Often when we negotiate with a client it looks like this: 

| “we charge 25% but it is negotiable.

Client | i will do it for 18%. 

Cant do 18%, can go down to 20% though? 

Client | we have more roles which can and will be released to you soon , so im happy to do it for 18%

Oh ok, well how about 19%, with exclusivity?

And so on.. 

Lets say the role was paying 60k. 

25% of 60k is £15,000

19% is £11,400

How quickly did it take to go from 25% 19%? In other words, in the space of maybe 30 seconds you have lost £3600.

When you talk in percentages it doesn’t have much weight and can detract you away from what these small figures actually mean…i.e £3600. 

Consider this approach instead. 

Nick | 18% is going to mean i loose over £3600 Mike and whist i understand why you want a cheap deal it needs to be commercially viable for my team and i. How about i take off £1250  from the invoice instead.. that way you have saved over well over a grand for 30 seconds work and i haven’t lost enough to be demotivated?

5% is meaningless.  £1250 “savings” is real. It is also only 23%.

Below, please write down what you think to this approach/any concerns/challenges/questions.  I shall review it and we can discuss in the session.

Do you understand the Scenario?