I believe in flat fees because clients should know what they’re paying. That doesn’t mean every prospect who wants a lower price is a problem. Business owners have budgets, and comparing fees is reasonable. But there’s a difference between asking about your fee and treating your professional services like something on a clearance rack.
Some prospects reveal themselves before they ever become clients. They want three proposals, five calls, and a detailed explanation of every service. Then they ask you to match the price of a provider whose offering is completely different. They promise that their plan is simple and that they’ll never need much help.
Those promises usually age poorly.
Once they sign, the simple plan comes with incomplete census information, repeated questions, and requests that weren’t included in the proposal. Every additional charge becomes an argument. Every deadline becomes your responsibility, even when they haven’t supplied what you need.
The lower fee wasn’t the only concession. You also accepted a relationship that could consume far more time than you anticipated.
Retirement plan providers need to evaluate prospects as carefully as prospects evaluate providers. Do they answer questions? Do they respect your time? Do they understand the services being offered? Their behavior during the sales process provides useful information about what working with them will be like.
A discount can make sense when the scope justifies it. It makes less sense when you’re giving it because you’re afraid to lose someone who already expects more than you can profitably deliver.
Not every prospect deserves a proposal you keep revising until they finally say yes.
Sometimes the best business decision is to let someone shop elsewhere. You can replace the revenue from a client you never signed. Replacing the time, staff morale, and attention consumed by a bad client is much harder.