Propose price timing and scope together
Accepting a discount request without changing the work reduces the amount your business earns from the order. Instead, you can present a lower price with customer-prepared copy alongside a higher price with earlier delivery. Present several packages together that your business can accept, so the conversation includes more than price.
Assess each package so that you would be equally willing to accept it. This corresponds to multiple equivalent simultaneous offers, or MESOs. Equivalence refers to value for the party making the offers; the customer can value the packages differently. (Multiple equivalent simultaneous offers (MESOs) reduce the negotiator dilemma: How a choice of first offers increases economic and relational outcomes)
This article uses a hypothetical website project to calculate prices and costs. It shows how packages with different prices can yield the same amount after additional costs, and whether profitability survives a request to combine parts of different offers.
One experiment found different agreement scores after one or three offers
In Experiment 1 by Leonardelli and colleagues, 76 university students negotiated in 38 pairs, randomly assigned to one offer or three offers equivalent for the proposer. Among the 37 pairs reaching agreement, three offers produced higher proposer scores and combined scores. These were experimental payoff scores, not actual operating profits. A higher combined score does not mean that the recipient's own score increased. (Multiple equivalent simultaneous offers (MESOs) reduce the negotiator dilemma: How a choice of first offers increases economic and relational outcomes)
The price table and business suggestions below are this article's own illustration, rather than a reproduction of the experiment.
Different prices can produce the same amount after additional costs
Assume a business is quoting for a six-page website. All amounts below are hypothetical Japanese yen, excluding tax, rather than market prices or observed results. Delivery periods run from the start of production, once the customer has supplied the required materials.
| Proposed item | Package A | Package B | Package C |
|---|
| Project price | ¥300,000 | ¥270,000 | ¥330,000 |
| Delivery | Four weeks after production starts | Six weeks after production starts | Three weeks after production starts |
| Copy preparation | Supplier proofreads customer copy | Customer supplies proofread copy | Supplier proofreads customer copy |
| Design revision rounds | Two | One | Two |
| Estimated additional costs caused by accepting the order | ¥180,000 | ¥150,000 | ¥210,000 |
| Price less additional costs | ¥120,000 | ¥120,000 | ¥120,000 |
Additional costs include outsourced production and proofreading commissioned for this order. Package C also includes outsourced help to deliver earlier. Rent and existing staff salaries that remain the same whichever package is accepted are excluded from the table's additional costs. The ¥120,000 is the amount available before paying those unchanged costs.
For A, ¥300,000 − ¥180,000 = ¥120,000. For B, ¥270,000 − ¥150,000 = ¥120,000. For C, ¥330,000 − ¥210,000 = ¥120,000. Assume payment timing and collection risk are identical and no package requires the business to reject another project. Under these assumptions, the business uses ¥120,000 as its valuation criterion.
B's ¥30,000 discount corresponds to a ¥30,000 reduction in costs from removing proofreading and one revision round. C's ¥30,000 surcharge covers ¥30,000 of additional costs for earlier delivery. Align the economics of complete packages, including the work and schedule, rather than making their prices identical.
Even with the same additional costs, C would cease to be equivalent if accepting it meant losing an existing project. Compare the amount forgone on that project and the staff hours required, and present only packages you can deliver.
Present the packages together and ask about the customer's choice
Show all three packages at the same time, using matching rows for price, delivery, copy preparation, and revision rounds. Offering successive discounts can leave a customer expecting the original scope at the lower price, so specify what each package includes. Internal cost estimates support your own profitability assessment; the customer comparison should show prices and deliverables.
If the customer chooses B because of a budget ceiling, establish whether customer-proofread copy and one revision round are sufficient to complete the project. If they choose C because of an event date, agree on submission dates for copy and photographs that allow the promised delivery.
Selecting a package alone does not establish whether price, timing, or scope drove the decision. Ask why they chose it and which items they cannot accept to identify what to change next. If all packages are declined, ask about the budget ceiling, required delivery date, and essential work, then assess whether you can supply a suitable package.
Combining parts of different offers changes the calculation
Suppose the customer requests B's ¥270,000 price with C's three-week delivery and A's scope. If that combination requires the same ¥210,000 of additional costs as C, the amount after those costs is ¥270,000 − ¥210,000 = ¥60,000. That is half the original ¥120,000.
Even when the original packages have equal economics, recalculate costs for a new combination of their attractive features. To retain ¥120,000 under this assumption, the price must be ¥210,000 + ¥120,000 = ¥330,000. Keeping a ¥270,000 price requires reconsidering scope or timing so that additional costs total ¥150,000.
Customer requests change copy preparation, revision rounds, and outsourcing arrangements. Update the quotation with the agreed work and delivery schedule as well as the price, and establish that you can deliver that complete package.
Bring packages you can accept to the negotiation
Offering several packages means more than displaying high and low prices. Each package should be feasible and provide the amount your business requires. In this example, three different prices and cost estimates each yielded ¥120,000, while mixing features reduced that amount to ¥60,000.
Before changing only the discount in your next negotiation, build packages around customer-supplied materials, revision rounds, and delivery timing. Estimate the additional costs and staff hours for each to establish what you can offer.
When describing standard services on your website, show customer preparation, included work, and the event from which delivery time is counted alongside the price. This communicates the scope before a sales conversation.
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