The founder of an Indian business consultancy firm has called out a prospective client for trying to lowball them. Rohan Dhawan, the Delhi-based founder of UAbility, said that a United States-based NRI booked a consulting call with them, only to argue that Indian founders should charge less because “cheap pricing” was their biggest selling point.
‘India mein itna kaun deta hai?’
According to Dhawan, the prospect had booked the discovery call himself, arrived on time and initially appeared interested in working with the consultancy. However, Dhawan described what happened next as disrespectful to the entire Indian founder community.
“An prospect disrespected the entire Indian founder community on a discovery call last week. He booked the call himself seeking consulting from us. Showed up on time and looked interested,” he said in a LinkedIn post shared earlier this week.
The prospective client’s entire demeanor changed when the topic shifted to fees and pricing.
When pricing for UAbility’s 90-day consulting programme was presented, the NRI said: ““Yaar, ye toh US pricing hai. India mein itna kaun deta hai coaching ke liye? Indian founders ka USP hi cheap pricing hai”.
He basically argued that Indian founders should offer lower rates than their global counterparts.
Founder ends call
Rohan Dhawan called out the NRI for questioning the pricing, claiming it was already lower than what he paid his junior staff members in the US.
“This man was sitting in New Jersey, billing his US clients in dollars, paying his junior copywriter more than what we were quoting for a 90-day program that would have 3x’d his close rate,” he said in his LinkedIn post.
Dhawan said that he did not argue with the NRI or offer him a discount. Instead, he cut the call short.
“We didn’t discount. We thanked him for his time. The call ended in 13 minutes,” he said. “This guy left India 8 years ago. Built something real. Has the receipts. And still carries this 30 year old conditioning that Indian work should cost less than its global equivalent.”
Using the incident to make a broader point, Dhawan argued that many entrepreneurs continue to undervalue because of long-held beliefs about pricing.
“The damage is more than just one prospect walking away. Its founders billing at 40% of international rates and take home less than the senior people working for him, because somewhere in his head he’s still apologetic about the number,” he said.
A piece of advice
The Indian entrepreneur ended his post by advising founders not to undervalue their own services or lower prices simply to win clients.
“Yes we didn’t build this conditioning. But we feed it every time we flinch at our own number,” he wrote. “The buyers who can’t pay weren’t going to be your buyers anyway.”
Ending his post with a pointed remark, Dhawan wrote, “An Indian founder who apologizes for his price is the cheapest thing in the room.”
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