Knowledge catalogue / Pricing
When a client says "that's more than we have", the reflex is to discount. It feels like the helpful move. It's neither.
A discount usually means you do the same work for less, so the only thing that gives is your margin and your goodwill, and you end up resenting a job you fought to win. Worse, the lesson doesn't stay on this job. It poisons the next quote and the one after, because you've trained your own buyer to open low, knowing you'll fold.
When the budget really is lower than the work, reduce what's delivered and protect the two things that matter: your rate, and the quality of what you do produce. Keep the planning and the filming intact, because that's where the quality lives, and reduce the deliverables. Then say it plainly:
"To meet that budget we'd reduce the scope. Planning and filming stay the same to protect the quality you're after. To align with the budget, I'd deliver fewer social edits rather than the three we discussed."
That frames the reduction as a deliberate trade, keeps your rate whole, and hands the client a clear choice: this budget buys this much. It protects this job, because your margin survives, and every future job, because you've taught the client that your price reflects your value, and value doesn't go on sale.
The last time a client said "that's more than we've got", what moved, your scope or your price?