Strategy to reducing my rate

[password]

Morning ladies and gents,

I know it's not the best time of year and we are in funny times, but I would much rather be in a contract that sitting at home.

I know that my day rate is pretty much at the high end in the market and am considering reducing it.

Currently my strategy is to spend another week looking at my current rate, and as we enter February I am thinking about dropping about £50 off my rate.

How do people typically do this. Do you:

A) Quote your new reduce rate for any new queries/applications

B) Send out a flare to any agents you have recently dealt with, in order to restart any conversations that may have stalled due to rate.

Thanks

P.S. I tried searching a few terms but I think I am crap at search smh.

[BrilloPad]

Personally I always asked for market rate.

At the moment though there isvery little market. Don't get paid 50% of what they are happy to pay for your skills. They often want the best person.

[amanwhoisquiet]

I don't think I even have a rate.

There's quoted rates that I don't feel like it's worth applying for and somtimes I see rates so high that I might be in for a shock were I to actually get the roles. Very wide middle ground where I'm happy to chat and see what's what.

You might as well drop the rate now. If you're holding out for 600 and there's nothing happening for several weeks, then starting on 500 *right now* makes up for a lot of missed time while you're protecting this rate you have in your head.

[GhostofTarbera]

Morning ladies and gents,

I know it's not the best time of year and we are in funny times, but I would much rather be in a contract that sitting at home.

I know that my day rate is pretty much at the high end in the market and am considering reducing it.

Currently my strategy is to spend another week looking at my current rate, and as we enter February I am thinking about dropping about £50 off my rate.

How do people typically do this. Do you:

A) Quote your new reduce rate for any new queries/applications

B) Send out a flare to any agents you have recently dealt with, in order to restart any conversations that may have stalled due to rate.

Thanks

P.S. I tried searching a few terms but I think I am crap at search smh.

Sitting at home a long time if 500 other contractors are 50% of your rate - new dark times in contracting - agents don’t have roles to offer is the major issue


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[ladymuck]

I would expect any roles you were previously being considered for have been filled or binned by the client.

So, start afresh from now. Look for roles at a price point you will accept.

[GhostofTarbera]

I would expect any roles you were previously being considered for have been filled or binned by the client.

So, start afresh from now. Look for roles at a price point you will accept.

Indeed, I’m sure the agents were not sitting around waiting for people to lower there rates


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[CheeseSlice]

How do people typically do this. Do you:

A) Quote your new reduce rate for any new queries/applications

B) Send out a flare to any agents you have recently dealt with, in order to restart any conversations that may have stalled due to rate.

[A] only.

You can also raise the rate again for the right customer

I usually have a rate in mind, but I also try to discover the budget before I quote my rate. Doesn't always work but worth trying. I often find the agent quotes a figure or a range which you can haggle with or fit in nicely somewhere. Best done over the phone though.

[simes]

While I appreciate the thinking, I think, as others have said, there is only a market rate.

That together with your CV will pretty much suggest at any one time what you're likely to be worth to someone.

The point might be to, not over sell or under sell yourself while gauging interest.

[BolshieBastard]

When the market is bouyant, there's little harm in quoting your preferred rate and some more. The danger comes when the market is not bouyant and is, in fact, in decline.

Quoting a rate up front to an agent means you are likely pricing yourself out of the market even after you've danced around their questions.

People used to depend on their warchest to sit out dips in the market. But, if you're holding out for £550 a day down from £600, there's little point (imvho) sitting at home scratching your arse and burning through the warchest if the market for your skills is down to sub £400.

Never forget, a low rate is better than no rate, an inside IR35 rate is better than nothing and it is only your pride that's being damaged.

[sal]

In the current climate I would go for whatever rate I can get as long as it's outside IR35 and ride the wave for the next 6 months or so. As long as it's not less than what I can get as perm.

Gone are the days (at least for most of us) when you could cherry pick only the contracts offering top rates for your skills.

Even if you are an absolute beast in your area of expertise and the perfect of the perfectest fits for the role and the ClientCo would be happy to pay top dollar for you, you still need to pass the main hurdle - the agency drone, who is looking to maximise his margin and is bombarded with 100s of CVs of adequate candidates happy with lower rate.