I recently received a campaign enquiry from an important client.
My agent, Finlit Media, submitted my rate card.
The client responded saying that their budget was already fixed and couldn’t be adjusted. But perhaps they could meet my rates in their next campaign.
We tried to negotiate to meet halfway because, honestly, this was a really good branding campaign and the final offer was one third of our asking price.
Yes, 39% of my expected fees to be exact.
So we had a decision to make.
Do we accept the low offer? Or walk away and protect positioning?
I’m sharing this experience because it reminded me a question I get all the time from my followers:
“Aunty, what if the company cannot meet my expected salary… and the offer is very low?”
What would AuntyHR do in this situation?
So, I asked myself: “Are you desperate right now? Because if you are rn, you should take it because low is better than nothing.”
But I’m not, you see.
So we have decided to decline the offer to protect our market value, positioning and future negotiation power.
Because once I accept a low number, it becomes a reference point for the next campaign.
What do you think? Would you have accepted it?
I would love to hear your thoughts too.
xoxoxo
