When a client pushes back on your rates, should you hold firm or negotiate?

Needs vs Wants

There is a question of needs and wants at the heart of this conundrum - how much do you need the money from this engagement? How much do you want the work the client is offering?

Ideally, our pricing is accurate - it meets the market appropriately, existing within a realistic spectrum for our positioning and type of service, and internally we have costed it in such a manner that is robustly profitable for our business.

But there will always be times when your rates don’t meet the budget of the client and you receive pushback. In those moments, you’ll have to decide when to hold firm, and when to negotiate. And remember - it is a negotiation. Use that language - ‘Yes, I am open to negotiating on the rates and scope of works, let’s progress that conversation’.

Here is a way of thinking about whether you should negotiate or whether you should hold firm.

The other way of approaching this question is to think about how you can have more power in the negotiation as a regular everyday position. If you find yourself constantly being screwed down on rates, then what do you need to do to your service offer, skill set, or positioning to give yourself more leverage? This tends to be a longer term piece of work, not an overnight change, but one well worth doing if it places you in a much stronger position, each and every time you enter a negotiation.

I am a business and career coach, offering one-to-one coaching and team training. To explore working with me you can book an intro chat, visit my website or email me at holly@holly-garber.com.