How many new clients try to negotiate pricing with you? And do you let them?

I keep my loyal clients loyal: Give them holiday, long stay, or overstay discounts and let them know that you appreciate their business. There are many other small tokens which can acknowledge their support and goes a long way to keep good parents and wonderful dogs (and cats) coming back. I do not negotiate with first time clients.

Also I might suggest:

As pet sitters through Rover we are also supported by Petco. I provide a premium service for your pet, and I am unable to provide a discount off my rates. However you might check Petco's website as they often have coupon codes for first time users.

http://www.petco.com/content/petco/PetcoStore/en_US/pet-services/services/pet-sitting.html (http://www.petco.com/content/petco/Pe...)

I have successfully used this on a couple occasions.

The only time I have ever had this happen was with a client that had a stay that was going to be for 4 months. I did give them a better rate than my normal one simply because it was so long. Otherwise, I would never change my prices as they are set that way for a reason.

It sure takes a lot of nerve to try to haggle prices, doesnt it!

I've just had a first time request that asked for a discount off our puppy rate. All the other sitters in my area have comparable puppy rates, so I'm not sure she'd get anything different from another sitter. I asked for a meet and greet before considering a price reduction. But puppies are more work and I don't really want to go down in price. I think sometimes people forget that even though they want a more affordable rate, we're still people trying to earn $. And after Rover fees, we're already not getting 100% of what they're paying. I also don't want to decline the request because I feel like I keep getting bogus requests from people who never get back to me, declining them and now I'm number 9 when I used to be number 1!

Anytime I have accommodated a price break I have regretted it. For whatever reason, the dogs of people who try to talk me down behave worse than people who are happy to pay my reasonable boarding fee. If a new inquiry wants to negotiate cost, I simply tell them there is no price break for first time boarders. It's well worth it.

This is a question that hits really close to home for me. While running our Rover business here in Omaha, NE we have clients that try and negotiate ALL the time. I think that arming yourself with knowledge and having confidence in the quality of services you offer is key. The trend that I've noticed is that as long as the price is within the $0-$300 range, people don't say much. It's during holidays, extended stays, and when the price threshold breaks $300 that people start to try and negotiate. I think that the idea above about a pricing sheet from local kennels and facilities is a great idea, but don't forget that the services we offer as Rover sitters are well above and beyond those offered at any volume based businesses, oftentimes cheaper too!

We are now to the point in our business where I simply let people go if they try and negotiate right off the bat. There are more fish in the sea. I do however, offer repeat clients discounts on a case by case basis when they ask for it. Remember, we are running our OWN business here. Prices, discounts, it's all up to us, Keep your clients happy, but don't take a loss or undervalue your services.

I have included in my profile that after 3 stays I will lower the daily rate. I have had greet success with that because of repeat clients. This holiday season I thought I would have a problem but after talking to the pet owners I explained to them that I dropped the holiday rate to my daily rate and they were happy. It actually gave them more of discount my daily rate of $30 repeat clients are$25 holiday rate is $38 so I dropped them down to $30 .Both clients happy and me too.

I personally haven't had clients try to negotiate price with me. I am thankful for all of the responses on this post though! I'm fairly new to Rover and come to these boards to learn from all of the other sitters' experiences. One thing I carry in my "Rover bag" is a set of price lists from local kennels and doggy day-care centers (basically a page print from their web pages). So now if I feel the conversation at the meet & greet or via messaging starts heading toward price comparisons, I am armed with factual information; and can do a compare & contrast type sales pitch for my services, then see where it goes from there. It does sound like some people are just price shopping and not really caring about the quality of care us Rover sitters can offer....I guess we'll always run into that.

We haven't really had anyone negotiating prices. We do charge a puppy rate and always require a meet and greet since we have three other dogs. Usually after talking to the clients and seeing the dog, you can get a good vibe on energy level and we always ask about potty training, destructive behaviors, etc. Most people have been pretty forthcoming but every once in a while you will get someone that isn't completely truthful. It also helps though that Dan works from home and we don't leave the dogs unattended.

We also are in a college town and with that have negotiated some of our prices to get new clients and fill bookings. However, the clients have not ever asked for a discount, just mentioned that with the puppy rate or whatever, our services were a little more than they could afford to pay. I have only done this for someone that I felt comfortable with after talking and after meeting the dog. Also, the client was looking for someone they could take the dog to regularly. A return customer/booking is exactly what we want. And if taking the price down a few dollars a day or taking the puppy rate off for a client that has a well-behaved and completely potty trained dog helps, I'm all about it. But like some of the other people have said, if you feel the price is too low or don't get a good feel from the client, I would decline. :)