I HATE customers with such reply

Be firm. Judging by their English skills, they aren't worth your time anyway...

He's entitled to try to negotiate and you're entitled to say no.

It's odd really, in some countries and cultures bargaining is seen as rude. In some countries and cultures bargaining is normal and you would be seen as just plain daft not to bargain.

Maybe your customer is just used to negotiating.

I'm with you though, if you charge what you believe is the right price for your services then just say no. That's what I do.

As your (ex) customer might find out to his cost, cheapest isn't always best.

I used to consider requests like this an insult but now I just see them as negotiating.

We have it all the time in our offline business. When a customer asks for a discount on their monthly bill we try to push for a lump sum upfront for 6-12 months.

We give up something in return for a commitment from them.

You're not a surgeon

I guess it depends on how badly you want the work. If you don't want to do the work at that price, and there is a source for your customer to get it done for that price elsewhere, then he has a choice to make.

It's not the end of your business right? No big deal. Part of doing business.

There's no problem with negotiating the price. Customers has the right to do that. But customer's being rude is different issue. I am a customer but as much as possible, i don't want to be rude to any seller.

Like any service provider, you have determine the value of services in the context of the current market. While customer feedback is one important component of this, I don't think you have to react to the comments of one customer.

This person wants to work with you which makes me wonder why, maybe it is due to your past relationship but if the perceived value of service was the same with cost being the only difference, they probably would have jumped already.

You can say no. Well, as the Warriors here have said, they can negotiate with you since they're your customers. Even if they start to become rude in their negotiations, be firm and don't take it too personally. Again, you have the power to say no.

Price buyers always buy based on price. Therefore if you cut them a deal once, they'll be back with their hands out over and over again. Most small businesses can't survive by discounting, especially when the 'bulk' orders aren't really that big. I say hold your ground, charge what you need to to make a profit, and the right kind of clients will find you.

believe me, if he had found a cheaper service, he would have purchased it immediately without contacting u for less price, he's bluffing, ignore him!

I don't like to deal with customers like him. I always like to work customer who knows the value of service. More people come == More orders come.

Thanks for the replies man. I think I'm pissed when he made statement like The first few sentences, to me, is insulting. Perhaps it's just me. But I do reply nicely to thank him for the business and invite him to take another service which he thinks is cheaper.

The worst is having these people try and get you as a full time SEO by trying to drag down your prices when your profit margins are already low.

So, when you make 20-40 percent profit margins on an SEO deal and the guy is hammering you to go from 1k a month down to like, 600, not realizing that you are spending 600 just to keep him ranked.

It will kill your business, guaranteed.

I see this as a two fold perspective:
1) the customer has a right to ask for whatever they want. Doesn't mean you as the vendor have to give it to them. Business is about making money and providing x,y,z. If this client won't make you money, or there isn't a derivative value in keeping him (word of mouth, connections), then just move on. It's business
2) from MY perspective in offering services to many different countries over the past 7 years (I ran Article Authors which was/is a content production house), I found certain cultures in different areas of the world who either expected a certain price or expected you to do a,b,c because of what their expectations were. Nickle and diming exists everywhere, and depending on your service you may be competing against an "seo" company overseas who will do it for peanut shells...not even peanuts, just the shells. I'm like the poster above, I just move on to the next client if I'm getting to much gruff as to price points and then I'm that much more happier.

Hey anywhere in your conversation with him Joseph, did you tell your client, that you feel that your time has a certain value to it, and that you feel you make a better quality product than your competitors?

Sometimes just stating that will get the buyer to back off and think about it a little bit. The responses you wish to receive can really depend how your replies are written.

The guy is a jerk. Negotiating is one thing, but he's trying to tell you how to run your business. Even rudely. In my book that's an undesirable customer who will most likely give you trouble and be the high-maintenance type, always demanding more. Entitlement mentality type who thinks he's doing you a big favor. These types always threaten you with fear of loss of their precious business and then never bring you any more.

He should know that common courtesy will get him more of what he wants than the rude, demanding behavior seen here.

MBDirect

You are far better off just dumping them.

Tell them you will keep them as a client at the prices they paid before or you will have to ask them to take their business elsewhere as you will not be offering your services for their asking price.

Firing a client is very empowering.

'Hate' is a strong word to use, I reserve that for only two people I can think of, past and present.

As a business owner, there are few things worse than having a client/prospect tell you that they've placed an order elsewhere based on price, without having given you the opportunity to review it with them.
So in a rather crude way, your client has been very open and clear with you. He's told you what he's willing to pay. The rest is up to you.
I wish some of my clients were so forthright, instead of just saying 'hey, I've only got $500 to spend', they waste hours of your time 'reviewing the specification' to see where a penny can be saved.

As rooze said hate is a strong word to use, especially if this person is a customer, I understand that you don't like their way of negotiating the price, its up to you..

BUT the customer is always looking for a cheaper price, they have the right to look around, this customer said that others are offering it for cheaper price and he/she wanted to see if you can match the price, maybe the quality is not the same but the customer thinks it is the same...at least the customer mentioned that they would like to use your service and asked if you can match the prices..I don't even see that the customer was rude.. I think he tried to do it in a cool way by using c'mon and other words

Alot of people do this on daily basis, we call the cell phone companies and tell them this company is offering this, I would like to see if you can offer the same or else I will move! its a very common way to use, it has nothing to do with culture, everybody try to matches the price in North America, WE DO IT ON DAILY BASIS.. Walmart/Futureshop.....

Simply tell them that you cannot provide the service for such a price cuze its a loss for you, the customer will go try something else and if they didn't like it they will come back, it happened with me and I am glad it did, I hired so many writers and they all sucked, they were cheap but the outcome sucks, I decided to go back to a writer here "nellterry" and take her services but she is the best writer I have dealt with....

Honestly if I was a customer of yours and I saw you posting my message on a forum and saying you hate another customer, I would stop using your services, when a customer sends you an email you should keep it private or at least say the story in your words, not copy paste what they have said.. this is a very bad practice

For the user "Harvey M" , excuse me but who are you to judge people based on their English skills, can I judge you based on your nickname? or picture?

Yeah that is pretty lame who wants a customer like that ???

Rank all of your customers as A, B, C, D etc.

If this was one of your best customers (A) - giving you most of your revenue, paying you quickly and accurately without fuss, easy to deal with etc, etc then treat it as a negotiation tactic.

If it is one of your worst customers (D) - giving you a job once in a blue moon, always asking for discounts, paying slow, always asking for changes with no additional fees etc etc, then keep your price firm.

He will get the message.

This is business, plain and simple. Expect lots of customers to do some bargaining with you. Don't take it personally. Be friendly to your customers as much as possible for that is one of the reasons that they will stay to be your regular customers.

In business, you can never avoid such thing, just be professional and stick to your standards.

It's called the art of negotiation. Stick with your price if you want, but hate is a strong word to use for a customer trying to negotiate a better price.

Hmm...posting this thread probably made the "lose him?" decision for you.

I would tell him to jog on. Know your worth. If you produce quality and your pricing is reasonable he will still go with you anyway. If not, he's prob not going to be a quality long time customer anyways