Compounded Discounts

[SteveEscort]

I have a regular client, possibly my best and I see him EVERY week. After 3-4 appointments, as a gesture I dropped £20 off my appointment rate and said if he booked me regularly I'd drop it from £120 to a straight £100 if it was guaranteed to be regular.

 

He's at least an hours drive from me so I do a whole round trip and it takes me 3 hours of my day, I can't schedule in anything for an hour before because I am in the shower and packing my bag to take with me, so there's 4 hours and I can't do anything for an hour or so after because it's a full on appointment. So basically 1 client, once a week takes up half of my day, I don't mind because it's usually a lunch time appointment whilst his wife is in town shopping, having her hair and nails done. It costs me £20 in fuel, so I make £80 from that appointment.

 

He emailed me yesterday and asked if we could negotiate a new discount rate on top of the already generous discount. He claimed that because my rate locally was £100 for an outcall, surely I must have other clients who get discounts, seeing as I offered it and could we negotiate his rate down to £80 once a week. After all, he said it's £320 to £400 a month, half the salary of someone working in a supermarket 40 hours a week.

 

I don't mind giving anyone a discount if they're regular, I really don't but I now feel awkward and don't really fancy seeing him. Has anyone else been in this situation.

 

Losing his appointments would obviously be a drop in income, I had 45 appointments off him in 2011 but there's been times when I've driven all the way out to the country for him and lost appointments at home, some of which were 2 hours +++ I probably wouldn't be any worse off.

[wayout]

Not an escort but hope you don't mind some feedback from a client. Although not something I would do, I don't see anything wrong with a client who sees you as often as he does asking for a discount on an already discounted rate as long as they are respectful in the request. At the same time I don't see anything wrong with the escort declining, again as long as done so politely. Up to you if you want to explain or not why you decline but explaining a bit may be worthwhile to keep things comfortable in the future if he continues to see you. While it may be a bit off putting and make you less inclined to want to see him because of his request, I would try to get past that.

 

Considering your outcall rate per your web site is £80 and the cost of gas is £20, by charging him £100 your actual discount is not charging him your extra travel time you incur for it being not local. The client needs to understand and appreciate that as it is a real cost to you (i.e. missed opportunities, foregone personal time, etc). I don't think the hour of prep work or the recover time afterwards you mention are issues for the client to consider as that is a "fixed" cost for any client that should already be built into the price.

 

You are self-employed so you make your own policy on pricing and you need to treat it as a business decision. Get a clear idea as to how you will handle requests and offers of discounts in the future (including not offering any as a possibility). If you do consider requests then as in any negotiation you need to understand how far you will drop your price for what you are offering considering potential loss of business.

[maxwellissmart]

I have a regular client, possibly my best and I see him EVERY week. After 3-4 appointments, as a gesture I dropped £20 off my appointment rate and said if he booked me regularly I'd drop it from £120 to a straight £100 if it was guaranteed to be regular.

 

He's at least an hours drive from me so I do a whole round trip and it takes me 3 hours of my day, I can't schedule in anything for an hour before because I am in the shower and packing my bag to take with me, so there's 4 hours and I can't do anything for an hour or so after because it's a full on appointment. So basically 1 client, once a week takes up half of my day, I don't mind because it's usually a lunch time appointment whilst his wife is in town shopping, having her hair and nails done. It costs me £20 in fuel, so I make £80 from that appointment.

 

He emailed me yesterday and asked if we could negotiate a new discount rate on top of the already generous discount. He claimed that because my rate locally was £100 for an outcall, surely I must have other clients who get discounts, seeing as I offered it and could we negotiate his rate down to £80 once a week. After all, he said it's £320 to £400 a month, half the salary of someone working in a supermarket 40 hours a week.

 

I don't mind giving anyone a discount if they're regular, I really don't but I now feel awkward and don't really fancy seeing him. Has anyone else been in this situation.

 

Losing his appointments would obviously be a drop in income, I had 45 appointments off him in 2011 but there's been times when I've driven all the way out to the country for him and lost appointments at home, some of which were 2 hours +++ I probably wouldn't be any worse off.

 

I had a client like this, however—over the course of the time I saw him he gradually increased the amount of money he gave me, without any action on my part. I have people who try to pitch me the regular discount speech all the time. Most of them I've never seen the first time, let alone 40-plus times during the past year. Another client that I did see (and for whom I gave a discount just like your client is describing) was seeing another escort as well and paying him more than twice my rate, and seeing him almost as frequently. When I found that out I stopped seeing him unless I had absolutely nothing else scheduled, and even then I jacked up my rate. I made up the difference with other appointments.

 

The logic you have to examine here is a balance between ego and economics. Do you want to fill up your time? If so, then lower prices across the board and you'll likely have more clients. But you'll have to see more to offset the deficit created by charging less. Do you feel taken advantage of and undervalued? If so, then make yourself scarce around this client and see if you can't use the time spent on him seeing other clients. You might be surprised at what opportunity turns up—and if he asks why he doesn't get to see you as much anymore, you can be as honest as you want up to telling him that your available time is being taken up by full-price clients who are more conveniently located.

 

And by the way: "After all, he said it's £320 to £400 a month, half the salary of someone working in a supermarket 40 hours a week" is more than a little off-putting. You don't work in a supermarket.

[gallahadesquire]

At £20 for petrol, I think that further discount is maybe not warranted. Perhaps you should approach it that way: "You know, petrol is expensive ..."

I would tend to be in the "good deserves more" category.

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[SteveEscort]

At £20 for petrol, I think that further discount is maybe not warranted. Perhaps you should approach it that way: "You know, petrol is expensive ..."

I would tend to be in the "good deserves more" category.

\

 

 

Yes, in this country petrol is now £5.72 a gallon which to shock you american's is approximately $8.91 a gallon. When its a 70 mile round trip I simply can't afford to offer additional discounts.

 

I also get what wayout said but I offered the discount as a gesture which was about 17% discount, he now wants it to be about 34% discount, yet my outgoings have increased about 15% in the last year with fuel/food/utility costs, so in real terms I'd be offering it at half price.

[maxwellissmart]

in real terms I'd be offering it at half price.

 

Don't forget that you should be the one establishing pricing and discounts. When you let a client do it for you—he's not going to stop. And let's say that he starts reducing the amount of appointments he makes (which is an eventuality, because you're obviously not going to see him forever). Do you think he's going to say: "Hey Steve, I'm not seeing you as much anymore, so let's go back to the higher rate."?

 

I doubt it. Once he's locked in, it's that rate or lower. Or he'll be the one cutting YOU off.

[fanman]

As someone who gets a really, really good deal from someone that was partially offered and partially negotiated, I wouldn't even think of asking for an additional discount.