Meeting the client’s budget is a WIN/LOSE😭

A friend I chatted with recently shared with me a really great example of why pricing to your clients budget is a win/lose.

They were approached by a business in the health and wellness space asking to get some photos done for their business.

The client really needed the work done as she’d had a friend help her build a website.

She was just getting started.

My friend quoted her her usual rate and explained what she thought she needed.

The client then explained to her that she didn’t have a lot of money, and really needed the work done, she had other bills to pay and a family to feed.

My friend (the creative) did what she thought was the right thing to offer to meet her at her budget and do what she asked at that rate.

Now, my friend is a lovely person and I know why she did this, but I asked her a question after discussing this situation.

“If you give your client a discount because they can’t afford to work with you, is it fair to say that you’re putting their needs before your own?”

In that they have a family to feed, bills to pay, mortgages to service just like you - but you’re going to carve up your fee so in the end you have less money and can’t pay your bills?

A win/lose is when you charge a client less because you are

Afraid of them saying no

They are a friend (or friend of a friend)

They push for a better deal

It might seem like a win, but from my experience its a win for the client and a loss for you.

This is because the client still gets the same great product from you.

(with the same deadline btw)

But you don’t get paid as much.

From my experience working with clients and talking to our community, what can happen is we end up either putting in just as much work and resenting it when the project invariably goes out of scope within the first few days.

Or we de-prioritise (is that a word?) the job and it gets pushed to the back, we put in less love and the client doesn’t get the result they want.

Like my friend’s situation, we need to draw a line in the sand and just ask ourselves…

Who is the priority - our business, our family - or theirs?

Who wins and who loses if I drop my rates?

Will I still do the same job and get the outcome the client wants if I’m not being paid fairly.

I feel the best way to do right by your client is to charge them what you charge everyone else, and if they can’t afford you.

They can’t afford you.

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