Pricing Smart: Lessons from Real Client Work

Not long ago, I had a conversation with a potential client who complained that his clients in Saudi Arabia were asking for excessive discounts. That conversation led me to reflect more deeply on what makes an ideal company–client relationship and how pricing strategies can impact it.

Having worked with a variety of clients over the years, I tried to distill what defines success in such relationships, and how those principles can be applied to new clients in the Arab Gulf and beyond.

First, let’s start with the definition. I consider a successful client relationship to be one that is both long-term and financially beneficial for both parties. It’s a partnership grounded in a mutually beneficial exchange of value — or simply, a “win-win”.

One of the most damaging myths in client work is: “Satisfy all client needs, whatever it takes.” Many companies live by the mantra “the client is always right. And if the client seems wrong? Refer back to point one”. But in practice, this dynamic rarely works in the long run.

Here’s what actually happens: you try to please the client unconditionally without asking for compensation. Their demands grow. Your profit margins shrink. Eventually, your team burns out, and your interest in the client disappears.

Let me share a case from my own experience. I once managed a major project involving 12 team members. It was a great opportunity for our brand and offered significant financial potential. However, the scope was poorly defined from the start. As the planning unfolded, the agenda changed several times, and new components were added — requiring more staff and time than initially estimated.

Wanting to "make the client happy at any cost", I never raised the issue of compensation. We delivered a strong result — hitting all success metrics and making all external stakeholders happy. But when we met with the client to discuss the outcomes, their feedback was surprisingly negative. They highlighted minor issues, ignored the extra effort we had put in, and showed no appreciation for the additional resources we committed.

When they later approached us for a similar project, I, having learned my lesson, quoted three times the original price. As a result, they went with another provider — for the same price they had paid us the first time.

The problem wasn’t really the client’s budget. The problem was us — we undervalued our own work and failed to communicate that value clearly. That self-disrespect led to disrespect from the client, team fatigue, and ultimately, the end of the relationship.

Learning from that lesson, I embarked on the opposite path and started quoting high premium rates from the beginning to most potential clients. I remember I took on a high-profile project for which I set premium hourly rates from the start. Since it involved some sensitive government relations aspects, I also set additional non-monetary preconditions for engagement, which the client had to accept.

The project was led by the company’s local director, and overseen by their international group CEO. Despite the higher costs, the client never questioned the rates, understanding the high stakes. Communication was respectful and efficient, and they followed our guidance fully.

With just two team members, I earned two times more than I did on the earlier project with a 12-person team. However, once it was completed, the client terminated the contract immediately without even trying to discuss any long-term collaboration.

These two lessons led me to realize that the best pricing strategy for any project is fair pricing — one that ensures both sides’ satisfaction and lays the foundation for long-term collaboration.

In my current advisory practice, fair pricing does not only involve the fees that the client is paying us for the project work. It also includes the commission that we earn with them from a successful project completion.

These two elements do not only have to be fair in terms of money. They also represent the amount of risk each side is taking in the project. For every client who works with us, their initial investment in us is a risk that they take aiming for an outcome that no one can guarantee them.

The risk on our side is that our initial fees are not aimed at earning profit, but only to cover our expenses. That scheme ensures both pricing fairness and equal risk distribution, which, in any case scenario, will give both sides an equal and fair outcome.

As with every other part of my business model, the equal risk distribution concept also came to me through a number of experiments and learned lessons.

In the early days of my business development advisory practice, I took some projects agreeing for only commission-based compensation. That made me super-motivated, but, unfortunately, made the opposite to my clients. As all time investments and risks were on our side, the clients were not keen enough to invest their time and effort when it was crucially needed.

I recall one case when a good contact of mine informed me that their company was looking for bidders in an urgent tender. They needed a bid from our side to be submitted within four working days. I immediately called the company that I was working with based on a commission. But, as they were approaching big public holidays, they did not commit and eventually failed to submit their bid on time. My Saudi contact was even willing to extend the deadline of the tender, but again, my client was very slow in responding.

All of these lessons I learned over the years made me crystallize my current pricing model, which I am sticking with for some time now: 

• Our general consultation fees, not related to any particular project, ensure a fair amount of profit versus client client satisfaction;

• Our fixed fees for market expansion or fundraising projects compensate our current expenses, while the commission from a successful deal ensures a fair amount of profit compensating for the risks that both us and our clients take entering into the cooperation;

• In both cases, fees and commissions can be justified with logical explanations, past project examples, and the expected value that both sides could get from such collaboration.

While money shouldn't be overemphasized in every contract or client relationship, a thoughtful pricing strategy remains a key foundation for building successful and lasting partnerships. I hope these lessons help you generate more value, forge stronger relationships, and secure more contracts in your business — in the Arab Gulf and beyond.