Negotiating with Customers - Susie Jackson

Do you ever send quotes to clients and hear nothing back? You spend time analysing the project, figuring out how long it’s going to take you, arriving at a price, proposing a deadline, and then… nothing. It’s like watching tumbleweed rolling across the road in front of you. And you’re left feeling as though you’ve wasted valuable time and energy.

You probably had it all planned out too. Perhaps you quoted higher than your minimum and already had a lower fee in mind that you would have been willing to accept. Or maybe you’d already decided how you would suggest reducing the scope of the project. You simply weren’t given the opportunity to get that far.

More often than not, when clients don’t reply to our quotes, we assume that the price we quoted was too high for them. Occasionally, they might make an appearance further down the line expecting the same quote from months ago to still be valid (note to self: always put a ‘valid until’ date on your quotes!). But on the whole, the customer vanishes never to be seen again, and we haven’t even had the chance to negotiate with them to find a solution that works for everyone.

In this blog post, I’m sharing some ideas to help you make sure you always receive a response to your quotes rather than getting ghosted.

Sending quotes to customers

One key way to avoid receiving the silent treatment is to include a couple of differently priced options in your quote right from the beginning. In addition to your standard quote for how much it would cost to do the job based on the client's brief, include one or two cheaper alternatives that make the job less time-consuming or more enjoyable for you.

This will show potential customers that even if they can’t afford your original fee, you’re willing to be flexible and offer them alternatives that might still give them the kind of result they’re looking for at a more accessible price.

Here are some examples of things you could consider when putting together alternative options:

1) Format

Think about how much time you could save if the customer allowed you to send the deliverables in a format that is quick and simple for you to produce, rather than the fiddly format they asked you for.

Would this enable you to offer them a lower price? It might be that the client would be willing to accept this other format too, especially when they see the difference in price between the two options. Sometimes customers just don’t realise the impact on cost that one format can have over another.

2) Deadline

In today’s modern world, customers seem to want things today for yesterday. However, they’re not always willing to pay more for a quick turnaround. I often see that the urgency disappears for customers when they see that a short deadline costs a lot more than a long deadline.

If you give the customer two delivery options, you might also be offering them a price they find more reasonable. If they’re not in a particular rush, they might choose the longer delivery time, allowing you to fit the project in around your other work and making it more affordable for the client. It’s a win-win!

3) Rounds of edits

Depending on the kind of work you do, could you consider offering the customer fewer rounds of amendments than you normally would? If your standard practice is to offer two rounds of edits, you could propose only one as an alternative option.

This would reduce the burden on your time and on the client’s pocket!

4) Scope

You could also think about whether or not it might be a good idea to offer the customer an option with a reduced scope.

For example, if you are a copywriter and the client has asked you for a 2,000-word blog post, could you consider offering them a 1,500-word post as an alternative? If you think you’d be able to deal with the subject in fewer words, this might save you having to come up with additional ideas to pad out the post and may also give the customer the same (or maybe even a better, more concise) end result!

5) Anything that would make the job easier or more enjoyable for you

The above are just a few ideas, but I’m sure there are so many other options to choose from as well. Anything that makes the job easier or more enjoyable for you makes for a great alternative for the client!

In many instances, the customer won’t even realise that some of these things can make a big difference to the price they’re asked to pay. But this is where our job as freelancers is also to educate the customer. They can’t expect an urgent job to be done at the same price as one with a longer deadline, and they shouldn’t expect as many rounds of edits as they like to simply be included in the price.

Offering alternatives will help the client see the different considerations you make when putting together a quote. Not only will it show them how professional you are, it will also suggest that there may be a way to work with you that falls within their budget, even if your standard price is too high for them.

If you try any of these suggestions or come up with some new alternatives to offer your clients, I’d love to know how you get on. Otherwise, if you feel at a bit of a loss when it comes to quoting and negotiating with customers, you might want to consider having a 1:1 custom mentoring call with me. I’ll be happy to give you advice on whatever it is you feel you need help with when it comes to pricing, quoting and negotiation.

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