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Outside of freelancing platforms, how you send proposals
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it's all up to you.
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You can email them, send them a message, tell them over the phone or send them a raven.
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It's all up to you.
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You're the boss.
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Some options are better than the others.
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If you want to look serious and impress your clients, then sending a proper well-designed proposal document
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is the right approach.
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This is what pro freelancers do. To help you seal more deals, I have created a very solid proposal template
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for you.
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It's a Figma file, the link you can find in the resources. As you can notice,
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it's designed in the same theme as the portfolio website. That's going to help you set your personal
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brand. Make you look more professional, like someone who has thought about the smallest details. You will
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instantly stand out from the competition. And standing out is what you need
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if your clients have multiple freelancers to choose from.
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Let me take you through the content and explain why I put what I put. And what are the things you will
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need to edit when generating the proposal. The header is pretty straightforward.
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Edit the logo, put whatever you want in the headline.
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You can even mentioned their company name, like Google website proposal.
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It's a nice personalized touch. And your details and the details of your client. Overview is a place where
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you show your understanding of the project. That you know what you're going to be doing.
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You tell them your objective and explain what's the final deliverable.
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I've inserted a little spiel on how their website will be hosted on amazing Webflow servers, making
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it secure and superfast.
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This is a good place to pitch a little on how good the final result is going to be. To create an excitement.
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Not you, don't sell how amazing you are.
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They want a website, not to go on a date with you.
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Then we have a price breakdown.
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This is a flat rate pricing.
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I've created a template for hourly rate projects too.
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It has a different price table and some other content is different too. Which I'll explain after this.
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The price breakdown shows different parts of your job.
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If you have more items you can just duplicate the rows and add more. Or remove as you wish.
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I like breaking down design and development in separate items.
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They are two different phases and with some projects you can even do only one of them.
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For example, if they already have designs, then you can just do the Webflow development.
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I've also added some extra things, that are included in the price. It increases the value they're getting
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out of the price. Like responsive development and training session.
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That way, the price list looks much more valuable and full of benefits, than just a single value of
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$2500.
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It feels like there is a lot more that they are getting. About these particular values.
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I'm just throwing numbers here, doesn't mean that's what you should charge.
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You can charge less or way above this value.
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That all depends at the category of clients you'll work with, as we discussed in the pricing class.
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I'll just give you one advice on values.
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Use round values. Don't do 9,99.
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That's just going to look stupid.
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Your clients are aware of the fact, that you are the one putting all these prices. That there isn't any complex
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pricing equation that you are using. So round them up, or you're going to look silly. Underneath
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the price table,
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there is a line saying that Webflow hosting isn't included.
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Transparency is key in such relationships.
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Don't "forget", in quotes, to mention important things, especially costs.
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Next, we have a timeline.
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This is something clients really want to know.
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So, brake it down as much as you can.
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Clients are making a big risk with their money and time.
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They want to be in control of their project. So they want to know exactly how things are going to progress,
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makes them feel at peace and they will trust you more.
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These are rough estimates.
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Projects never go exactly with the predicted timeline.
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It doesn't just depend on you. How quick clients give you their feedback on each phase,
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how many iterations you go through and how quick they provide necessary content, is going to significantly
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impact the project timeline.
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Often some other tasks will creep up during the project.
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They might ask you for small things, which will add up in the end.
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If you are working on an hourly rate, then that's not a problem.
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But on flat rate projects you'll soon end up losing money,
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if you don't set the record straight on what's going to happen
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if there is extra work, which is outside of the main scope. Even if they are just extra meetings that
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are taking your time.
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I myself had to learn this the hard way.
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I had a client who wanted to meet almost every day.
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I think he was just getting a kick out of talking and brainstorming.
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But for me, it was just taking too much time and I wasn't being paid for it.
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If you set an hourly rate for any extra work, then everyone will be clear.
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The last part is terms. I have listed some important points to have clarity on the way things will work
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and avoid any future disagreements.
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These terms are and probably legally binding terms.
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Their purpose is clarity, so everyone is on the same page.
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For example, it has a payment structure. When working with strangers outside of the platform,
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you should take some payment upfront. 25% usually is a good idea.
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This is my structure, but you can feel free to change it as you wish.
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And obviously you can change any of these terms, or add your own.
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The final format can be in PDF, or you can even share a link to the prototype view like I'm showing right
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now.
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But I think PDF is a better option.
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You already know how to export.
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Just go to the properties panel, export, choose PDF and that's all.
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I want to give you one rule when it comes to sending proposals outside of platforms.
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Do not surprise them.
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So, when you send a proposal and they get the value and that value,
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if that is maybe too much for them, or it's expensive, it's going to surprise them and shock them a little,
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in, you know, kind of disappoint them.
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And because you put it inside the document and you sort of sent it already as something written
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and something definite. Then they don't have a way to oppose or negotiate.
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And you, yourself don't have a way to sort of give arguments and benefits of the price and tell them
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and explain them why is it good for them to, you know, go with you and so on.
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Right?
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Neither you have an ability to maybe negotiate and perhaps give them a discount. Because maybe sometimes
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you have that put inside the price as a buffer. Right?
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So, you put a little bit as a buffer to make sure that you can negotiate it down if they
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if they ask you for the discount. Or sometimes you can even bring that price down by maybe removing number
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of revisions, or doing something a bit less. Or, you know, there is many different ways you kinda can move
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things around to decrease the price. If they're really can't afford that value that you gave them.
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So, the right approach is to do the discussion of the price during the meeting, like you don't have to
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finally agree on it. But what you can do, an important thing is to give some sort of ballpark range.
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So, they're not surprised when you give them a final value. And what you can do during the meeting is,
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this is, for example, what I do.
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I have a meeting like it's a Skype meeting or a face to face meeting.
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And when we go on the meeting, I ask a lot of questions about the project.
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And I already have some sort of pre-value in my head, that I'm willing to go with.
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I sort of have this range, which is like a minimum that I'm willing to work for, and like an ideal price
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that I want to get out of it.
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And once I ask the questions I understand, if the website is just like a one or two pages, or if the
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website is like maybe a big website with, you know, 25 different pages, or a blog or something like that.
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And I kind of come up with a range, which is maybe something like minimum of, between 4000 to
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$6000 and then I give them that range. And if they have some sort of objections to it, we'll discuss
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it. And I'm able to give benefits and tell them, you know, why this is a good option for them, and why it's,
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the price is actually worth it.
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And if they don't.
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And if, for example, sometimes it can be that I give them a value and they were expecting something less
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than a 1000.
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Now, I know, that you are just a bad match and, you know, I'm not going to do a website work for
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a large website less than a thousand.
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So, I don't have to bother about creating the proposal and sending emails, everything, we instantly understand,
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we're really in a different game here and we're not a good match.
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So I, you know, save a lot of time. But if we are still in this right phase, then I can, we can negotiate
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if we need to.
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But if the price also sounds nice, then once I'm done with the meeting, then I prepare the
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proposal and probably I would put something like $5000 for the website and now they're expecting
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that price and they're not surprised.
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And we have a deal.