Rant: Client asked me to cut my retainer fee by 40% after 3 months of solid growth

I had a client in Chicago last year who hit 30% revenue growth in 90 days from our SEO work, then their CEO told me my monthly retainer was 'too much for the value' and wanted me to drop from $2500 to $1500. I held the line and they walked, but six months later their organic traffic tanked by 60% per their new agency's report. Do you hold firm on pricing or try to negotiate with a growing client who pushes back?

2 comments

2 Comments

riley5952d ago

Too much for the value" after a 30% bump in 90 days, ouch. I had a client once who told me my SEO work was "fine" but they wanted to "rethink the price structure" right after we tripled their leads. I laughed and said sure, let me rethink how many hours of my sleep I sacrifice for you. I held the line too and they bounced. Guess who came crawling back six months later when their traffic looked like a heart rate monitor flatline? Man, sometimes I feel like I'm running a free trial of dignity.

logansullivan2d ago

82 bucks an hour for custom gate work and a guy told me my rates were "aggressive" after I fixed his crooked posts that three other guys walked away from. I just looked at him and said well the aggressive part is me driving an hour each way to your property while my truck burns diesel like it's trying to heat the atmosphere. He tried to haggle down to 60 and I told him I'd rather stay home and watch paint dry. Two weeks later his HOA sent him a violation letter about the gap in his fence and suddenly 82 sounded like a steal. Funny how value gets real clear when you're staring at a fine.