If they don't care about costs, they won't outsource... If you are not in the same country (face to face), you'll always be somewhat valued on price...
Charge less the first time, charge some more the next time (if their happy)
Charge less the first time, charge some more the next time (if their happy)
I doubt if that will work. What if they were happy because they got quality output for less money? How would you now go to them and say that I gave you a discount the first time around and now you have to pay the full price? If you did not make it clear up front, you will have a very unhappy client.
I think it's incorrect to assume that everyone hires consulting companies to cut costs. Some folks hire them because they do not want to build IT team. Some folks hire them because they need some work done for the quarter BUT won't be needing them on permanent basis. In such cases, it's not about the cost but paying right amount of money to get their work done.
But if you're experience is building websites and etc.. You have less value to provide then someone who can come over and take a business movie with a drone :)
And no, I'm not valued on price because even if the clients are in another country, they already know who I am. I been deliberate marketing myself to make that happen. Two books, conferences (including keynote speeches), lots of open-source code, and so on. That's part of what sets me apart from many others in my field: nobody knows who they are. It doesn't mean I'm better than them; it means I'm better known than them. (I apologize if that sounds arrogant, but this has been a deliberate, multi-year strategy to get me where I am).
Great in concept but I've found in 4 years of freelancing (.net development) that the assumption is that the "foot in the door" price will always be your price going forwards and that the renegotiations just never happen. Of course, as always, YMMV.
Typically I do it over email, and say something like: "As of Jun 2015, I'm raising my rate to $XXX. Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns." Typically I raised the rates $10/hr/year, but that depended on starting rate.
Note! You are more valuable to them after the first engagement because you are now a known quantity, so you should be paid more.
But, as stated above, you have to be willing to walk away if they can't or won't meet your new rate. I've lost clients as well.
EDIT: I've freelanced for about 8 years in total (two different time periods).