I heard this so often, agreed, but at still continually surprised to find out that I've underpriced myself.
My initial rates 18 months ago were X. I gradually increased it, hitting 2X a little while ago.
Decided to try 2.3X. No objections from clients. Will have to try an even higher rate for new clients.
I have found that this doesn't work via email, for me and my industry (tutoring). If I have someone on the phone, it's easy to convince them of my expertise. And if the rate is too high for them, they'll tell me. If I still want to work with them, I can figure something out.
By email, I'm more likely to receive no reply. So now I push all conversations to the phone.
But really, I should be raising my rates (more). So should you, probably.
I originally started consulting in 2009 after being laid off; I had a client in two days (acquaintance already) at $50 an hour. Three and a half years later my advertised rate is $125/hr or $800/day, with a few clients being grandfathered into lower rates (usually only if I know they're on a tight budget and have a decent amount of work in the pipeline).
Don't misunderstand me: I have lost clients because I raised my prices. Maybe that was a failure on my part to adequately explain the reasoning behind the increase and the value they were getting. Regardless, those aren't the kinds of clients I want anyway. I don't want to deal with someone complaining their invoice is $1480 instead of the $1450 I estimated.
Rate discussions should be conversations, and email is too slow moving to really be practical. Don't say, "This is my new rate." Instead try to really get at the heart of why you're being hired, what kind of returns are practical, and speak in "Doing X will produce $Y benefits for you and cost you $Z".
I heard this so often, agreed, but at still continually surprised to find out that I've underpriced myself.
My initial rates 18 months ago were X. I gradually increased it, hitting 2X a little while ago.
Decided to try 2.3X. No objections from clients. Will have to try an even higher rate for new clients.
I have found that this doesn't work via email, for me and my industry (tutoring). If I have someone on the phone, it's easy to convince them of my expertise. And if the rate is too high for them, they'll tell me. If I still want to work with them, I can figure something out.
By email, I'm more likely to receive no reply. So now I push all conversations to the phone.
But really, I should be raising my rates (more). So should you, probably.