I saw an earlier post today and it got me thinking about my own hourly rate that I charge and wonder if I could get your opinions.
Before starting to learn bookkeeping, I had no previous experience in the field, although I do have over five years experience in administration and secretarial work.
I now have passed my level 1 and 2 manual bookkeeping certificate through the ICB and I am awaiting the results of my level 2 computerised ICB certificate.
As soon as I have passed my level 2 computerised, I am going to upgrade my membership with the ICB and apply for my practising certificate as I already have professional indemnity insurance.
At the moment, I have one client and I charge £8 an hour. On my website, my fees are quoted at £8 to £10 per hour.
I have only one client at the moment and have been getting no response to my adverts for a few months now. Do you think that my fee is putting people off? I wanted to charge £10 an hour but struggled to get work so dropped it to £8, I am not prepared to go lower as it wouldn't be worth me working and I am qualified so feel that £8 is cheap, even thought I have not a lot of experience. I think that maybe people are seeing my price and thinking that I must not be very good to charge such a low rate?
I have also tried advertising without a fee amount but had no response from that either so I am at a bit of a loss? The ICB sent me literature yesterday advising that a starting hourly rate should be between £12 and £15 per hour so I am charging way below that.
I am thinking that I might take the fees off of my website, wait until I have passed my level 2 computerised exam and have my practising certificate and then put my hourly rate up to £10 to £12 an hour.
Any thoughts or suggestions would be very greatly appreciated
Hi Terri, I don't think your prices have anything to do with not getting any more clients,when i saw tour prices i thought they were very reasonable compared to others. I am im a similar position to you as i started up in February and as yet have no clients despite loads of advertising and mailings and calling on over 200 local businesses.The common problem is that people are either doing the accounts themselves or are having them done by a family member free of charge and they do not see why they should pay someone to do them when they can get it for free.
I think that people need to realise that they are getting a really professional service and they are paying for your knowledge which most of them will not have and also professional bookkeepers will spot potential problems earlier.I think to get people to realise this it is an uphill struggle.
I would have thought that if in the current climate that any business looking for a bookkeeper would shop around and would use someone who is cheaper rather than expensive to save money.
Hope this helps These are just my thoughts sorry it is a bit long winded stephen
I agree with Stephen, your prices are reasonable. Have you done a bit of research on what the going rate is in your area ?
An idea is to check out any vacancies, employers may not advertise for a self employed bookkeeper, but it is worth sending in your cv to get a foot in the door and perhaps get the chance of an interview, where you can then ask if they have considered talking on someone self employed. This is how I managed to get two of my clients - albeit on a part time basis. The selling point being that the employer would not have to contend with employment laws, rules etc., Just an idea !
Julie, that is a really good idea about looking for clients who are advertising for bookkeeping staff, I will be off later today trawling through job vacancies.
Terri, I think your prices are more than reasonable I think they are cheap and to be honest they may be putting off prospective clients because they think that if you only charge that much what sort of service do you give. Don't undersell yourself. Those prospective clients who only want you because you are cheap will not stay because as soon as someone cheaper comes along they will be off. I am in the process of getting my own website sorted and at the moment I am not going to list my prices (unless someone convinces me with a very good reason why I should).
I tend to agree with Mark - I'm currently working as a handyman part-time and I charge £10 per hour with a minimum charge of £20. Some people are put off by my rates but the customers I do pick up stay with me because they know I'll turn up when I say I will, I'm clear about what I charge, I always work for them as if I were doing a job on my own house and I'm clean and reliable. They can get someone cheaper but will they be around if there's a problem? Are they insured? Are they reliable? I regularly get work finishing off jobs started by cowboy traders....people will pay a little more for quality and reliability...value yourself and your work.
