How To Respond To Clients Who Think You Are Bringing A High Price
Some words can be challenging for service-based entrepreneurs to respond to. To begin with, many of us are not comfortable with selling. Therefore, when a customer questions your service charge, it can reduce your confidence and lead to self-doubt. You should not take it personally since price negotiations are part of the daily business for freelancers in the UAE. Having the right mindset and believing in the value of your services is essential.
The best thing is that if a client thinks your services are too expensive, it is not the end of the conversation. Instead, price haggling is often a sign that the customer wants to buy your services. However, such clients may require convincing to overcome their hesitation. Sometimes, the objections may not be because of your price but due to their prevailing circumstances. For instance, they might not be ready to buy at that time. So, how do you respond to these clients, irrespective of their reasons? Read on to find out.
5 Effective Responses for Clients Who Think You Are Overpricing Services
Handling these types of objections from customers can be tough. You might want to question the value of your services and consider reducing your prices. One of the worst blunders you can make is to try catering to someone who finds no worth in your offer. The person may not be the right client for your business.
Here are some ways to respond to their rejection;
1. Check Your Understanding and Approach
One of the first negotiation tactics for freelancers when a client finds your fee too high is to reconfirm your scope. Before you start giving your value away, ensure both you and the customer share a similar understanding of the project as well as your planned approach. In some cases, the client may not know the level of input their project requires. Once they do, the price objection may stop.
2. Let The Client Do Most Of The Work
Since you are in price negotiation, the chances are that the client is keen on completing their project with your help. Your goal should be to assist them in moving the project forward and achieving the set objectives. Reducing your effort is one of the excellent ways to reduce your charges. The simplest way to do that is by having the customer handle most of the work.
Look through your suggested approach to decide on the tasks you can offload to your client to enable you to reduce your charges. You must let the client know about the new plan. If you win the project, be sure to handle your part meticulously to avoid taking on the entire workload with the revised lower prices.
3. Slash Your Rates To Deliver
According to the do’s and don’ts of freelancing in the UAE, You are getting into risky territory. Be watchful where you tread. One way to reduce your price is to review your projected effort and required expertise to determine:
- If you can deliver the project with lower rates and fewer resources, or
- If you can reduce the amount of time and resources needed for each task
While we do not recommend this option, cutting down on resources and time allocation for individual tasks is a necessary step if the client insists on lower rates. The other reason we do not vouch for this method is that it often leads to over-optimism. Starting to assign tasks to the cheapest resources might look like the easiest way to cut down the delivery costs because you are maintaining the profit margins. Besides, you are still offering the customer a discounted price.
- Strategy
Nevertheless, it is always wise to assess your approach since this method can turn out to be disastrous during delivery. Some of the review questions for a new approach could be:
- I am putting in a higher level of quality, which needs more time than is necessary. Is it possible to deliver similar results with less expertise or effort?
Learning different negotiation techniques is vital in joining the freelance world. You need to think critically and become creative in this situation. For instance:
- You could probably shave some project cost by delivering part of the work remotely and reduce your on-site time.
- Alternatively, agree with the customer to spend some of your on-site time working on projects from different clients, especially if the work requires your full-time site presence.
The majority of clients will agree to the idea depending on the nature of your consultancy. Make sure you take care of any concerns regarding data privacy and security. To emphasize, you are aiming at reducing delivery cost and maintaining the profit margin, while still offering the client a price-cut. For this approach to be efficient, you must stay honest with yourself.
- Exchanging Value
All the three strategies above gravitate on reviewing your effort, even though there hardly are opportunities to shave off the energy. In these situations, we recommend looking for how to exchange value with the customer and have the rates closer to their expectations.
4. Get A Testimonial In Exchange For Reduced Prices
One of the most excellent tips for achieving a fruitful freelancing career is having reliable testimonials. Endorsements build trust and authority in your prospects. You can consider trading lower rates for a guaranteed recommendation. You can get more value by asking for:
- A Case study
- A LinkedIn post saying that the client is excited to be working with you
- A video testimonial
- A LinkedIn endorsement as the lead consultant
It is essential to be specific about when you need these recommendations. If you are working on a 12-month long-term project, for example, then you should not wait until its completion. Look for other milestones happening earlier in the project, for which you can get an endorsement.
You should not rely on the client to write a recommendation for you. Although marketing your freelance skills is at the top of your agenda, it is unlikely to be a priority for your client. If you write the endorsement initially for the customer, they can edit or rewrite it on their own. Whichever the case, it is your responsibility to make sure the client does not begin with a blank page. It would be embarrassing to receive a recommendation that you cannot use.
5. Ask For Up-Front Payment
Regardless of how big your client might seem, almost every business struggles with cash flow issues. Chasing payment can be an overwhelming and time-consuming affair. You can receive payment up-front, even with the advice from the self-proclaimed gurus that it is often impossible or inappropriate to bill a client in advance of commencing work on the project.
You can ask for payment in advance to give a price discount. For large projects, you can break down the amount into milestones and then bill at the start of each milestone.
The Wrap Up
There you have it, the 5 ways to address a price objection if the client deems your fee out of sight. There are many other ways to go around price haggling and ensure you get a win-win situation. We recommend that you always hold your nerve. The consequences of not sticking to your ground could be dire and even damage your reputation. Do not get excited about a win to forget the delivery aspect.
Now that you know how to handle clients who might not value what you are offering, start selling your consultancy by registering on various freelance platforms. Bawabba is one of the most prolific freelancing platforms in the United Arab Emirates. Along with carrying the most highly sought after freelancers in the UAE, we do not surcharge independent contractors to join our site. Sign up today and update your profile to start creating trust in your prospects.
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