You quote one number wey you believe for. You build am on wetin di work really take, wetin e worth to di person wey dey pay, and wetin your year need make e add up. Den di reply land, friendly and reasonable: any small flexibility dey for dat price?
Dis one na good moment. Client wey dey ask about flexibility na client wey dey look for road to talk yes, and you dey two sentences away from either clean deal or one year wey go quietly small. Most people go fill dose two sentences with discount, because discount dey end di shyness fastest.
Better move dey and e short enough make you cram am. Hold di number and move di scope. You no dey defend di price, you no dey explain your overhead, and you no dey shave ten percent just to keep di room warm. You go tell dem wetin go comot from di work for di figure wey dem call, den make dem choose.
Wetin I go talk when client ask for discount?
Talk wetin you fit remove for dat number, den close your mouth. "I no dey move on my rate, but I fit work inside dat budget. For dat figure I go remove di second revision round and di launch support, and everything else go remain exactly as I quote am."
Dat na one calm sentence wey get real option inside, and e dey hand di decision back without fight. Notice wetin no dey inside am. No sorry, no story about your cost, no shaky talk like "I suppose I fit maybe." Deepak Malhotra advice on concession for di Program on Negotiation talk am plain: concession no dey automatically create goodwill, and di one wey you never label dey get overlooked or played down, because if dem notice am, e go force di oda side to give something back.
Den keep quiet. Di silence no be rudeness. Na di client dey do arithmetic, and na exactly di work wey you want make dem do.
Why small discount dey cost pass how e look?
Because ten percent off di price no be ten percent off di job at all. Di hours remain di same, di tools remain di same, di tax remain di same, and di whole cut dey comot from di part wey you for keep. Do di arithmetic on your own numbers. If one third of your price na profit, taking ten percent off di price dey take like one third comot from wetin you dey keep.
Di second cost dey slow and e big pass. Price wey dey move when person push dey teach everybody wey see am say your price dey move when person push. Clients dey talk. Di one wey collect ten percent go tell di next person make e ask, and now every quote wey you send dey open negotiation wey you never want. Di number stop to be number and e turn starting bid.
Third cost dey wey no dey ever show for invoice. Work wey you sell for rate wey dey vex you go get done for standard wey dey vex you. No be say you plan am, but attention dey follow value, and di project wey you feel say dem underpay you for na di project wey go slip.
How I go decide wetin to remove instead of cutting di price?
Decide am before anybody ask. Write your service down as list of parts, put rough cost for hours beside each one, and mark which part na di core and which one na extra. So when di discount question land, you dey read from list instead of inventing under pressure.
Di good things to remove na di parts wey dey cost you real time and dem genuinely optional: extra revision round, rush delivery, standing meetings, training, support after launch, custom reporting, di day wey you go come on-site. Di bad things to remove na di parts wey dey make di work good, because cheap version wey fail worse for both of una pass warm no.
Negotiation researchers dey call dis one trading across issues instead of splitting one single number, and na why price wey stuck no dey usually mean say di deal stuck. Price na one variable. Timeline, scope, payment terms and who go do di prep na variables too, and most of dem worth less to di oda side pass cash.
One more thing to keep ready: smaller package wey get im own name and im own number. "Di starter version na four thousand and na dis be exactly wetin dey inside." Client wey no fit afford di full thing don now get real offer instead of make you send am comot.
Wetin if dem gree for di smaller version, or dem waka?
Both of dem alright, and one of dem na win wey discount for no give you. Client wey take di smaller package don buy for your rate, wey mean say di relationship start on honest ground and e fit grow later. Client wey waka because you no gree hand over di full scope for less for don cost you money for anoda way.
Di walking away part na wetin people dey fear, so make you clear about am. Before any pricing conversation, sabi di figure wey, if e go below am, you go rather use di time do something else. Dat one no be mood, na decision wey you take on one quiet afternoon, and na di thing wey dey keep your voice level when person dey push. Negotiators dey call di thing wey you go rather do your best alternative, and di whole point of sabing am na say you go stop to dey guess for middle of sentence.
Den talk no di way wey you go like make dem tell you no. Warm, short, no lecture. "Dat one dey below wetin I fit do dis well, so I go pass on dis one. If di budget change, I go love to look am again."
Who suppose collect my work for free, and how I go decide?
Decide am once a year, put am for calendar, and give am to people wey you pick, no be to whoever push hardest. Discount wey you give under pressure no be generosity, na erosion, and people wey genuinely dey generous dey mix di two constantly.
Na dis be di split wey dey keep both halves healthy. Hold your number with di people wey dey pay you. Separately and on purpose, choose who go collect your real craft dis year for nothing: one nonprofit, one person wey dey start out, one afternoon every month. Volunteering di skill wey dem dey pay you for worth several times volunteering one evening of general help, because one hour of di thing wey you sabi well well dey move something wey nobody else for dat room fit move.
Dis one no be moral add-on. Na wetin dey protect di price. Once you don already decide where your free work dey go, discount request go stop to feel like test of your kindness, and you go get easy, true sentence for di moment: "I no dey discount, and I dey give few projects away completely every year. Dis one no be dat one, so na dis be wetin I fit remove for your number."
KEEP CALM founder put giving back among di reasons why im own career work, and e do am all di way up, no be after e don blow, and e talk say wetin come back na tenfold. Na im own account of im own twenty years, no be promise wey dem attach to your invoice. Di smaller and more reliable version still worth to hold: di people wey you help early dey remember am, and work dey come from directions wey you no fit plan.
Holding price na habit wey you build once and use for years
Di first time wey you hold number while person dey push, your heart go beat like say e no go well even when e go fine. Di second time go easy. By di fifth time e go don be sentence wey you just dey talk, and di whole thing go take four seconds.
Na wetin composure be for here. No be calm instead of ambition, na calm wey dey serve di ambition. You want more, you plan to go collect am, and steady voice na di tool wey dey allow you ask without shaking and still dey easy to work with come Monday. Di clients wey worth keeping no dey vex for firm price. E dey give dem confidence, because person wey sabi wetin dia work cost usually sabi wetin dia work be.
Write di parts list dis week. Decide di number wey you no go go below. Choose who go collect your craft for free dis year. After dat, di next discount request no be test of anything. Na just Tuesday.
Sources
- Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School, Four Strategies for Making Concessions in Negotiation
- Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School, Dealing with Difficult Clients: Price Negotiations
- Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School, What is Anchoring in Negotiation?