How to Tell a Client you Can’t Lower the Price?

As a Freelancer, I am sure you have heard phrases like “too expensive”, “your price is too high”, etc. So how can you handle such clients and let them know that you can’t lower the price?

The dilemma is, you don’t want to lower the price because you have given your best price. However, you don’t want to lose the client by being too rigid on pricing.

As a freelancer working on marketplaces like Upwork, we have to deal with such clients. However, if you are well prepared in advance, you can handle the situation in a much better way.

Why Clients Want Lower Prices?

The first thing to able to deal with clients willing to lower your price is to understand why they want to be doing it. There are many reasons for it, but broadly, one can classify those reasons into three major categories.

1. Worried About Overpaying

The most common reason I have found working with hundreds of clients is that they are worried about overpaying.

And remember, there are multiple reasons for such worry as well.

When they use competitive marketplaces, clients feel one can get everything done for a far less amount. Furthermore, their experience in the past has been that they overpaid for something straightforward.

On top of that, clients aren’t technical, so they can’t judge the task’s complexity either. So they often think something straightforward can’t cost so much money.

Such clients will often request you to reduce the price:

• Can you do it for $$$
• I have other offers cheaper than yours
• I can’t spend $$$ on this hobby project

From the above statements, you can sense an element of request from the client to work for a cheaper price point.

Handling Such Clients

When you explain to clients why the price is higher, clients often understand the task’s complexities and are willing to pay more.

The best way to explain the client is to break down the cost into smaller tasks that can help them understand why it costs them more than they anticipated earlier.

2. Can’t Afford Your Services

The second category of clients is not very eager to spend more or want to try out something new on a very tight budget. So they can’t just afford an excellent service that you may have to offer.

Here the clients will use powerful words.

• Sorry, but there’s no way I can spend $$$ on this.
• Your price is way out of my budget.
• The max I can spend is $$$.

Still, remember the client has got in touch with you for a reason. If they didn’t want to work with you at all, they could have rejected your proposal or may not have responded.

Because there is communication from the client, you still can convince the client, but it will be tough to convince the client but not impossible.

Handling Such Clients

Often clients have made up their minds on the max they want to spend on the task. The best way to negotiate with such clients is to break up the entire cost into functionalities or modules. Then ask the client to give up on some of the functionality to reduce the cost.

Further, you have also to offer a slight discount to get the ball rolling.

3. Want to Save Money

Negotiating with clients is not as simple as black and white. There will be shades of grey.

It doesn’t matter what your price is, and the client will always want to save money. You will assume the client is either type 1 or type 2, but actually, they aren’t in either. They want to negotiate because they love to negotiate.

And this is the third category of clients that you have to deal with.

Again, we don’t assume that clients want to lower your price just for the sake of it. Some clients want to save money because they have other plans as well. So they want to go for better price options.

Handling Such Clients

The best way to handle such clients is to let them know that you can do nothing on the price but add more value to the work you will be doing.

Furthermore, it is always better to break down the cost into modules or functionality and then let the client choose some options and leave the other. Again, your discounted price, along with less functionality, should help things moving.

However, one should remember that beyond a point, you should be rigid on the price and try to offer more and more value for the price.

Final Thoughts

Remember that price negotiation is a good sign. You know that client is serious about getting things done. They are not lurking around to find out the budget to get the things done they want to be doing.

The best trick that works for me is to offer more to clients for the same price than lowering the cost. Often it is as simple as it will help you upgrade the site for the next six months. Upgrading WordPress is as simple as taking a backup and making a few clicks, but that is something that client wants. They want to do it right, and once they get it as a bonus, they are more than willing to go ahead with the project.

Finally, remember that you will have clients who can’t work with you no matter how hard you try. They are not the client for you.

Accept it, and you have to move on. Everyone won’t be interested in your services, and you should be ok with it.

The best part of freelancing is that you can choose which clients to work with, and the same applies to clients. They have the right to select the freelancer they want to work with at a price they are willing to pay. You can’t lower the price beyond a point, and some clients can’t increase the price beyond a point. So it is not a reflection of your capabilities or services.

Be polite and professional at handling rejections as well. It is part and parcel of being a freelancer.