Eric Deeran tells freelancers to stop breaking down invoices by line item. Itemizing lets clients negotiate every detail and signals you don't trust your own pricing. Instead, quote a flat rate and offer to remove services or adjust packages if they want to pay less.
Here's how to handle clients who want to break down on costs and want you to itemize out your invoices. First things first, don't be dumb. Don't do that. You never itemize pricing. Here's why. When a client asks for a detailed breakdown of costs, here's what they're really saying. They're saying, a, I want to price shop you, B, I want to negotiate every little thing, and C, I don't trust your expertise. Instead, when a client asks you for a breakdown of costs, here's what you say, yeah, no worries. Can I ask what specifically is behind that? Like, can I ask why you're asking for that? Prospect's then going to say, oh, we just want to make sure it's within our budget and blah, blah, blah. Here's what you're going to say, yeah, no worries. So our pricing is all inclusive of everything that I listed. So if there's specific services that you feel like you don't need, we can definitely take those out if you're looking for a lower price. Or we can adjust the packages, but we don't itemize the costs. This is going to keep your authority intact and it prevents them from shopping your quote around. If you want to learn more tips like this, comment the word cheat sheet down below. I'll send you our full sales meeting cheat sheet so you can start closing more deals.
