wrote in message
...

I mentioned that I will be working with an interior designer. The
question came up about giving discounts on large orders--say,
whole-house refurbishment, where the designer's bill total would be
in the $15,000 to $20,000 range. The idea is to make a 'big' client
happy--keeping the possible sale by offering the discount. The
problem--for me--is that she mentioned a 20% discount, with 10% taken
from her cut, and the other 10% from my labor charges.

That's only fair if her cut is the same size as yours. Suppose (ridiculous
example) the total was 100k, you got 15k and she got 30k.

10% each of 100 leaves you with 5 and her with 20. Is that what she's
proposing? She'd have a lot less incentive than you to keep the discount
low.

My feeling is that she should regard you as more of a "fixed cost", like the
cost of the fabric.

Sally H