transaction, it is important not to become dependent on this very transaction and on the person with whom you are concluding it. The conditions must be equally beneficial to each party.

If we are not able to return the prepayment at any time and part with our client when something went catastrophically wrong, and even through no fault of ours, then we find ourselves in a very difficult situation. That's why I never spend the advance payment until I complete the entire project. And in any work situation I think sensibly, without being under unnecessary pressure.