Defending Your Brokerage Without Discounting

Every agent has taken the call: the deal is agreed, the registry is next week, and the client asks whether you can "adjust" your fee.

The mistake happened months earlier.

Agree the fee before you do the work

In writing, at the first meeting:

• The percentage or amount
• What triggers it — usually registration, sometimes agreement to sell
• What it covers
• Who pays what, where both sides are represented

An agent who has not confirmed this in writing has an opinion, not an agreement, and the client knows it.

Why the ask happens

Almost always one of three things:

1. The client does not know what you did. Most of the work is invisible — the calls that went nowhere, the buyers you filtered out, the document problem you caught early.
2. They are short on funds at exactly the moment every cost lands at once.
3. They are testing. Someone told them it is negotiable, and asking is free.

Each needs a different response, so find out which one it is before answering.

The response

Do not defend the percentage. Describe the work.

"Happy to walk through it. On this one there were 41 enquiries, 9 viewings, 3 offers. I turned away two buyers whose funding wasn't real, which is why we didn't lose six weeks. The society dues issue would have surfaced at registry if we hadn't cleared it in April. The fee is for that."

Specifics beat percentages. Most clients genuinely do not know what happened, because you shielded them from it.

If they still push

Trade, do not cut:

• "I can do that on an exclusive mandate."
• "I can do that if you'll list your other property with me."
• "I can do that if we extend to six months."
• "I can do that if you'll give me a written testimonial and two referrals."

A concession in exchange for value is a negotiation. A concession for nothing is a confession.

When to hold firm and mean it

If the client is genuinely just testing, a calm, friendly, unmoved answer usually ends it:

"I understand, but the fee is the fee — it's what the work costs. I'd rather be straight with you than quietly do less."

Most people respect this. The ones who do not were going to be difficult through registry anyway.

The structural fix

Raise the fee conversation in the first meeting, every time, even when it is awkward. Say the number out loud, put it in writing, and get an acknowledgement.

Agents who do this have the conversation once. Agents who avoid it have it at the worst possible moment, from the weakest possible position, on every single deal.