I get all the business advice I need, for free, from my very own business extraordinaire – my husband! He is so good at advising on business issues that friends and family even phone him to get advice.  He is practical but also draws on years of business experience. So today, the business tip I’m giving you is one that he gave me!

Okay, you have a price list either for services or products that you sell and you invoice according to that. Right? Yes, you do but sometimes you may get a customer (new or old) that requests something for free or requests a discount or just something extra, it could be anything.  My husband taught me that in some cases it’s perfectly fine to deviate from your price list, compromise slightly and keep the client happy. I’m not saying that you should answer to their every whim and always offer them discounted prices but now and then a situation will arise when it makes sense to be flexible.

I dealt with a difficult client recently who was requesting…no let’s re-phrase that….who was strongly suggesting that I give him a large piece of advertising space on a well established website so that he could ‘test out the waters’ before paying any money. Totally shocked at his request and after a few heated exchanges I was almost about to tell him to go and shove his company and his ridiculous request where the sun don’t shine. But I remember the tip that Jem gave me and I held my tongue, counted to ten very slowly and then I had an epiphany (that’s a fancy word for clarity of thought). I could offer him a smaller advertising space that was still in a prime position but it would cost him a lot less. All of a sudden his tone changed and he sounded happy. He took the advert. Halle-frikkin-lujah.

So just remember that when you are about to tell a client to take a hike to Timbuktu, count to ten – and the trick here people is to count to ten slowly – get clarity of thought, offer something to keep the client happy and then enjoy your “hallelujah” moment!