You will be asked for a discount. We hold our price, and a deal closes on a date, not on pressure.
Why we do not discount
In Saudi Arabia, asking for a discount is a normal and friendly part of doing business, and it will happen to every one of us. It is not an insult, and it is not a sign the deal is lost. It is the opening of a negotiation, and negotiation is a skill.
What a discount really says
If it could drop, it was never the price.
A client who received a discount once will ask every time.
Agencies compete on price. A transformation house is chosen for the result.
The price pays for the people who make the work excellent.
The psychology of holding
Stay warm and unhurried. The person who is comfortable with silence usually wins the moment.
Ask what is behind the request: the budget, the timing or doubt about the value? Each has a different answer.
Trade, never give. If the price must fall, something leaves the scope, or the work is phased so the first step is smaller.
Return to the outcome. We are the one partner accountable for the whole result, and nobody else offers that.
You never agree to a lower price on your own, and never in the meeting. A price below our target needs approval inside ORIGIN before any number is said to a client. The next section shows who gives it.
In a meeting, a client asks for a discount. Their budget is fixed. What do you do?
Trade, never give.
"I understand, and thank you for being direct. Our price reflects one accountable partner. If the budget is fixed, let us look together at which part to start with."
We negotiate scope and phasing, never our worth.
Proposal and closing
The story every proposal tellsHere is your cause for change. Here is the gap. Here is how we get you there. Here is the proof.
A list of deliverables is not a proposal. The client must recognise their own situation on the first page.
The parts, in order
- 1The cause for change, as a burning platform or an opportunity, in the client's own words.
- 2The execution gap: why their current way cannot solve it.
- 3Our approach, shaped to their industry and their goal.
- 4The engagement model, and why it fits what we heard.
- 5Proof: two or three case studies, each tied to one of their concerns.
- 6Investment and timeline, in clear phases.
- 7The team who will do the work.
- 8Next steps, with dates.
Closing without pressure
Let the calendar create the urgency. Work back from their launch date and show when we must start.
Ask who else approves, and offer to present to them directly.
Agree the next conversation before the proposal is sent.
A client is slow to sign. Their project launches in September, and our work needs four months. How do you close?
The timeline makes the case for you.
Following up
Each time bring something of value: a market insight, a relevant angle, a clear question. After day 21, ask honestly whether it is still a priority. Never write "just checking in".
Tell their story, prove it, and put a date on the next step.
Before you move on
Three questions before you move on. Type your answer, send it, then check it.
Your answers stay on this device.1Asked for a discount in a meeting, what do you never do?
The answerAgree to a lower price on your own, or in the meeting.
2What is not a proposal?
The answerA list of deliverables.
3On which days do we follow up?
The answerDay 1, day 3, day 7, day 14 and day 21.
Scope and phasing, never our worth.
Next: pricing and approvals.