A Way to Soften the Blow When You Send Extras on Fiverr

"Brace Yourself"

I tried out something a little new with a Fiverr buyer yesterday. It might not have been necessary, but I felt I needed to do something to soften the blow before I sent them the extra I required.

The client had placed a $105 order, and sent me one long script which, it turned out, actually contained eight smaller scripts for separate videos that were part of a series. I did the math, and the order should have been $270. It wasn't something I could just ignore. I had to address it, but how? Slamming them, out of the seeming blue, with a $165 extra!

I could easily imagine myself on the other end of that. So I spent a few minutes just staring at my computer screen, considering my options. Then an idea occurred to me, and I sent them what you see in the screen grab.

So, before I sent the extra, I spoke gently with them about the situation, acknowledged it was probably an oversight, and assured them I'd give them a break for that reason, and also because they were a first-time customer. Then, I asked them to acknowledge what I had said so far, before I sent the extra.

They did! They acknowledged it with "understand, ok," which I felt was a gracious acknowledgement that I was trying to meet them halfway. So after calculating what was still owed, I cut that amount in half, and sent them an extra for $82.50 rather than $165, just before I hit the sack last night.

This morning, there was the notification of acceptance. There was no accompanying note, saying "thanks for the discount," but there was also no, "accepted, but I'm not happy about it" message.I think they understood that they goofed up, and that I was making an effort to meet them halfway.

The Thought Process

I first helped them mentally prepare for what was coming, then I made sure that what came was less of a shotgun blast than they thought it would be. I treated them firmly, but fairly...giving them a break...but accompanied it with words that tied the discount to that particular first order, so we wouldn't be setting a bad precedent for future orders.

There's only so much we can predict about the psychology of a buyer, and what their reactions will be, but if we start by trying hard to picture the impact our words would have if they were being said to us, it can really us step over or around those potentially=ankle-breaking potholes.

For those of you who do voiceovers, or who are interested in entering that fun profession, I can help there too. Check out my voiceover coaching services.