How to Reply When Clients Say You’re Too Expensive

No matter what industry you are in, if you’re selling your services you will inevitably come up against clients who balk at your prices. This 9-minute video from The Futur is a role-play of that very situation and will teach you some ways to respond and close the deal without selling yourself short.

The video focuses on graphic design as an example industry, but this translates just as easily to photography or any other creative service-based industry. Chris Do, an Emmy award-winning designer and founder/CEO of a brand strategy design consultancy called Blind, demonstrates his strong approach to a client who “was expecting to pay much less” and “will provide more work if you just do this first piece cheaply”.

The video can be roughly broken down into the following segments:

0:22 Use Price Bracketing to establish budget range
0:48 Embrace and then pivot
2:18 Remind the client why they are calling you
2:49 State why you are different from other competitors
3:08 Try to kill the engagement
3:17 Plant seeds of doubt
3:17 Client dangles carrot
3:46 Check the symmetry of logic
4:10 Client doesn’t give up so easily
4:48 Level with them: What’s the maximum amount of money that you’re willing to spend on this?
5:18 Be flexible with the budget gap.
5:46 Let them know that the price reduction is only for the first project.
6:17 Give yourself room to negotiate down.
7:05 Explain that they are paying extra for assurance to get it done.

Do’s approach requires great confidence in your work, a strong value of your time, and the ability to be firm but flexible. It’s a great lesson in how to deal with a difficult situation and hopefully ending up being paid what you know your work is worth.