To tell the client it’s not my job to subsidise his business ?

[RunningSME]

I had somebody approach me today about providing him with a service so we started to discuss what I could do for him and they really like the sound of it until we got to the stage where we were negotiating fees.

I told him what I would charge everybody else and that is the truth I have 60 clients who will pay the same amount, some pay in advance upfront, mostly they pay on completion of the deal.
he’s replied that they work on tight margins despite having previously told me that one employee generates £6000 a week in profit.

Apparently my competitors charge 25% less.

I won’t say this of course but I really want to reply I’m a bloody single mum from Warrington why is it my job to subsidise your business ?

you wouldn’t walk into Marks And Spencers and ask them to supply you with a sandwich and then tell them that you want to pay 25% less because you can’t afford it they’d laugh in your face.

I feel your pain, I get this too! I'm lucky that currently I can afford to turn away business so I've ended up actually shouting at people (not proud of that bit) that I don't work to subsidise other people's businesses. Agree that being a single Mum isn't relevant, but absolutely agree that you should be charging what you're worth. You're good at what you do, don't take any crap!

I’m afronted because as I said in my original OP I wouldn’t say I’m a single mum therefore I deserve a discount and yet he felt quite free to say that he was a small business with tight margin so therefore he should have a discount. Which was an actual lie it was complete bullshit.

is it my job to subsidise his business? if he can’t afford me he can’t afford me it isn’t my problem as it wouldn’t be Marks And Spencers problem if I couldn’t afford the sarnies ? are you with me ?

He was within his rights to ask for a discount. You are within your rights to refuse. End ion. There's no real story here.

And I don't see what being a single mum has got to do with any of it. I mean, I get it, it means you are raising your family on your own, but so are a lot of others, or have similar personal issues, but that's nothing to do with business.

Just seen that you posted his last remark to you. That's reallly out of order. Definitely don't waste your time any more on this individual. They would be a nightmare to work with

I probably should’ve quoted word for word what he said as he asked for the discount because I think you’d probably get the context a little bit more it was just around the fact that he felt entitled on the basis that his margins were tight to ask for a discount, but they aren’t and he and I basically run an identical business just with the different product so I know exactly what his margins are and he’s just completely lying.

he’s also contradicting himself because he claimed that one of his members of staff was creating 5 to £6000 a week in revenue that’s not a tight margin in our industry sector.

and then in his final message he accuses me of lying and basically tells me next time you’re an employees don’t come sniffing around here.
just a giant cock basically that’s the main reason I was affronted. I’ve genuinely not come across many of these people in my life and certainly not in the past couple of years. A timely reminder to work extra hard on my lovely clients work today who do pay me what I deserve and on time.

The guy's a complete tool.

Ah well, you're lucky to not have him as a client, this was one of the easiest ways to confirm that you don't want to work for him. Why is he cross at you when he has an easy 25% cheaper option to take? Weirdo.

Virtually every business & most households have costs & tight margins right now. Yours may be in context of your household set up & his may be in context of his tax bills or keeping kids in private school. No one needs to be embarrassed.

I'm thinking my initial response might have been "it's great you have other options that do fit in your budget" and move on.

"Next time you're an employee, don't come sniffing around here'

I'd be tempted to write what a pp suggested ie that his response is inappropriate and nasty and you won't be doing business with him, then quote the above and put 'as per the above sentiments ... likewise'.

Then block.

What I actually need to do is just put him out of my head, not give the satisfaction of blocking him, not respond just empty my head of his thoughts because he obviously needed to have the last word.

people like him really piss me off but I think what pisses me off more is the fact that they bother me.

I get this all the time. I usually reply something like “there’s only two real positions in any marketplace, the cheapest or the best. And I’m not the cheapest!”

Love this. Am definitely going to use it. We're occasionally asked to discount our day rate for the work we do but rarely do because we currently have more work than there are days.

I don't get why this is an issue. He is trying to negotiate prices down, you don't want to so just say no, sorry. Done.

Agree don’t even glorify his message by sending a response

Yeah I'd just leave it now. He's a colossal arse

Almost everybody sees themselves as the hero in their own Hollywood movie and small business men more than most see that as an action movie. If you'd have cut your prices then he'd have bragged to his friends how he screwed you. You didn't hence the 'unemployed next year and don't come..' to try and give himself agency. Don't give him headspace. For the future 'if you can find a supplier who provides an equally good offering cheaper then you should absolutely work with them. All my clients can afford me and think I provide excellent value for money. Hope your business improves so you can afford good advice and suppliers in the future...'

Keep up the good work.

Don't do that, just ignore him. He presumably won't find your product any cheaper elsewhere and knows it, and he's just an entitled person who can't handle it when people don't roll over and do whatever he wants. Replying won't change his attitudes. In his heart of hearts he knows that there is no scenario where OP comes begging him for a job anyway.

I once worked in a legal aid solicitors' firm where one of the clients was extremely demanding. He used to phone at around 8 am and complain if he hadn't had a call back by 8.30, even though our business hours started at 9. Ultimately we came to the conclusion that his claim wasn't viable and closed the case. We had a three page rant about how terrible we were, and how he'd just had a relative offer him £100K to pursue the claim and he wasn't going to instruct us so we'd lost out on the chance to earn all that money. We knew it was absolute bollocks but wished him well and said we looked forward to reading about the case in the law reports - if the claim ever got upheld it would have made new law and would certainly have been reported. It felt very satisfying, because he knew that we knew that was never going to happen.

YANBU. I find the clients that have the most money are the tightest.

I took on a new client recently and gave them a quote which they agreed.

Did that work plus more and billed them as quoted plus a proportionate amount for the second bit of work.

Now they've come back and said they don't think we spent enough time on the job to justify the original quote so aren't happy with it, or the extra charge, and only want to pay 70% of what I've billed, which would actually lose us money due to our costs.

The work we'd quoted for was done exactly as had been quoted for and we were cheaper than their previous provider.

This is a company that made £1m profit last year and is arguing with us over £3,000.

I sense a battle to get the money out of them...

Sorry not seeing the big deal. A normal part of business is negotiating prices, whether that's sale price, supplier price or client price. Doesn't matter if you're a small business or a multi-billion pound one.

If you had suppliers you'd be a fool not to try and negotiate some sort of discount if you've had a long relationship with them and they valued it.

His response was arsey, but so what. Some people are arsey. Doesn't reflect on you, your business or your life. I'm surprised he's the first arsehole you come across frankly - you have been very lucky.

There will be many more in the future, esp with costs increasing and profit margins getting smaller.

He doesn’t have a long-standing relationship with me at all he’s approached me to ask me to do work for him there’s no relationship.
i’m actually extremely generous with discounting with people that I know I can trust to pay me.

Exactly
I have been in Business and I have never had an issue with potential clients trying to politely get a reduction. I politely say no and then we either work together or don’t with no ill feelings on either side.
You are taking it too personally, be professional

I'm surprised you haven't encountered this before. The main objective of any business is to generate profit, the more the better. Broadly speaking you can increase profit by charging more for your product or service or reducing costs. He was negotiating to reduce his costs. The lies he told and your personal circumstances don't really matter.

You have taken this way to personally, although I think your response to him was professional and appropriate. His reply to you tells you he does not have a cheaper option available to him. Its embarrassing for him because he has become arsey about not getting his own way on the first attempt to beat you down on price. You've dodged a bullet, I would not reply to him, just ignore.

Someone can ask for a reduced charge for services.

No can be a complete sentence.

@RunningSME , DH always says that one of the biggest advantages of working for himself is that he can choose not to work with arseholes. This guy sounds like he qualifies. Ignore.

In the organisation I work for we are always expected to negotiate on price, and I’ve never dealt with a supplier or service provider who wouldn’t budge a little on the original quote. As a result I do tend to assume that most businesses build in a little extra into their initial quotes in order to allow them to reduce if asked.

I’m not saying that you should reduce your prices, just that it’s not unexpected to be asked if there is room for negotiation. Obviously as he’s being a dick in other ways you have clearly made the right choice in not dealing with him, but you really shouldn’t allow him to get in your head like this. He’s not worth it.

I often tell potential clients who want to pay a ridiculously low price that, as much as I love making , I do have to make enough to live on.