Almost every time I have quoted on a job and someone has asked for a discount I have given them one.

Sometimes it’s $50, sometimes $100 and on bigger jobs even more. There have only been one or two occasions (typically jobs I haven’t wanted to get), where I have refused to negotiate on price.

If you want a discount just ask!

I figure if that’s how I operate then chances are most others are similar. The philosophy I work on is that its always better to get the job or get the sale than to lose a customer over a few bucks.

Just this week on a job worth $2200.00 a woman asked if that price ‘was the best I could do?’ It wasn’t. I gave her $100.00 off for asking. She was happy and I will still make a good profit. More than that, I got the job and some goodwill.

Often it’s all in how you frame the request.

By comparison a very wealthy customer rudely questioned my hourly rate and told me it was exorbitant. (It is the ‘going rate’ for retic blokes.) I offered to stop work then and there and let her find someone else. She got the message that it was a fair price, and that if you want a discount you might have to ‘ask nicely’. 

Now obviously some items aren’t negotiable and it would be dumb to ask, or you may just be happy with the quoted price, in which case no negotiation is necessary, but on other occasions there’s no harm in politely asking ‘can you do a better price than that?’ because nine times out of ten the answer is probably ‘yes’.