I am guilty to accept it, but I acted harshly

We have been in contact with a potential client for over a month now. The communication started with a WhatsApp message, followed by a formal introduction of our services and what we can offer them. The conversation eventually led to a Google Meet (which we always do with potential clients to convert them), and we were asked to submit a cost proposal, as the client seemed interested.

We sent the proposal and waited for about a week. In the meantime, the client asked about a lot of things, which I was completely against sharing unless he assured us that he would be choosing us to develop their Shopify store. However, my business partner (who is also my life partner) told me that we have to fulfill such requests in order to show the client that we know what we are doing and that we know how to handle such features and requests.

The client said, "we do have a call," and kept us waiting the whole time, saying he had to consult another director of their brand. We were waiting patiently when he dropped an RFP (Request for Proposal) today. We read it and were frustrated: why did we have to submit the proposal again, and that too with such a strict two-week timeline?

I was angry, I was in a rage. I asked my elder sister, who has been in corporate for about 11 years (at the time of writing this blog), for advice. She called it a red flag. She said they are not supposed to tell us when to submit the project and when not to and that they had structured this like a corporate project. They should have either mentioned the strict timeline earlier or noted that they were drafting an RFP. They made us wait for almost a month, and now they want us to follow strict deadlines, especially when we clearly mentioned the project timeline in the cost proposal we already shared. She advised me not to take this project. I asked for her opinion because, after 11 years, she has worked with all sorts of people and knows better than me.

The client wanted a lot of features in his Shopify store, most of which required external apps, and each app has a cost. He was asking us to create a list of all the apps we were going to use and give him a proper cost breakdown, including our charges, Shopify charges, and the cost of all the apps we plan to use. I was getting angry and telling my partner (the founder of my company) that we should directly write to him and say that if he is ready to work with us, I will personally give him a complete list of cost-effective apps that will not increase his overall expense. But this process takes time, and what if he says no after taking the list of all the apps I researched?

My partner talked to the client on the phone and then called me. I told him I didn't want to do this project. He then explained a very different way to set boundaries than what my sister had suggested. He said:

"If I am paying $25k for a website, I have every right to ask such questions. Just like us, it's our client's hard-earned money, so spending such a huge amount, he will naturally ask these questions. Yes, we do need boundaries, but we have already waited for a month, and it's not like he has done anything offensive to us; he was just there asking some questions, and that's all. If we say no to him upfront, that will be our lossf, a loss of the energy and efforts we spent talking to him, creating a proposal for him, and answering his questions. Yes, Harshi, whatever you're saying is absolutely correct," he said, "but these boundaries need to be implemented in a slightly different way here."

So, rather than directly saying no to him, we could tell him to let us know his final decision in a specific timeframe (e.g., "in so-and-so hours"), as the prices we locked in for the previous proposal wouldn't be the same; they would increase.

I felt guilty, but I had to accept that whatever he said about spending such a big amount of money requires consideration. If we were in their place, we would also have been doing the same.

But that doesn't mean we'll accept whatever they say. We have our own set of conditions, so if the client accepts them, we will take their project; otherwise, it’s a definite no.

So today, I learned that handling people is a tough job. You have to choose your words wisely, react wisely, and sometimes go the extra mile to make your potential client comfortable or to make them understand that you are the person who can get this job done well and that they can trust you.

Trust is difficult to gain, especially in times when there is so much fraud happening everywhere. So being calm, thoughtful, and mindful while dealing with leads and clients is actually a valuable asset.

I realised there is huge difference between the corporate world and running your own business: Corporate boundaries are about principle, while business boundaries are about investment.

In a big corporation, projects are often endless, and client lists are deep. If a client shows a major red flag, the company has the leverage to enforce a hard boundary, reject the RFP, state the conditions, and if the client walks, there’s little emotional or financial loss to the individual employee. The focus is on protecting internal processes and company value. However, in our growing business, we had already invested a month of energy, time, and specific knowledge into this lead. Walking away upfront is a direct, measurable loss of that invested capital.

He handled it really well because if it was me, I would have lost this potential client for whom we have worked so hard.