Never reduce your price without reducing your offering.

Production inkjet print providers face price pressure every day. A customer gets your quote for a beautifully printed, personalized direct mail campaign and responds with: “Can you do it for less?” Or, “This is more than my last printer charged me.” Or, “This is outside my budget.” You’ve heard it all. It’s tempting to shave a little off the top to win the job, but be careful. Dropping your price without adjusting your offering is one of the fastest ways to erode your margins and your credibility.

If your original quote was $50,000 for a multi-segment campaign and the client counters with $44,000, don’t just say yes. Instead, reduce the offering accordingly. That might mean fewer pieces, a longer turnaround, fewer personalization layers, or a simpler format. Maybe it means digital-only proofs or pickup instead of delivery. But the bottom line is this: if you reduce your price, reduce your offering.

Why it Matters

There are two critical reasons to trade something when you lower your price:

1. It preserves your integrity. Agreeing to a lower price without adjusting the scope makes clients question whether your original pricing was inflated. They might wonder if you were trying to pad your margins unnecessarily or gouge them. It sends a signal that your pricing was arbitrary or negotiable from the start. The easy crumble to a lower price can create suspicion and unease in your customer’s mind.
2. It sets expectations. When you cave on price with no consequences, you train customers to ask for a discount every time. Just like a toddler who gets candy for throwing a tantrum, they learn that a little pushback gets them what they want. Next time, they’ll ask for more. That mindset is nearly impossible to undo, and it attracts the wrong kind of buyers. The goal isn’t just to close this deal; it’s to position your business to win healthy, sustainable business over time.

How to Put It Into Practice

Let’s say your client wants a high-volume direct mail project that includes data processing, full-color variable imaging, custom envelopes, and drop-shipping. They tell you the budget is tight. You might respond:

“To hit that budget, we’d need to simplify a few elements. For example, we could move to a single version instead of variable data, or shift to black-and-white for interior pages. We'd also need to extend the timeline by a week to optimize press scheduling. If those changes work for you, I can make the numbers work.”

This is a value conversation, not a price concession. You’re allowing the client to self-select into a pricing tier that reflects their priorities. That also allows you to maintain your margins and reputation while delivering exactly what the client is willing to pay for:  no more, no less.

Bottom Line

Your production inkjet services are valuable. Your team, your technology, and your turnaround times are not interchangeable with every other provider in the marketplace. Don’t send the message that they are by giving away your value without asking for something in return.

Cutting price? Cut the offering.