My old mentor said never to give a range, and I finally see why

I quoted a client $400-$600 for a small move and they immediately latched onto the $400 figure, then got mad when the actual time went over. Has anyone else had a client completely ignore the high end of a quote?

3 comments

3 Comments

henry_anderson5411d ago

actually that's not quite right, the problem isn't really about giving a range itself. it's about not setting clear expectations right from the start. when i give a range i always say "this is based on my estimate, but it could go higher if we find any surprises" and then i make sure to explain what would cause it to go to the high end. the client latched onto $400 because you didn't warn them that the low end was only if everything went perfectly.

patricia_hill6011d ago

Guess I should hire a warning label writer instead.

david_palmer11d ago

Did you lay out the exact conditions that would push it to the higher end before they agreed to the job? Seems like the real lesson here is about managing expectations from the very first conversation, not just avoiding a number range altogether. A lot of clients only hear what they want to hear unless you make the worst case scenario crystal clear upfront.