A Short About Client Experience

photography by carla ten eyck

In a conversation with my assistant we were discussing how a client’s attitude toward cost can affect their overall experience. In a consultation, when a client says to me, “you’re expensive,” or “you’re more than we budgeted for,” my response is, “Well, yes, we are certainly not the least expensive option you’ll consider.” I think that resonates with clients, and most of them then “understand” what they are purchasing.

Sometimes, though, you have a potential client who just wants the best deal. Forget about the service— they just want the lowest cost possible. If your new to the business, you might give in and lessen your service fee to gain the client. If you have a hard time of saying no, you might do the same. For whatever reason, I think we’ve all given in and said, “okay, here’s what I can do for you.”

The problem that I see with this is that the client has no value for your price or service. When a client doesn’t value your service— what’s the sense in working for them? I’ve often found that when a client undervalues your price and service, they tend to question every thing you do. There is no appreciation, value, or trust— and without that, your setting out on the wrong foot to provide a bad experience for the client.

Have you ever noticed that when a client values your price and service they trust your judgement and your experience with that client is the best that your company provides?

Have you also noticed that when a client undervalues your price, low-balls your quotes, and questions every thing you do, that they set up their experience with your company to be the exact opposite of what you want to provide?

There are always exceptions to the rule– we’ve done a lot of nice things for our clients and had a great experience with them. But the client’s we didn’t book were asking too much of us and expecting a lot for a very little.

I have a question for you: how often do you lessen the cost of your service to meet a client’s request, and has it affected the overall experience you’ve BOTH had?

xo

photography by Carla Ten Eyck

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