What do you say when clients ask for a discount?
“Why?” is the perfect response to a discount request
Before you respond to a request for a discount, find out why the customer is asking for it
Many small business owners, professional service providers, and even a lot of professional salespeople find it difficult to deal with customers who want to haggle over price.
In the past when quoting my professional fees to someone who wanted to negotiate, my usual practice was to say that I could only reduce my fee if I reduced the services.
That sounds good in theory and it might work in some circumstances, but it never really worked for me. I always ended up doing the same amount, or more, of work and was usually ticked off at myself and the client for agreeing to work for less than what I deserved.
So I just started saying no to discount requests. Sometimes I would soften it by pointing out that if I were willing to reduce the price it would mean that I was intentionally overcharging to begin with, but I would stand firm.
Then I discovered a great way to deal with clients who want you to lower your price.
Ask them why.
