Trial pricing

A gambit that occasionally appears when I'm negotiating with a new client is the proposal for a 'trial' price.  The idea being that I discount my fee for an initial (trial) project in return for the prospect of more work in the future.  Of course there is no implication that any future project will revert to my normal fee structure.

So what's actually being said to me is this...

1. We don't have enough faith in what you do to pay you properly now, so if you fail we need to limit our financial exposure
2. But if you do happen to succeed then we propose rewarding our own bad faith with a continued discount
   

And the client usually believes that he's doing me a favour!

The assumption underpinning the proposal is that I'm not in enough demand to dictate terms and that it would be better for me to sell my time to them at a discount than sit at home earning nothing.  In short, the client is behaving like a company but treating me like an individual.

If I'm going through a less-than-busy period it's tempting to agree to the deal but the pitfalls are obvious; the best case scenario is that I have to turn down higher-paying work with other clients because I'm committed here.  The worst case scenario is that word gets out and I'm forced down to this new price across the board.

I can't say 'never accept a trial pricing offer' because there are times when they make sense; for example when the client's offer of (a lot) more work equates to a genuine 'discount for bulk' or when your cash-flow is so dire that anything's better than nothing.

But I can say this: it is no one's interest but your own to keep your prices high.  If you don't protect your fee structure no one else will.