How to deal with client offering price thats almost half from the price mentioned in the job post

[ritz_10]

Hi everyone,

This is my very first post in upwork community so please excuse if I violate any community guideline. Lately, I am concerned over an issue I am facing with 2-3 job posts so I need your guidance and advice on the same. 

Sometimes it is an invitation to a job post or sometimes its me applying for a job that has some budget mentioned in the description and I found myself both comfortable with the price and task I applied. Now clients started chatting over the upwork and they keep me asking to quote a price that I already had in my cover letter. Now they offer a straight half amount of the actual amount they mentioned in the job description. They keep telling that there are lots more work so the price should be less. What should I do? How do I deal with this situation? I usually don't continue the conversation. But I need to know how to deal with them. 

Please advice guys

[prestonhunter]

It's a negotiation.

This is something for a client and freelancer to work out amongst themselves.

[ritz_10]

Thank you for the reply. I will definitely try to keep in mind this point while talking to the clients

[martina_plaschka]

It's your decision how to run your business, but I would have done the same. 

[ritz_10]

Thank you for the reply. Yes I was afraid that maybe I hurt/offend the person by saying something unwanted words. That's why I usually avoid further conversation. People may have their budget, but as per me, they should mention that initially so I don't have to waste my connects by replying the job. 

[martina_plaschka]

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Rituparna P wrote:

Thank you for the reply. Yes I was afraid that maybe I hurt/offend the person by saying something unwanted words. That's why I usually avoid further conversation. People may have their budget, but as per me, they should mention that initially so I don't have to waste my connects by replying the job. 

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Well of course nobody here knows how you worded your response, but if you feel that reasonable negotiation gets you nowhere, you decline in your most professional manner without calling the client cheap or whatever you said. I also don't recommend just ended the conversation abruptly, it's unprofessional. A person that respects the way you handle yourself might become a future client. 

[feed_my_eyes]

I would deal with this by saying that I believe my price to be fair considering my skills and experience, and leave it at that. But honestly, my clients hardly ever try to negotiate price with me; I imagine that this is happening to you because your prices are very low, so people might assume that you'd be willing to work for even less money. (And they can see that you sometimes charge $12 and other times $14 per hour, which looks like you're open to price reductions.) You could try gradually raising your hourly rate so that you attract better clients and fewer cheapskates.

[ritz_10]

Thank you for the reply. I really got some positive courage from your words. Trust I needed that. Some are my old clients who are working in old rates, I dont mind them. Because we have long time relationship. But yeah, you really understand my problem and give me the courage to stand still. 

[wlyonsatl]

Never give in to a prospective client who holds out the carrot of "more work in the future."

When they need you to work for them in the future, they can pay you in the future. If they want work done in the present, they can pay you what you've offered them. That doesn't mean you can't be flexible, but promises of future work don't pay the bills (and are, I believe, usually empty promises anyway).

[ritz_10]

Thank you for your reply. Yes got it right. Falls promises of lots of work. People really need to understand designing is really a manual work. Time, skill and lots of research involved in it. It's not something that produced in some automated machine where bulk production will reduce the cost. Thank you so much. Your advice brings some positive encouragement to face them. 

[philomenaaah · Accepted solution]

Knowing your worth and feeling comfortable to negotiate is not always easy. When I started I was very uncomfortable with those situations as well. Even today, if I have a client who has good arguments it's more difficult. Creating a process to my business helped me a lot. For example, I just give discounts on fixed-price contracts on orders above a specific amount. Bellow that amount my prices are not negociable. Some people tell me that I'm losing some job opportunities, but the question is that I need to analyse and consider not only the money that I will receive, but also the taxes, the time that I need to invest on that client/project, the revisions that I will need to do and, in general, if it worth it or not.