Marketing Advice


Handling pricing negotiations without losing clients


Colin Sinclair McDermott, aka The Online Print Coach, shares some practical strategies to help you handle price negotiation without losing clients and maintain the margins you are worth.


T


he garment decoration business can be highly competitive and handling


negotiations is often something I see business owners not being overly comfortable with.


More often than not I witness garment decorators going against their personal values in order to win work that could be harming their bottom line at the fear of losing a sale, however, setting the right price for your products and services can be the difference between making or breaking your business.


How many times have you found yourself in a position where you complete a job for a client and almost begrudge them in the end because it’s taken longer than you expected or is simply not making the profit on the job you feel you deserve? In this article, I’ll share with you some practical strategies to help you handle price negotiation without losing clients and maintain the margins you are worth.


Know your numbers


The baseline for any price negotiation is making sure you know your numbers so you can understand what margins you have to play with.


Walking the sales tightrope is a delicate place and therefore knowing the true cost of every product you sell will give you a strong footing as it then allows you to set an absolute minimum cost


| 18 | February 2025


without compromising your margins and keeping your clients loyal and happy. Knowing this will give you more confidence when negotiating and allow you to justify the costs that go in behind the scenes, such as time, materials, overheads, and equipment depreciation. I often find that clients never fully appreciate the full process of production so it can be important to explain the process if being met with objections over pricing. It’s important to communicate the process and value of the service you provide.


Focus on other elements Rather than focusing solely on the numbers, explain to them the other key aspects like the quality of the garments you are using and the levels of customer service you provide. Clients can often focus too much on the price of an item without always appreciating all the other things you do around the job to enhance their experience and make it easier for them without having concerns about when the job will turn up or how it will impact their brand.


As I’ve touched on in previous articles, going through the customer avatar process and tweaking your messaging to address the wants and needs of your client’s perspective can be the very thing that takes their focus away from price and makes their decision-making process more about the other values you bring to the table.


If for instance, the client is more price sensitive, rather than compromising your own margins, perhaps offer alternative solutions that tie in more accordingly with their budget.


Maybe, they need to consider smaller areas of personalisation or fewer applications. Maybe, a lesser-quality garment can be shown as a way to help them fall within budget but again if you don’t ask what budget you have to work with, setting the stage for negotiation can be difficult.


I often recommend offering two or three alternatives for them to choose from. Tiered pricing can be an effective way to empower your clients to select the best solution for them. If you give them a premium, a standard, and a budget option, the onus is on them. Typically, they will gravitate towards the middle option and your client will feel like they’ve made a more balanced choice and you still make the margins you deserve.


The biggest lesson I’ve learned over the years is that you must be willing to walk away from a negotiation. It’s unsustainable to constantly find yourself in a situation of justifying your pricing and actually, it doesn’t do your relationship with the client long-term any good. Undervaluing your business sets an unhealthy precedent for the future. Remember, it’s not about lowering your price to fit the client’s budget.


www.printwearandpromotion.co.uk


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