Hourly rate = Hourly rate

Hourly rate = Hourly rate

One pitfall is to start skimping on your hourly rate. Clients will sometimes make an offer that you can win more assignments from them if you lower your hourly rate.

Of course, you are always free to do this, but keep in mind that once you have agreed on a rate with a client, it is difficult to raise it later.

In addition, the promise of more work must first be fulfilled.

And who determines what ‘regular’ assignments are?
Is one assignment every three months regular, or one a week?

And when do you apply what rate?
It leads to discussions..

Example calculation

Suppose your hourly rate as an IT consultant is 100 euros per hour. A client wants you to come and work for three months, but because it’s a long period, he offers 75 euros per hour.

You might do this because you are assured of work for three months. But what if you are hired again after six months, what rate do you charge? The client will most likely fall back on the previous agreements.

Quantity discount

At the same time, because of the discount you also miss out on a lot of money that you could have earned on other assignments. The volume discount increases rapidly if you consider this over a period of 3 months. 25 euros x 40 hours x 13 weeks = 13,000 euros in lost sales.