Haggling over pay is a fact of life for any freelancer. Even the most in-demand contract workers field requests for discounts “for old time’s sake”.
I have yet to find the best formula for negotiating your rates—other than properly computing your work-related expenses and adding to that. What I do know is that you should never say the following.
“Oh, it will be such a pleasure to work with you!” Revealing eagerness for a certain client or project gives the employer some license to push your rates down. You really want to do it anyway, so why shouldn’t they get it at a lower price?
“You can just pay me later on anyway…” This implies that getting paid for your work isn’t really important to you. On top of that, you indicate that you’re ok with late payments.
“I can do that at a much lower price.” Sure, offering a lower price for the same quality than competitors—especially if you can afford to—is a great way to secure contracts. But don’t be so open about it. Again, it gives the employer license to push for a lower price.
“Yeah, that’s so easy for me to do.” So if the project won’t be that difficult, why should the client pay you that much for it, right?
“What do I have to do again?” Sometimes the project requirements and details are discussed during negotiations. Proving that you can produce the quality output deserving of a reasonable price starts with staying on top of those details.
Have I missed out on anything? Let me know by leaving a comment below.
译文:
讨论工资时，绝口不说的五句话
讨论工资是自由职业者的家常便饭。即便是从事最热门的职业，也有被压低工资的时候。
我还没找到最巧妙的方法来协商工资（并不包括那些与工作相关的其他开支）。但我可以肯定的是，在协商时你绝不能说的几句话：
“哦！如果能和你合作，那就太好了。”对于某些客户或者项目，你所表达出的热切合作愿望会成为对方压低你的薪水的筹码。既然你真的想合作，那压低价格有何不可呢？
“你可以改天付我工资。”这表明是否领到工资对你来说并不重要。除此之外，你还暗示了不介意被拖欠工资。
“即使工资低一点，我也可以接受。”当然，在你能承受的范围内，提出比其他竞争者低的薪酬，这是一个绝佳的方法来保住你的工作机会。但不要轻易压低价格。这只能给雇主一个充分的理由把它压得更低。
“这对我来说太容易了。”这么说，如果该项目不具备一定的难度，那雇主为什么要付给你那么高的薪水呢？
“有什么需要重做的吗？”有时在讨论工资的时候会涉及到项目的要求及细节。这么一说，证明你为了迎合“有所值”的工资，可以在细节上不断进行修改。
还有没有其他要注意的呢？如果有补充，就给我留言。