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Home » Business And Finance Articles » Its Not Your Job To Lower Your Fees To Help The Client Afford You

It's Not Your Job to Lower Your Fees to Help the Client Afford You

I constantly receive questions and complaints from my creative professional clients about what to do when a prospect claims, "I can't afford your prices, but I want your services." My clients are frustrated, because they are usually being told this while standing in a mansion-like home, furnished with top-of-the-line furniture, with a beautifully manicured lawn, and three luxury cars parked in a four-car garage.

How much your client can afford is relative to their values and beliefs of what is important. It is not your job to lower your price so the client can afford you. It is your job to help the client see the connections between their values and your services, regardless of how much money they've spent on other items.

In other words, don't lower your price because the client says she can't afford you.

What a client can and cannot afford is all relative. For example, I know a woman who enjoys eating out at expensive restaurants, though she claims she cannot afford to go on vacation every year. On the flip side, I know families who rarely eat out and cook low cost meals at home, so they can afford to vacation twice a year. Therefore, it is valuable to the first woman to eat out and it is valuable to the other people to go on vacation. What they can each afford is based on their values of what is important, not on how much money they have.

What people choose to spend their money on and what they can afford is not the job of the restaurant, nor is it the job of the vacation spots. Just as it is not your job to lower your price just because the client wants you to.

You have to help the client see the value in your services by learning more about what is important to them and why. During your initial visit with the client (either on the phone or in person) you must ask them questions about what they want and, more importantly, WHY they want it. Buy uncovering "the why" behind their wants, you can help them connect their needs to the value of your services.

Don't just pitch your services to the client, ASK them what they want. Then follow up with a question (or several questions) which help you understand why they want it.

Keep in mind, if the client continues to whine that she cannot afford your services, then move on. Don't lower your price. If she wants you and finds value in your services, she'll find the money to be able to afford you.

And here is another random article you might be interested in...

Are You A Google Junkie

Google this, Google that, Google Google Google.......

My name is Debbie and I am a Google PR Junkie.

I have to laugh at myself as I say that. Because to me I was a Google PR junkie. I had to know what my PR was everyday! Sometimes more than once a day (ok, ok, i'll admit) everyday I checked at least four times a day to make sure my PR was still the same or maybe to see if it had moved up a notch. Yep I was definitely addicted to Google. I thought Google was the light at the end of the tunnel. If Google said I was a certain PR then by all means it was right. Why? Cause Google said.

To me it was reassuring to see that little green line move across the bar. I always felt like I was in a casino and had just pulled the handle on the slot machine as I sat and waited too see where the little green line would stop. Silly, isn't it? But yet, I know I'm not alone. There are many of us out there that live by the little green line. Well, I'm here to announce that I have just recently put myself in Google PR recovery. Yes, I am having a few withdrawal symptoms but nothing I can' t handle.

I know you're thinking why did I have to put myself in recovery? Well, one day that little green line was not very nice to me. In fact, there was no green line at all. Now of course this had to be a mistake because just two hours before I still had my PR4. So there was no way this was accurate. But after ---- geesh I can't even remember how many more times I pulled the Google handle it still came up with no green line. At that moment I began to feel betrayed, why was Google doing this to me when I had been such a faithful player.

I couldn't understand why that would happen. I had been adding content-- something Google loves. I had been doing my linking. So I was beginning to take it personally that Google just didn't like me. So after a few days of analyzing (and yes moping too). I decided that I didn't need Google! Who was Google to tell me that my site didn't have a PR? I knew I had been working hard on my site and as long as I knew that, that was ok with me.

Well, come to find out I did still have my PR I just had to go about looking for it in a different manner (without the www). Was Google trying to trick me? Well, from what I have understood Google gets confused at times which is acceptable, it happens to the best of us. But I still am keeping myself in recovery. I can see now that my life was being controlled by the green line. I will not allow that to happen again. Besides, I think if maybe I just stop focusing so much on it, It will move up faster.

So my advice to any other Google PR Junkie....don't worry about the green line. As long as you know you are doing your work and you are getting traffic to your site then you know things are ok. Focus more on the things you can control, and forget the uncontrollable green line.

This article was written by Debbie Reyes webmaster of http://www.extra-income-work-at-home-mom.com