In a soft economy, it’s common for clients to push back on our fees or the other terms under which we want to do business. It’s just as common for us to acquiesce. We tell ourselves that a sub-optimal client is better than none at all, we agree to their terms, deliver our best work, and we try to ignore the fact that we’ve compromised ourselves.
For instance, let’s say you agree to provide a certain service to your client in exchange for $500. They balk, then tell you that they’d be willing to proceed if you could lower your fee to $300. The poor negotiator will either haggle until both parties agree to a $400 compromise, or avoid confrontation altogether and settle for the $300 counter-offer. Either way, you’ve set a precedent with the client that rewards them for haggling with you. But consider that your willingness to reduce your fees puts you in a strong position to ask for something in return. And because your client is in an appreciative state of mind, they will probably be willing to make up the difference. Here are a few examples of things you can request in return for a discount:
Obviously, you want to make requests that are ethical and comfortable for the client, but if you get creative, you’ll find that many of the things you can request have a greater value than the money you lost on your quoted fee, and they send the right message to the client: I’m willing to be reasonable, but I’m not willing to be taken for granted.
A frugal client will always seek to reduce their costs. That’s good news for the savvy service professional who knows how to turn a negotiation into a win-win scenario.
By David Ackert