Icophobiacs Anonymous
8
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Icophobia –A morbid fear of haggling or even discussing issues of payment with another human being. See also: Tamara Berry.
I’m not good at haggling. Correction. I have no idea if I’m good at haggling or not, since my knees start shaking and my heart starts palpitating at the mere thought of trying to extort my monetary worth from a prospective client.
I know how haggling is supposed to work.
1) A client asks for a quote on a project.
2) I quote a little bit higher than what I really want to get.
3) The client either accepts or comes up with a counteroffer.
4) I am ecstatic with the amount of money I am going to make, or I have to either accept or deny the counteroffer.
However, this never really works for me.
1) I assume the client will see the inflated price and grow horrified at the thought of paying that much. He will then promptly refuse to do business with me ever again and tell all his friends what an awful person I am.
2) It is my natural inclination to quote exactly what I expect to make. For some reason, it seems kind of shady to do otherwise.
3) When clients ask for lower rates, I don’t really like them any more. I assume they are just another one of those irritating people who think writers are a dime a dozen (we’re not!).
4) When clients do haggle – which I have no way of distinguishing in advance – they do so at my non-inflated price. So I either have to keep haggling or give up the job entirely.
Help me, please! How do you make haggling work?
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Christina Lemmey is the mother of two school-aged girls, a wife, and the owner of 
So far… I just don’t haggle. The quoted price is the only price I offer and so far nobody has tried to get me to lower my rates. Hmm, maybe they’re too low. Having said that, I’ve only been at it for seven months, and if I felt it was worth it, I’d engage in negotiation for the right project or client.
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I’m the opposite. I love to haggle. I recently had someone approach me for a $15 job. (Like, five words, people.) We ended up haggling back and forth in admitted absolute glory and the result was a half hour of pure fun.
I approach the situation with the mindset that haggling WILL happen. I think you approach the situation with the hope that it won’t. I would face the fear, tell yourself that from now on, EVERY client will haggle – how will you deal? Practice how you will deal in your mind by envisioning the scenarios over and over.
Think of it as a challenge, a game. Find the fun. A client is aghast at your rates? Alright, which diplomatic words will you use to compel him to change his mind? A client wants to drive down your rates? Okay, how will you use humor to firmly say no?
Know what your line is. Become comfortable with it. We fear what we don’t understand or don’t know well, so learn
And become a pro.
I’m with Melissa. I’ve set standard rates. If a prospective client isn’t willing to pay them, I just don’t work with that client. Where I hate haggling is when clients are LATE with payment.
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I don´t haggle either when it comes to writing, it´s something that I don´t enjoy at all. But I also work through a couple of agencies, so they have standard rates and I don´t actually need to haggle. Often, when a client comes to me directly, I´ll give a price based on whether or not I want to do the job.
Sometimes, I really don´t want to do a job, so I´ll just throw a huge number out there, but it often backfires and they say yes!
yeah I just don’t haggle either. I simply don’t have the time. I consider haggling one of those administrative tasks that I try to limit cause I’m not getting paid for it. I can’t stand the back and forth emails. I don’t get paid when I’m writing or reading email, so I try to limit it. Maybe I’d haggle on the phone. Maybe I’d haggle for one of my dream clients. I dunno.
Hmm. I guess I’m of two minds. First, I don’t haggle because I don’t have time and I suck at it. I get all offended and that doesn’t make for a pleasant working relationship.
Second, if I sense hesitation on the price AND I feel it might be warranted AND I really want to work with them then I’ll generally throw something else in. As in, if they’re uncomfortable with $200 for a press release then I’ll revamp their AdWords while I’m at it.
Doesn’t happen often — that’s a lot of criteria to meet — but if they don’t go in for it I know that they either truly don’t have the money or they are haggling for haggling’s sake.
This is also an area where I’m weak. I have sometimes haggled, but probably not nearly as often as I should have. I also find myself haggling over due dates more then pay (I’ve been really busy lately). That’s probably counterproductive.
I need to work on this. Thanks for the reminder.
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My freelance writing rates have climbed steadily since I began several years ago due to clients wanting to retain my services, not due to haggling. I’m with the other posters–if I need to haggle to get a fair price, I probably won’t go with the project (but did as a beginner and did not haggle!).
Most people don’t take rate conversations personally–they aren’t thinking “nice” or “mean.” They are simply thinking “in our budget” or not. If a company freaks out at the rate you name, it is probably because they don’t know market rates (unless your estimate is off), and not at all based on their impression of you. In my specific field of writing, there are pretty clear pay ranges, and I definitely know what they are–so if someone is freaked out over a rate, I know it’s because they don’t know the rates. This makes me comfortable with haggling when I feel it’s worth doing.
Haggling is easier when you keep it short and sweet. No apologies. I simply ask for what I want and explain why, and express thanks for being chosen: “Thank you for offering me this project! Is it possible to raise the rate by X. Please let me know if this sounds okay.”
Good luck!
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