Why I Don’t Do Discounts (and What My Lead Data Taught Me)

A 250ml bottle of drinking water can cost $1, $5, or $10. The water is the same. The difference is context: where it’s sold and who it’s sold to—at a supermarket, at an airport, or on a plane.

That simple example maps perfectly to service work.

In my experience, there’s no more difficult client than the one who is obsessively trying to buy “water for $1.” Not because they’re bad people—but because the time cost of their requests, doubts, negotiations, and last-minute changes is usually the same (or higher) than with a client who pays several times more. And we’re a service company. Service work is real work: it’s often heavy, frequently unpleasant, and it involves a lot of human communication. No pink ponies and smoothies.

My 2023 Lead Breakdown (Blockchain Development)

I have a subjective—but very telling—set of stats from 2023 based on inbound requests and leads for blockchain development. I’d group clients into four buckets:

1. 70% — “You’re too expensive.”
2. 10% — “You’re expensive, but we’ll still work with you.”
3. 10% — “The price is fine. Let’s work.”
4. 10% — “Why are you so cheap? That’s suspicious… Let’s work!”

That fourth group is my favorite.

Who My Best Clients Are

Clients from group #4 aren’t particularly focused on price. If they mention that we’re “cheap,” it’s usually only after they’ve spoken to other vendors—and even then it’s in passing. What they actually care about is:

• timelines
• our experience
• execution certainty

The best clients are often the ones who don’t even have time to Google. They have an assistant, a manager, or a CTO handling the search and early calls. They personally join only at the final stages of negotiation—when the question is no longer “how cheap can we get it?” but “can these people deliver?”

Profitability Isn’t the Issue—Lead Quality Is

For context: over the last year our company’s profitability was about 30%. In crypto, where people love to talk about “easy money,” that’s not some outrageous margin.

And still, only about 30% of customers were comfortable with our pricing.

Why? Because of lead quality.

This year a larger share of leads came from freelance marketplaces. We don’t even have a full website yet, and strong clients tend to come through referrals—not through platforms optimized for price shopping.

That will change. This year we’ll finish the site, improve positioning, and deliberately aim for more clients from group #4.

Why I Stopped Giving Discounts

Over the last 1–2 years I haven’t given discounts to anyone. Sometimes that leads to rude reactions—and I’ve got plenty of stories about inadequate behavior. I’ll share a few cases another time.

In everyday life I don’t bargain and I don’t ask for discounts either. My wife even criticizes me for it.

But here’s how I see it: a discount rarely buys loyalty. More often it buys more negotiations. If someone’s core motivation is to pay less, they won’t suddenly become an easy partner after you reduce the price. They’ll just continue optimizing for “cheaper.”

A Question for You

What’s your relationship with discounts—do you give them, ask for them, avoid them, or use them strategically?