That’s a great video if you are offering your services and people know you. Because they recognize you and the services you offer, so in short they are kind of ready to be chopped off a bit more. Now, lets say i am buying a used car and want to get it at a price i want. The moment i low ball that person, the car gets taken by someone else. What would you do in this case? Because the market was open to the car seller. In your case the guy (as usually the case with most companies is, are not ready to do that research and don’t negotiate that much). What tips would you give in such a situation?
@@shairozkhan8560 This guy is giving advice that you can get literally get from a $5 book on negotiation. I really hate these self-help guys. It's so sleazy. To answer your specific question re to a used price, you shouldn't just make an excessive lowball because it will annoy the other person. And, you're wrong about the car being taken by someone else if you lowball. If the seller rejects your offer because there is a higher offer, you can just raise your offer. The seller will always want the higher price. In your particular case, you'll need to figure out what the other buyer's real bid is. The seller might be lying (and most likely will). I can't tell you exactly what I would do because it would be giving away my trade secrets but I can tell you that being persistent while being nice is key. Also, assume that everyone is lying because the guy who lies best wins a lot. Similarly to how the guy in this video convinced you.
I was watching this without sound and reading the generated subtitle and it said ‘..say your number first and say hi!’ I was a bit confused so I’m glad I scrolled through the comments and found yours.
I literally just did this last week after watching one of these videos to mentally prepare my mind. A client was referred to me and called me up. After I got a general scope of the project I dropped my price first and I dropped it high. He was shocked and didn't think it would be THAT high. I refused to budge and said if this price does not work for him I will happily find him someone that can do the work within his budget. Long story short, he came back to me and said: "I crunched some numbers and I can make this work. Let's work together."
I think this is great as long as we are providing value equal or greater to what they are paying. Just because you can get away charging someone more doesn’t always means it’s the correct thing to do if you’re trying to build a long term relationship.
My CEO does this. When we plan to buy a software license we know usually costs 10,000, he enters the negotiations with “our budget is 5,000”. When he sends me to negotiate, he says the budget is 5,000 and I should say it’s 4,000. This is an additional benefit if you’re the client - usually you can’t just go over budget without significant delays, and involving more people in the decision process - which is bad for the seller since he needs to make a sale and he knows more people involved means more chances for the deal to fail.
Dan Ariely and Daniel Kahneman have done some amazing work on the psychology of anchoring. Many companies use it when they create a really expensive (and often not worth it) offer so they can position other offers around this one and make the others look affordable in comparison. Thanks Chris for sharing this and especially with a practical scenario
Sadly this is actually applicable with job searching also. I was asked by a corporate recruiter what is my start point for salary, I told her six figures even though my then current job was half that. She said and I quote... " Oh we don't think we can do that. " I politely said thank you for your time, and ended the conversation. A month later they called me, and said we really worked the budget and want you to come to work for us. They sent me an offer of what I wanted that day. I now have been working there for a year and it's amazing. So this is the take away, you tell them what you are worth and stand by it, they don't know how much you are worth, you know how much. Just saying...
That only works if you have the luxury of having options. Otherwise the employer has all the power in that negotiation to simply withdraw your offer if they're turned off by a number you've volunteered that's too high.
I usually prefer to hear the other guy's number before I say mine. In my experience, whatever people say their price is, you can either multiply or divide that by 2 and that price will still be acceptable to them. Meaning, whatever a prospective buyer says he wants to pay, he's actually willing to pay twice that; and whatever a prospective seller says he'll sell for, he'll actually sell for half that. It doesn't always work but I am shocked at how often it does. The caveats are 1) I do that analysis with myself before meeting the prospective client, and 2) I periodically evaluate my fees to make sure I am not underselling myself. And 3) if in the negotiation I see no overlap between my price and the other client's price, I just say their price isn't going to work, thank them for their time, and move onto the next opportunity.
Thank you Chris Do and to your team! All your videos and your content out there made me realize many things that I want for my future career and also to make the necessary adjustments to get there! Many Schools and employers would like you to develop a "T" model (specialize in only one thing) but since I discover your channel and a book called "Design Currency" I'm more convinced the model that designers and creative people should develop is an "X", hard and soft skills that crossover to offer value and solve real problems...Thanks for being a mentor for a worldwide community
I did sales in my 20’s for a few places including car sales. This was intuitive as soon as you see how stubborn people are and feel like they are being exploited after saying a number and then deviating from it. Part of the process I used was to avoid them ever making any decisions on numbers because they would mess it up and then maybe be stubborn and we all lose.
Hey Chris. First things first. I love the new bite sized style content! It's amazing! What I've gathered about anchoring from this video is you need confidence. Don't feel guilty when they say they can't afford you because it ends up in a downwards spiral. I don't even do graphic design but it's applicable in marketing and Law. Cheers and thanks for the value
Wow, 4 minutes of this video showed me something I haven’t learned in 20 years of business. What an interesting way to look at negotiating, thank you for sharing!
Don't abuse this technique. If you have an average skillset. You are replaceable. See if you have an unique skill set this works, not always. Anchoring works well when you have a certain amount of leverage. Otherwise, a person or company with insufficient value will simply have no weight behind that anchor. Especially an 'oldhead'.
Dammit. If I saw this like... a hour earlier. I just literally lost a chance and asked first. Got a small job. Nothing big, the client needed a quick guidance for an add in a magazine to make sure the quality was the best. And I asked the client first. Didn't get an answer yet but it hurts. Thanks for the advise!
This is the best I have watched in your channel, you know what you talking about and I have seen everything you say in my dealings with clients. I just drop a number (always high), and I let them deal with it.
I had a client on the hook who just would not close after nearly closing instantly in our first encounter. I knew he was debating whether someone could do it for less but not saying it. If I had offered to fond someone in my network who could do it for less I think it would have closed the deal or at least opened the line of communication to identify the reservation. That line is gold and I will definitely use it in the future.
Haven’t even finished watching and I’m in love already this is seriously the best channel on this whole planet I love you guys thank you so much (p.s. biggest Chris fan ever)
This is so true. Most negotiation book advice you to let your client offer first. Only something later in my career I realise the idea of anchoring and how it affect your negotiation. But then later again I realise that there is still an advantage to have them offer first. That when you are confident of your value and worth and is not easily sway by this anchoring tactic. Sometimes you will be surprise that the client may suggest a price way above your own perceived value.
You know I wanted to say thank you Chris as your videos have been gold! I was inspired so much after first coming across you that I finally launched my creative consulting business! This video also helped me decide whether or not I should list my price on my site and after some meditation: I decided that it is best to show my prices. And my reasoning for this is looking at metals. Everyone understands that gold is the most valuable and precious metal and will buy it no matter the price because it is already known and perceived to be rare and valuable; silver is second; brass/bronze is third; and iron is last. I believe that Life has guided and drawn me to you because you are as valuable as gold in what you offer. Thank you again Chris!
This really did work for me. I used to be in sales, so I had a few habits that stuck with me over the years. I just got into business in my industry and had a sit down with my first recurring client. This video popped up in my head when there were some objections that seemed to be cornering me towards the standards of their previous contractor who couldn't deliver. After a bit of hardball.. we've signed the contract under my conditions.
The first one is just wrong and the second one is super common conventional wisdom. Anchoring is basic NLP bull that "gurus" like Tony Robbins have been preaching since they started. Nothing new or special. He omitted that the naming your price first, generally, doesn't put you at any advantage. It does two things, it gives the other person a better sense or a real sense, of what you can as opposed to willing, to give, and it, depending on your timing and delivery of that price, can expose things you don't want exposed, like fear or lack of confidence. Negotiating is a little like playing poker. You're not playing against the other player's hand (literally speaking you shouldn't be trying to guess or assume what the other person's budget is beyond what's reasonable) which is the opposite of what he's teaching actually but may not have realize it, what you should be doing is playing against the other person's performance, reading their body language for example. You need to get a read on where this person might be coming from. Another big reason why you don't want to be first is that you can learn a whole lot from just observing what the person will do and if the person is experienced and smart, the other person will be doing the same. You can get a lot of information from holding fast. If you go first, then you can't see if the person is anxious or being challenged at all. That alone can put you in a power position to raise your price or lower the other person's. If the other person goes second, then the other person is likely to easily to take a cue from you. Oh, you charge THIS much? I don't need to bother in this crowded field, or this might not be worth it. Those are just a couple examples. He was leading people astray there.
This guy has way too few views for the pieces of advice given on his videos. Deserve way more views. And I'm sure that eventually his channel will explode. Its good and high quality advices. Straight to the point
Super crisp ... I would agree with the beautyful lady's answer ... I can't afford you Chris! The VALUE you bring to the table is priceless. Can't put a money tag to it. #Anchor is by default at high
"Say your number first and say it high" Black T-Shirt > Helvetica Neue Semibold in white for "Say your number first" Helvetica Neue Black in white for "and say it high" (All right justified, with "the futur" blue logo small, in the shirt down right corner). As a Designer, it's the least i can do to thank this highly valuable knowledge.
Loved the use of footage - that would have ended on the cutting room floor - to end the vid. The anchor high is what I've incorporated into my numbers discussion. Whatever i think they'll pay, i add a few hundred dollars on top. I'm working my way to adding a few thousand dollars on top.
For years as a free-lance coder I fell into all of these kinds of traps of negotiation, but these days I just don't play this game at all. I always make sure I decide ahead of time where my absolute bottom line is, and then the only conversation I will have is whether they will agree to it or not. If the other person does not agree on what I want, then my only counter is "You are not the right person for me to work with, thanks for your time". There are plenty more fish in the sea. The only reason we take less than we want is scarcity mindset.
You don't even really need to believe in the value of your work as such, all you really need to know is that working for less than you need for a happy life is actually worse than having no work. When you have no work you have maximum time to hunt for better clients, which is really the most important thing you need to do in that moment. This was also made a lot easier by the realization that the easiest clients to work with are almost always the same ones who are happy to pay what you ask. If someone low-balls me in a negotiation my mind immediately goes straight to "Oh oh, major red flag that this will be a difficult client in many other ways too. Pull out now!"
This will definitely work for you in the long run if you have a lot of options. But some people are more desperate and can't afford to be turned down. Also, if you don't sell yourself effectively, people will balk at a high number.
What are the prerequisites to anchoring? Obviously the client in your example already knew the quality of your work and/or your reputation. Given your competitors, this technique would only apply to those clients who have ”cheaper” budget expectations...and you’re willing to chance giving up revenue in a highly competitive market.
nah as he exemplified, you have to be willing to walk away and, even better, refer them to someone else that might be able to do it for that price that would be a swift remedy to your infinite negotiation problem
@@nafisdelacruz9703 refer them to “fiver” like he does in that role play video; this one is actually more realistic imho and more like what I’ve come across in the real world too💯
Thanks Chris Do for your amazing content. By far the best, most helpful channel on TH-cam. You have a lot of great content both on design but life in general. This channel is a real motivator for me and my career and has genuinely been a huge inspiration to me. I would love a t shirt which has simply has 'thefutur' on it to rep you guys! You need to come to the UK, I would love to see you live. Great stuff
Yo Chris you a G!!! Seriously changing peoples life's over here. I had a similar situation today but after I actually got the client to a price I wanted I realized that I didn't want to work with the client because they would be too much of a hassle (pretty much did the cell phone test.) To get to the point how do you politely turn down a job after you see that it's not going to be a good fit?
I'd recommend saying a scheduling clash has come up and you can't take the project Or "Upon further inspection on my part, I see that I will not be a good fit for this project."
I sat next to Chris Voss in 1st Class on a trip home one night during COVID protocols. I only heard his voice because he had a mask on. I said how is your night going Mr. Voss, and he was like yeah! LOL We blabbed the rest of the flight about sales and negotiations. He was so nice and personable.
I use a different method and I believe it works better than this, Chris. We first talk about the project and then I ask about their budget. If they say "you know, we are thinking to give 2k for this project", I immediately ask something like "well, I don't know how you are going to pull it off with 2k. Usually for this kind of project I take 15k". And then wait... And when I send the proposal, I have 3 options. 15k all-inclusive, 7,5k premium, 2k basic. So, I include their budget but they also get to see what they are going to take with the higher options. 90% of the time, they get to the middle option. :-)
@@learnitnshare5513 I'd say you rephrase their question and answer your newly rephrased question. They ask: "How much did you make at your previous job?" You reply: "I'm looking for a salary of $X."
Always lie, I have always lied to new employers about older salaries and they never fact check. A manager never asks how much did you pay him. it just never happened. SO every few years I changed jobs, increasing my take home pay regularly. For those thinking why wouldn't I just ask for a pay rise and stop moving jobs so much? Here is your answer. I tell this to all the young people I train in my trade. Once you are on the books for a certain paygrade, they will find ways to stop those numbers deviating. So you can go in and ask for a pay rise every year and get knocked back every year because they can just hire some one else at that starting rate. So I made it a firm point to find a higher paying employer in the same job category instantly after not getting a pay rise. This probably only works in industries where you know more than your employer about the job they are hiring you for. I have had the I'm sorry talks from management a few times, we will pay you more, please don't leave, after I've resigned, but I've always been firm and moved on. Hopefully it taught them a valuable lesson. For me now I'm at the point where I'm unwilling to work for anyone anymore, It's easier to run and manage my own business than it is to make money for other people. Hopefully you can make use of this negotiating tactic when looking for a new job. START HIGH and don't budge. I had an interview where I refused to take the starting rate and my number was 20% higher than the average rate. In the negotiation they emphasized they can not accommodate me at my desired salary. I walked out assuming I wasn't getting the job, a week or so later they called back and offered me the position. They took too long, I already accepted a job closer to home. Moral of that extra story is, even when you think the negotiation is over it isn't because they are still looking.
That’s a good tip Chris! I have a follow up question: how do we know that he’s able to afford 30 or even 10 in the first place? We could have started by throwing a number like 8k and it would have ended there or most probably even got lowered.
I wonder this a lot of the time as well when talking with clients. Research/Experience maybe? Sometimes information is embedded in the details of the conversation, and you can glean some insight as to what their budget might be. Other time's it's completely indiscernible as to whether or not they have $100 or $10,000. I feel like it's one of those things where with enough practice you can go "Oh yeah. This is a big company, and they have TONS of money and X budget for most projects like this." or "I've worked with clients like this before, and for this type of project they have X budget.". Independent clients and VERY small businesses are much harder to gauge since there's almost no information regarding financial status usually.
You base it off YOUR cost. What have you made for this type of work before? What do others in a similar industry charge? You don't want to be the guy who undercuts everyone else, and you don't generally want to be the most expensive at what you do, unless you have the quality to back it up. A good guideline is to sit down and honestly come up with your costs per hour/job/day/week etc. Then figure out if you have material cost on top of time, and go from there.
This assumes an uninformed/ignorant customer. The old saying plays true here - knowledge is power. Before any negotiation, be as informed on the market, the rates, the outcomes, and the reputation of the other party as possible. For the buyer, always bid work out to multiple parties. Find the hungry but competent and manage great work at a fair price. Then, reward and bring along the delivery with return work. In my work, if one comes in high, they are discarded. There is very little in the market that is that unique as to demand a premium. Proven delivery and strong value within or below market rate is the winner. The customer anchor should be backed like this - "The market for this work is X. This is composed of Y cost and Z profit over this delivery period. What extras are you going to provide to improve this opportunity?"
Great video. So basically you drop a higher price with the expectation of the client either taking the offer or declining it for a lower, but still inflated, number that is comfortable to work with? What do you do if your large initial quote scares them off completely? Aside from them asking them "What number works for you?" is asking for a budget a bad idea in this case?
it's okay to scare them off. realize that it's not a client you had so you actually didn't lose anything. every potential client can 1) hire you, 2) hire someone else or 3) do nothing.
@@thefutur Do you let amount of current workload affect how willing you are to negotiate vs walking away? Say I'm just getting in to the freelance business, not a huge applicable portfolio demo reel, and have no paying work right now and would really like some paid work. What are your thoughts in that scenario?
Dear Chris, I understand what you're saying and I did this a week ago, the thing which I walk against was that they closed the door for further negotiations immediately.. saying my price was too high for them. I offered them to come up with their own budget and that we could try to work within their price. Not long after that they explained to me that they thought it was unprofessional towards me and they did not feel comfortable coming up with their own price because the gap was too big for them. So the only option I could think of was to respect their decision and let this project go, even though I really wanted to do it. If this happens to me in the future again do you know any way to save the negotiations and keep the project alive? Or can I throw a new anchor trying to revive this project?
Stick to your guns or you lose every time. Everyone that reaches out to you isn’t a good fit. Secondly, keep leveling up. One day your skill will exceed your price.
Indeed, you need a high anchor but still a realistic one in your counterpart's mind or they will discard you directly. So what you can do is get a sense of their range of expectations without any numbers. Ask to pick form 4 ranges (so there's no middle one) that everybody gets : would like your project to be more like a Rolls Royce, an Audi, a Toyota or a Skoda ? When they answer, drop a related anchor.
I would guess they felt you were high-balling them, which is how I would feel if I walked away from a quote, and then someone got back in touch and said "please name your price!", which is the reality of "come up with your own budget and we'll try to work with it." Instead, you can always try to explain why your initial price is what it is , and rebuild value if someone completely walks away and ends communication, but it likely won't make a difference at that point. 99.9999% of the time they're not a good fit based on the quick "no thanks, bye" response. There's no point in calling them back in desperation and asking them for their lowest price. Worst case is that you actually get their business, but now there's very little trust in the relationship, they have all the power of knowing they did you a favor, and the project hasn't even begun. That's guaranteed to be a client experience you'll look back on and say "I wish I never asked for a second chance."
@@thefutur great. But it is hard top do it when you really need that job to close the month... I think one can do this gathering enough customers at a price that allows you to get the needed money for the month them, once reached that target, closing customers with an higher price until the beginning of the next month. This keeps you solvent, opens the door to more time if someone pays the higher price and so let you with the need of less low paying customers the following month to reach the same income target. Once you reached it faster thanks to your new high paying customer you can start earlier in closing another couple of customers with the higher price. Repeating the cycle you end with enough high stable income to start selecting only high paying customers. Of course you set another income target at that point, reach it with the high paying customers and once reached the new income target for that month you can start increasing again the price with the new customers, until you reach more and more income levels. Does it make sense?
I think lots of things matter before pricing and anchoring.... your level of connection and understanding with client, how do you convince and impress, your name in the market, your portfolio, your referrals and last but not the least, how loyal your are with yourself and client... are you over charging for the work just because client is rich and you are poor or vice versa?... These are all skills and Chris has them. If Chris gives a big number, I think he will convince his client that they paid a deserving amount. And then its pure business, why wouldn't client play lowballs?... who doesn't want to save more and pay less?... humanity doesn't work at this stage, you'r at war of convincing with skills... :)
Yes, you should 100% be the one setting the price, but the advice in your video is more about avoiding real price negotiation, which I absolutely think is the right step for a creative to take. But to add a little nuance to the situation - I would much rather know a team member lost a client, but did everything they could to treat price as an objection like any other, and as such overcome that objection with a conversation, than know we got a client but did so because we immediately dropped price, or employed the higher risk confidence game of "I don't need your business you should use someone cheaper." Of course It all depends on the client's buyer personality, your reputation, and the situation. And the overcoming objection conversation isn't easy to hone anyway, but I'd at least try it before walking away immediately, which is really the strategy you're advising in the video. That said I think "walking away" is much less risky for long term business growth than trying to engage in a real negotiation with a superior negotiator. So I guess what I'm trying to say is I completely agree with your way-more-accessible-than-mine advice, lol. But it may help to clarify that this isn't about "negotiating", it's about not negotiating.
I’ve found this works even with a joke number to start. I’ll say 10k knowing the price is around 300. Then when we get around to negotiate they have less fight in them.
Learn more about our Business Bootcamp, designed to help you attract the right clients and grow your business: ftris.me/ZPEFUtJ
That’s a great video if you are offering your services and people know you. Because they recognize you and the services you offer, so in short they are kind of ready to be chopped off a bit more. Now, lets say i am buying a used car and want to get it at a price i want. The moment i low ball that person, the car gets taken by someone else. What would you do in this case? Because the market was open to the car seller. In your case the guy (as usually the case with most companies is, are not ready to do that research and don’t negotiate that much). What tips would you give in such a situation?
@@shairozkhan8560 This guy is giving advice that you can get literally get from a $5 book on negotiation. I really hate these self-help guys. It's so sleazy.
To answer your specific question re to a used price, you shouldn't just make an excessive lowball because it will annoy the other person. And, you're wrong about the car being taken by someone else if you lowball. If the seller rejects your offer because there is a higher offer, you can just raise your offer. The seller will always want the higher price. In your particular case, you'll need to figure out what the other buyer's real bid is. The seller might be lying (and most likely will). I can't tell you exactly what I would do because it would be giving away my trade secrets but I can tell you that being persistent while being nice is key. Also, assume that everyone is lying because the guy who lies best wins a lot. Similarly to how the guy in this video convinced you.
"That's not gonna work , can you come up with a better number?" That's so good man !
And what if they say no
@@Imchillingidk then ✌
I don't see this working - my clients would ask me "well how much would you have in mind then"
then you tell them, and make it high if you’re going to negotiate something lower with them. be in control of the situation ✌️
@@logan2113 thanks Logan, good idea
This idea is also in the book called "Never Split the Difference". It's a negotiation book that's written by a hostage negotiator.
Yes. chris Voss.
im going to read that book
An ad came up for the masterclass when I opened this video.
@@g3osom1 I watched the masterclass. It was pretty good.
whats the name of the author
"Say your number first and say it high"
Powerful ending to the video!
And i lost all my clients
I was watching this without sound and reading the generated subtitle and it said ‘..say your number first and say hi!’ I was a bit confused so I’m glad I scrolled through the comments and found yours.
@@blessing99999 better to loss lowball clients
I literally just did this last week after watching one of these videos to mentally prepare my mind. A client was referred to me and called me up. After I got a general scope of the project I dropped my price first and I dropped it high. He was shocked and didn't think it would be THAT high. I refused to budge and said if this price does not work for him I will happily find him someone that can do the work within his budget.
Long story short, he came back to me and said: "I crunched some numbers and I can make this work. Let's work together."
Awesome!!
What if he said sure find him someone that can work within his budget 🤔
I think this is great as long as we are providing value equal or greater to what they are paying. Just because you can get away charging someone more doesn’t always means it’s the correct thing to do if you’re trying to build a long term relationship.
My CEO does this. When we plan to buy a software license we know usually costs 10,000, he enters the negotiations with “our budget is 5,000”.
When he sends me to negotiate, he says the budget is 5,000 and I should say it’s 4,000.
This is an additional benefit if you’re the client - usually you can’t just go over budget without significant delays, and involving more people in the decision process - which is bad for the seller since he needs to make a sale and he knows more people involved means more chances for the deal to fail.
Cool!
Dan Ariely and Daniel Kahneman have done some amazing work on the psychology of anchoring. Many companies use it when they create a really expensive (and often not worth it) offer so they can position other offers around this one and make the others look affordable in comparison. Thanks Chris for sharing this and especially with a practical scenario
I can't believe the solution to one of my biggest pain points was answered here. I feel like I need to pay you now.
Please do. Become a sustaining member.
Best I can do is $1000.
reciprocity, one hell of a principle
This is one of the best videos I've ever watched on your channel. Clear, concise, insightful. Learned so much in so little time. Thanks so much.
Sadly this is actually applicable with job searching also. I was asked by a corporate recruiter what is my start point for salary, I told her six figures even though my then current job was half that. She said and I quote... " Oh we don't think we can do that. " I politely said thank you for your time, and ended the conversation. A month later they called me, and said we really worked the budget and want you to come to work for us. They sent me an offer of what I wanted that day. I now have been working there for a year and it's amazing. So this is the take away, you tell them what you are worth and stand by it, they don't know how much you are worth, you know how much. Just saying...
That only works if you have the luxury of having options. Otherwise the employer has all the power in that negotiation to simply withdraw your offer if they're turned off by a number you've volunteered that's too high.
I usually prefer to hear the other guy's number before I say mine. In my experience, whatever people say their price is, you can either multiply or divide that by 2 and that price will still be acceptable to them. Meaning, whatever a prospective buyer says he wants to pay, he's actually willing to pay twice that; and whatever a prospective seller says he'll sell for, he'll actually sell for half that. It doesn't always work but I am shocked at how often it does.
The caveats are 1) I do that analysis with myself before meeting the prospective client, and 2) I periodically evaluate my fees to make sure I am not underselling myself. And 3) if in the negotiation I see no overlap between my price and the other client's price, I just say their price isn't going to work, thank them for their time, and move onto the next opportunity.
Thank you Chris Do and to your team! All your videos and your content out there made me realize many things that I want for my future career and also to make the necessary adjustments to get there! Many Schools and employers would like you to develop a "T" model (specialize in only one thing) but since I discover your channel and a book called "Design Currency" I'm more convinced the model that designers and creative people should develop is an "X", hard and soft skills that crossover to offer value and solve real problems...Thanks for being a mentor for a worldwide community
I did sales in my 20’s for a few places including car sales. This was intuitive as soon as you see how stubborn people are and feel like they are being exploited after saying a number and then deviating from it. Part of the process I used was to avoid them ever making any decisions on numbers because they would mess it up and then maybe be stubborn and we all lose.
Gold! No long winded explanations, just straight to the point. Thank you!
Hey Chris. First things first. I love the new bite sized style content! It's amazing! What I've gathered about anchoring from this video is you need confidence. Don't feel guilty when they say they can't afford you because it ends up in a downwards spiral. I don't even do graphic design but it's applicable in marketing and Law. Cheers and thanks for the value
I was looking for a way to lowball someone on fb marketplace. Now I left with valuable lessons that will help me in my carrer of investment banking.
Wow, 4 minutes of this video showed me something I haven’t learned in 20 years of business. What an interesting way to look at negotiating, thank you for sharing!
You’re very welcome
Don't abuse this technique. If you have an average skillset. You are replaceable. See if you have an unique skill set this works, not always. Anchoring works well when you have a certain amount of leverage. Otherwise, a person or company with insufficient value will simply have no weight behind that anchor. Especially an 'oldhead'.
Dammit. If I saw this like... a hour earlier. I just literally lost a chance and asked first. Got a small job. Nothing big, the client needed a quick guidance for an add in a magazine to make sure the quality was the best. And I asked the client first. Didn't get an answer yet but it hurts. Thanks for the advise!
Dear God, why haven't I discovered your channel until now 😭 I've decided to binge your videos rather than Netflix. 😊😊 Love you guys!
This is the best I have watched in your channel, you know what you talking about and I have seen everything you say in my dealings with clients. I just drop a number (always high), and I let them deal with it.
is always a delight to hear Chris talking, you learn so much.
Appreciate it
I had a client on the hook who just would not close after nearly closing instantly in our first encounter. I knew he was debating whether someone could do it for less but not saying it. If I had offered to fond someone in my network who could do it for less I think it would have closed the deal or at least opened the line of communication to identify the reservation. That line is gold and I will definitely use it in the future.
Haven’t even finished watching and I’m in love already this is seriously the best channel on this whole planet I love you guys thank you so much (p.s. biggest Chris fan ever)
I’m so glad this doesn’t have more views, keeping it at the sweet spot.
How did he recreate the inbox sound so perfectly at 3:25
THIS BLEW MY MIND!!!! CHRIS, U ROBOT!!! xD
Lol ikr! Had to rewind the video to make sure it wasn't artificial.
I bet he's good at beat boxing too.
That’s part of the 1000$/hr value
Practice makes perfect
The jewels of insight into the design of business are invaluable. Thanks Chris.
This is so true. Most negotiation book advice you to let your client offer first. Only something later in my career I realise the idea of anchoring and how it affect your negotiation. But then later again I realise that there is still an advantage to have them offer first. That when you are confident of your value and worth and is not easily sway by this anchoring tactic. Sometimes you will be surprise that the client may suggest a price way above your own perceived value.
You know I wanted to say thank you Chris as your videos have been gold! I was inspired so much after first coming across you that I finally launched my creative consulting business!
This video also helped me decide whether or not I should list my price on my site and after some meditation: I decided that it is best to show my prices. And my reasoning for this is looking at metals. Everyone understands that gold is the most valuable and precious metal and will buy it no matter the price because it is already known and perceived to be rare and valuable; silver is second; brass/bronze is third; and iron is last.
I believe that Life has guided and drawn me to you because you are as valuable as gold in what you offer. Thank you again Chris!
Thanks Jeremy. And congrats.
This new anchor trick, it actually have worked for me in past
“I can’t afford it, “monetarily “ lol
Yeeaaa, sometimes sales guys will go on some tangent with mental gymnastics before bringing it back. If you don't take some control.
So she can afford it by other personal services eyy 😉
@@chabrow5459 she worths 300usd depending on skill and passion
Was making sure I wasn't the only one who caught that🤣🤣
Lol...there are plenty of professionals he could hire for less than 1k that will deliver well.
This really did work for me. I used to be in sales, so I had a few habits that stuck with me over the years. I just got into business in my industry and had a sit down with my first recurring client. This video popped up in my head when there were some objections that seemed to be cornering me towards the standards of their previous contractor who couldn't deliver. After a bit of hardball.. we've signed the contract under my conditions.
Ok..1 sec
R we really going to ignore the fact that he did that email notification sound sooooooo perfectly.?
That’s it!! I replayed it to make sure it was him haha
Now this is a valuable negotiation lesson. Thank you for putting out such great content.
The first one is just wrong and the second one is super common conventional wisdom. Anchoring is basic NLP bull that "gurus" like Tony Robbins have been preaching since they started. Nothing new or special. He omitted that the naming your price first, generally, doesn't put you at any advantage. It does two things, it gives the other person a better sense or a real sense, of what you can as opposed to willing, to give, and it, depending on your timing and delivery of that price, can expose things you don't want exposed, like fear or lack of confidence. Negotiating is a little like playing poker. You're not playing against the other player's hand (literally speaking you shouldn't be trying to guess or assume what the other person's budget is beyond what's reasonable) which is the opposite of what he's teaching actually but may not have realize it, what you should be doing is playing against the other person's performance, reading their body language for example. You need to get a read on where this person might be coming from. Another big reason why you don't want to be first is that you can learn a whole lot from just observing what the person will do and if the person is experienced and smart, the other person will be doing the same. You can get a lot of information from holding fast. If you go first, then you can't see if the person is anxious or being challenged at all. That alone can put you in a power position to raise your price or lower the other person's. If the other person goes second, then the other person is likely to easily to take a cue from you. Oh, you charge THIS much? I don't need to bother in this crowded field, or this might not be worth it. Those are just a couple examples. He was leading people astray there.
@@bldrnnerln3894 LOL, anchoring in NLP, isn't unrelated concept. Same name, but different comcept
This guy has way too few views for the pieces of advice given on his videos.
Deserve way more views. And I'm sure that eventually his channel will explode.
Its good and high quality advices. Straight to the point
Super crisp ... I would agree with the beautyful lady's answer ... I can't afford you Chris!
The VALUE you bring to the table is priceless. Can't put a money tag to it. #Anchor is by default at high
Incredible advice... why haven't I realised this before. It's such a simple concept and makes total sense. Thank you for your insight Chris!
You’re very welcome.
"Say your number first and say it high"
Black T-Shirt >
Helvetica Neue Semibold in white for "Say your number first"
Helvetica Neue Black in white for "and say it high"
(All right justified, with "the futur" blue logo small, in the shirt down right corner).
As a Designer, it's the least i can do to thank this highly valuable knowledge.
Chris playing on statues has become a B-roll staple. Great vid!
You guys always come at the right time. Keep up the awesome work!
Thank you.
As someone who's a terrible negotiator, this was very helpful. Thank you.
Glad it was helpful!
How are you blowing my mind right now..... i wasn't ready!!!! master sensei please continue
Awesome advice. It works in sales too. Thank you.
THIS IS SALES!
Buy the negotiating course it’s so good!!
Thank you Mike.
Loved the use of footage - that would have ended on the cutting room floor - to end the vid.
The anchor high is what I've incorporated into my numbers discussion. Whatever i think they'll pay, i add a few hundred dollars on top. I'm working my way to adding a few thousand dollars on top.
I'm not even in business but this stuff is fascinating
He just read 'Thinking fast and slow' by Daniel Kahneman, in case some of you were wondering.
was searching here for the book he was referencing to
Have a lot of leverage or the perception of it. Works every time.
Very valuable! I figured this out a few weeks ago and things have been much better. I always lowball :/
For years as a free-lance coder I fell into all of these kinds of traps of negotiation, but these days I just don't play this game at all. I always make sure I decide ahead of time where my absolute bottom line is, and then the only conversation I will have is whether they will agree to it or not. If the other person does not agree on what I want, then my only counter is "You are not the right person for me to work with, thanks for your time".
There are plenty more fish in the sea. The only reason we take less than we want is scarcity mindset.
You don't even really need to believe in the value of your work as such, all you really need to know is that working for less than you need for a happy life is actually worse than having no work. When you have no work you have maximum time to hunt for better clients, which is really the most important thing you need to do in that moment.
This was also made a lot easier by the realization that the easiest clients to work with are almost always the same ones who are happy to pay what you ask. If someone low-balls me in a negotiation my mind immediately goes straight to "Oh oh, major red flag that this will be a difficult client in many other ways too. Pull out now!"
She just tried to pay with something else. "Monetarily, no..."
wonder if he caught that lol
@@tdias25 I know I caught it.
He knows the money will go a longer way than a one night stand
@@Student4Life1975 and is subscribed to 3 different streaming services
This will definitely work for you in the long run if you have a lot of options. But some people are more desperate and can't afford to be turned down. Also, if you don't sell yourself effectively, people will balk at a high number.
What are the prerequisites to anchoring? Obviously the client in your example already knew the quality of your work and/or your reputation. Given your competitors, this technique would only apply to those clients who have ”cheaper” budget expectations...and you’re willing to chance giving up revenue in a highly competitive market.
Can’t wait for the day I officially sign up at THE FUTUR and become a part of the pro group
hope to see you on the inside. we are now over 500 people!
Love this concept. As the negotiator we need to set the anchor. Great clip Chris.
I love short content like this from your channel
The client picks the same strategy: “say my number first and say it low”. They take turns dropping anchors and the negotiation goes on till this day.
nah
as he exemplified, you have to be willing to walk away and, even better, refer them to someone else that might be able to do it for that price
that would be a swift remedy to your infinite negotiation problem
@@nafisdelacruz9703 refer them to “fiver” like he does in that role play video; this one is actually more realistic imho and more like what I’ve come across in the real world too💯
@@nafisdelacruz9703 which 99% of the time they will go and do because everyone wants something for cheap
Just turned down a gig after walking this video. I’ll come back and leave a update if this worked for me. 🙏🏽
Hello, update? I'm facing the same challenge atm
This is the best advice ever. Not sure id bother with the bootcamp after youve given all your secrets away? Go Lower!
He: "How much can you afford"?
She: "Zero dollars".
He: "Really"???
That lady totaly destroyed him.
hernesc watch it closely, he’s showing you how to deal with a broke customer.
Not really. If someone offered him zero dollars he just wouldn’t take the job. He’s not destroyed.
and yet he planted it in her head that he’s worth $1k / hr, so who really won?
@@issasecretbuddy She won. Cus he doesnt cost that much FOR HER at that moment
@@SkStNk Did you stop the video after she said “zero dollars”?
Because in the next ten seconds she literally says he is worth $1000.
3:25 Proof that Chris is another robot just like Mark Zuckerberg. Hahaha
Thanks Chris Do for your amazing content. By far the best, most helpful channel on TH-cam. You have a lot of great content both on design but life in general. This channel is a real motivator for me and my career and has genuinely been a huge inspiration to me. I would love a t shirt which has simply has 'thefutur' on it to rep you guys! You need to come to the UK, I would love to see you live. Great stuff
Thank you.
That was amazing, I learnt a lot! But what really got me was the iMessage sound you did at 3:24.
I was just thinking about you and this channel some days ago and suddenly you popped back in my notifications!
Peerfect timing to ✨🦋✨
yay
Yo Chris you a G!!! Seriously changing peoples life's over here. I had a similar situation today but after I actually got the client to a price I wanted I realized that I didn't want to work with the client because they would be too much of a hassle (pretty much did the cell phone test.) To get to the point how do you politely turn down a job after you see that it's not going to be a good fit?
I'd recommend saying a scheduling clash has come up and you can't take the project
Or
"Upon further inspection on my part, I see that I will not be a good fit for this project."
Melissa Claasen thank you for your input 🤙🏽
@@RodrigoTasca you're most welcome. Let me know what you choose to say and how it plays out
Rodrigo Tasca just say it’s not a good fit. Our MLE is $XXX, we’re too far apart for it to make sense.
What is the cell phone test?
I sat next to Chris Voss in 1st Class on a trip home one night during COVID protocols. I only heard his voice because he had a mask on. I said how is your night going Mr. Voss, and he was like yeah! LOL We blabbed the rest of the flight about sales and negotiations. He was so nice and personable.
When you can only afford a Civic and wanting a 320i, just craved for the sale man's pitch
This is my kind of energy related businessman
Man this vid is so gooooood! Thanks for this small bits of knowledge you guys share with us 💯
Danm that was a proper 👌🏿 opening !
I use a different method and I believe it works better than this, Chris. We first talk about the project and then I ask about their budget. If they say "you know, we are thinking to give 2k for this project", I immediately ask something like "well, I don't know how you are going to pull it off with 2k. Usually for this kind of project I take 15k". And then wait... And when I send the proposal, I have 3 options. 15k all-inclusive, 7,5k premium, 2k basic. So, I include their budget but they also get to see what they are going to take with the higher options. 90% of the time, they get to the middle option. :-)
Content is gold. I'm glad I found this channel :D
Very important in Salary Negotiations, never say your old salary, you are anchoring against yourself.
Oh thanks ! But how do you answer that question though ?
@@learnitnshare5513 I'd say you rephrase their question and answer your newly rephrased question.
They ask: "How much did you make at your previous job?"
You reply: "I'm looking for a salary of $X."
good tip
@@HungryTacoBoy Not to attack you or anything, but that is not how it works, in the corporate world at least.
Always lie, I have always lied to new employers about older salaries and they never fact check. A manager never asks how much did you pay him. it just never happened. SO every few years I changed jobs, increasing my take home pay regularly.
For those thinking why wouldn't I just ask for a pay rise and stop moving jobs so much? Here is your answer.
I tell this to all the young people I train in my trade.
Once you are on the books for a certain paygrade, they will find ways to stop those numbers deviating.
So you can go in and ask for a pay rise every year and get knocked back every year because they can just hire some one else at that starting rate.
So I made it a firm point to find a higher paying employer in the same job category instantly after not getting a pay rise.
This probably only works in industries where you know more than your employer about the job they are hiring you for.
I have had the I'm sorry talks from management a few times, we will pay you more, please don't leave, after I've resigned, but I've always been firm and moved on.
Hopefully it taught them a valuable lesson.
For me now I'm at the point where I'm unwilling to work for anyone anymore, It's easier to run and manage my own business than it is to make money for other people.
Hopefully you can make use of this negotiating tactic when looking for a new job. START HIGH and don't budge.
I had an interview where I refused to take the starting rate and my number was 20% higher than the average rate.
In the negotiation they emphasized they can not accommodate me at my desired salary.
I walked out assuming I wasn't getting the job, a week or so later they called back and offered me the position.
They took too long, I already accepted a job closer to home.
Moral of that extra story is, even when you think the negotiation is over it isn't because they are still looking.
So glad I found this video👌🏾
New thing learned, thanks for sharing :)
Excellent video amen.
Short, sweet and very clear!
Thanks for sharing, James
This is brilliant and so well explained. Thank you!
Glad you enjoyed it!
That’s a good tip Chris!
I have a follow up question: how do we know that he’s able to afford 30 or even 10 in the first place? We could have started by throwing a number like 8k and it would have ended there or most probably even got lowered.
I wonder this a lot of the time as well when talking with clients. Research/Experience maybe? Sometimes information is embedded in the details of the conversation, and you can glean some insight as to what their budget might be. Other time's it's completely indiscernible as to whether or not they have $100 or $10,000. I feel like it's one of those things where with enough practice you can go "Oh yeah. This is a big company, and they have TONS of money and X budget for most projects like this." or "I've worked with clients like this before, and for this type of project they have X budget.". Independent clients and VERY small businesses are much harder to gauge since there's almost no information regarding financial status usually.
You base it off YOUR cost. What have you made for this type of work before? What do others in a similar industry charge? You don't want to be the guy who undercuts everyone else, and you don't generally want to be the most expensive at what you do, unless you have the quality to back it up.
A good guideline is to sit down and honestly come up with your costs per hour/job/day/week etc. Then figure out if you have material cost on top of time, and go from there.
Can't believe I did this and didn't realise this is a tip from professionals
boom!
This assumes an uninformed/ignorant customer. The old saying plays true here - knowledge is power. Before any negotiation, be as informed on the market, the rates, the outcomes, and the reputation of the other party as possible. For the buyer, always bid work out to multiple parties. Find the hungry but competent and manage great work at a fair price. Then, reward and bring along the delivery with return work.
In my work, if one comes in high, they are discarded. There is very little in the market that is that unique as to demand a premium. Proven delivery and strong value within or below market rate is the winner.
The customer anchor should be backed like this - "The market for this work is X. This is composed of Y cost and Z profit over this delivery period. What extras are you going to provide to improve this opportunity?"
Great information
New Skill Unlocked! Thanks Chris!
Love the new intros.
Found it ! And then some. Thank you Mr. Do .
Fabulous advice ~ thank you for sharing.
Great video. So basically you drop a higher price with the expectation of the client either taking the offer or declining it for a lower, but still inflated, number that is comfortable to work with? What do you do if your large initial quote scares them off completely? Aside from them asking them "What number works for you?" is asking for a budget a bad idea in this case?
it's okay to scare them off. realize that it's not a client you had so you actually didn't lose anything. every potential client can 1) hire you, 2) hire someone else or 3) do nothing.
@@thefutur Do you let amount of current workload affect how willing you are to negotiate vs walking away? Say I'm just getting in to the freelance business, not a huge applicable portfolio demo reel, and have no paying work right now and would really like some paid work. What are your thoughts in that scenario?
Dear Chris, I understand what you're saying and I did this a week ago, the thing which I walk against was that they closed the door for further negotiations immediately.. saying my price was too high for them. I offered them to come up with their own budget and that we could try to work within their price. Not long after that they explained to me that they thought it was unprofessional towards me and they did not feel comfortable coming up with their own price because the gap was too big for them. So the only option I could think of was to respect their decision and let this project go, even though I really wanted to do it. If this happens to me in the future again do you know any way to save the negotiations and keep the project alive? Or can I throw a new anchor trying to revive this project?
Stick to your guns or you lose every time. Everyone that reaches out to you isn’t a good fit.
Secondly, keep leveling up. One day your skill will exceed your price.
Indeed, you need a high anchor but still a realistic one in your counterpart's mind or they will discard you directly. So what you can do is get a sense of their range of expectations without any numbers. Ask to pick form 4 ranges (so there's no middle one) that everybody gets : would like your project to be more like a Rolls Royce, an Audi, a Toyota or a Skoda ? When they answer, drop a related anchor.
@@ronfya That is also very good advice! Thank you I will keep this in mind!
I would guess they felt you were high-balling them, which is how I would feel if I walked away from a quote, and then someone got back in touch and said "please name your price!", which is the reality of "come up with your own budget and we'll try to work with it."
Instead, you can always try to explain why your initial price is what it is , and rebuild value if someone completely walks away and ends communication, but it likely won't make a difference at that point. 99.9999% of the time they're not a good fit based on the quick "no thanks, bye" response.
There's no point in calling them back in desperation and asking them for their lowest price. Worst case is that you actually get their business, but now there's very little trust in the relationship, they have all the power of knowing they did you a favor, and the project hasn't even begun. That's guaranteed to be a client experience you'll look back on and say "I wish I never asked for a second chance."
@@thefutur great. But it is hard top do it when you really need that job to close the month... I think one can do this gathering enough customers at a price that allows you to get the needed money for the month them, once reached that target, closing customers with an higher price until the beginning of the next month. This keeps you solvent, opens the door to more time if someone pays the higher price and so let you with the need of less low paying customers the following month to reach the same income target. Once you reached it faster thanks to your new high paying customer you can start earlier in closing another couple of customers with the higher price. Repeating the cycle you end with enough high stable income to start selecting only high paying customers. Of course you set another income target at that point, reach it with the high paying customers and once reached the new income target for that month you can start increasing again the price with the new customers, until you reach more and more income levels. Does it make sense?
I think lots of things matter before pricing and anchoring.... your level of connection and understanding with client, how do you convince and impress, your name in the market, your portfolio, your referrals and last but not the least, how loyal your are with yourself and client... are you over charging for the work just because client is rich and you are poor or vice versa?... These are all skills and Chris has them. If Chris gives a big number, I think he will convince his client that they paid a deserving amount.
And then its pure business, why wouldn't client play lowballs?... who doesn't want to save more and pay less?... humanity doesn't work at this stage, you'r at war of convincing with skills... :)
a 4-minute Master Class.
🔥 Fire 🔥
Yes, you should 100% be the one setting the price, but the advice in your video is more about avoiding real price negotiation, which I absolutely think is the right step for a creative to take.
But to add a little nuance to the situation - I would much rather know a team member lost a client, but did everything they could to treat price as an objection like any other, and as such overcome that objection with a conversation, than know we got a client but did so because we immediately dropped price, or employed the higher risk confidence game of "I don't need your business you should use someone cheaper."
Of course It all depends on the client's buyer personality, your reputation, and the situation. And the overcoming objection conversation isn't easy to hone anyway, but I'd at least try it before walking away immediately, which is really the strategy you're advising in the video.
That said I think "walking away" is much less risky for long term business growth than trying to engage in a real negotiation with a superior negotiator. So I guess what I'm trying to say is I completely agree with your way-more-accessible-than-mine advice, lol. But it may help to clarify that this isn't about "negotiating", it's about not negotiating.
I love this. Always dropping gems. Thank you.
Glad you enjoy it!
Priceless advice all the time.. Thanks Chris
Ok advice , I’m some situations you wait and hear the price and counter offer....there’s lots of ways of negotiating
that email inbox sound effect though hahaha
Chris just said "F you pay me!" in the smoothest and most polite way I've ever heard... Thank you very much Grand Master Do!
Anchoring used well
This guy is great.
Chris is a freaking BEAST
#asianBeast
I’ve found this works even with a joke number to start. I’ll say 10k knowing the price is around 300. Then when we get around to negotiate they have less fight in them.
I wish I leave next door to uncle Chris, like children running to get answer from daddy :). "Education for Life" thanks
Pure gold