How to Price B2B Services for Turkish Companies

Pricing is the decision most founders get wrong the longest. When I started selling B2B services in Turkey, I treated price as a number I picked once, put in a proposal, and defended. It took me a few painful quarters to learn that in this market, price is a system. It includes the currency you quote in, the payment terms you accept, how you handle inflation, how much room you leave for negotiation, and how you structure risk between you and the client.

If you sell services such as outbound sales, lead generation, consulting, marketing, software implementation, or any other expertise-based offer to Turkish companies, this post is for you. These are the notes I wish someone had given me before I sent my first proposal. They are not theory. They come from building service businesses under Corner Group, making mistakes, and slowly turning those mistakes into rules.

Why Pricing in Turkey Is Different

Pricing advice from Silicon Valley blogs assumes a stable currency, predictable payment behavior, and buyers who accept list prices with modest discounts. Turkey works differently in several ways that directly affect your margin:

• Currency volatility. The lira can move significantly within a single contract period. A price that looked healthy in January can be thin by June if your costs are tied to dollars or euros.
• High inflation. Your salaries, rent, and software costs rise throughout the year. If your contracts are fixed in lira for twelve months, you absorb that rise.
• Long payment terms. Many Turkish companies, especially larger ones, expect to pay 60, 90, or even 120 days after invoice. Some still use post-dated cheques. Every day of delay erodes real value under inflation.
• Negotiation is expected. In many Turkish business cultures, the first price is seen as an opening position. If you don't leave room, you either lose margin or look inflexible.
• Relationships matter. Trust often outweighs features. A buyer who likes and trusts you will accept a higher price more readily than one who sees you as a vendor.

None of these are reasons to avoid the market. Turkish companies are sophisticated buyers with real budgets. But you need to design your pricing with these realities in mind instead of discovering them in your bank account.

Step 1: Know Your Real Cost Floor

Before you think about value or competition, know the number below which you lose money. Most founders underestimate this because they count only direct salaries.

Here is a simple way to calculate the monthly cost of delivering one client account in a service business. Say you run an outbound program for a client:

1. People: One SDR at roughly 40% of their time, a share of a team lead's time, and a few hours a month of your own oversight. Include employer costs, not just net salary.
2. Tools: Data platforms, email infrastructure, CRM seats, LinkedIn tools, and any AI software, many of which are billed in dollars.
3. Overhead share: Office, accounting, legal, and management time divided across active clients.
4. Sales cost: The time it took to win the client, spread over the expected contract length.
5. Buffer: A margin for inflation between now and the end of the contract.

If this adds up to, for example, the equivalent of 1,800 USD per month, that is your floor. Your price should sit well above it. In service businesses, I aim for a gross margin that leaves enough to reinvest in hiring and training; if a deal only works at a thin margin, it rarely improves later.

One important lesson: recalculate your cost floor every quarter. In Turkey, a cost floor calculated in the spring is outdated by autumn. If your finance habits are weak, this is where problems start. I wrote more about why this matters in the importance of financial literacy in Turkey.

Step 2: Choose the Currency Deliberately

This is the most Turkey-specific decision you will make, and there is no single right answer. You have three main options.

Quote in USD or EUR

This protects you from lira depreciation, especially if many of your costs are in foreign currency. Many B2B service providers and international-facing companies accept this. However, some Turkish clients, particularly SMEs and companies without foreign currency revenue, resist it because it moves the currency risk onto them. There may also be regulatory rules on which types of contracts can be denominated in foreign currency, and these have changed over time. Always check the current situation with your accountant or lawyer before signing.

Quote in TRY with Indexation

You quote in lira but include a clause that adjusts the price periodically. Common approaches include adjusting every quarter based on the official inflation rate, or setting a lira price that is recalculated using a reference exchange rate on the invoice date. This feels more local and is easier for many clients to approve internally, while still protecting you.

Quote in Fixed TRY

This is the simplest for the client and the riskiest for you. I only accept it for short engagements of one to three months, or when the price already includes a meaningful inflation buffer.

My practical rule: match the currency of your price to the currency of your costs as closely as possible. If 40% of your costs are dollar-based tools and 60% are lira salaries, a hybrid approach often works well, such as a lira base fee with indexation plus a dollar-denominated pass-through for software.

Step 3: Pick a Pricing Model That Matches the Risk

Once you know your floor and your currency, decide how you charge. In B2B services, there are three common structures.

Retainer

A fixed monthly fee for a defined scope of work. For example, a monthly fee that covers building target account lists, running multichannel outreach, and reporting weekly.

• Pros: Predictable revenue, easier team planning.
• Cons: Clients may question value if results take time.

Retainers work best when the client understands the process and trusts you. To make them stick, define deliverables clearly: number of accounts researched, sequences launched, reports delivered.

Performance-Based

You get paid per outcome, such as per qualified meeting or per closed deal. Turkish buyers often like this because it feels risk-free.

• Pros: Easy to sell, strong alignment on results.
• Cons: You carry all the risk, including risks you cannot control, like a weak product, a slow sales team on the client side, or poor follow-up.

I have seen many agencies accept pure performance deals and then discover that the client's sales team never followed up on the meetings booked. The agency did its job but earned little.

Hybrid

A lower base fee plus a performance component. For example, a base retainer that covers your cost floor plus a fee per qualified meeting above a threshold.

This is my preferred model for most Turkish clients. The base protects your team and cash flow. The variable part shows you are confident and aligns incentives. It also gives the buyer a story to tell their management: "We only pay the bigger amount if it works."

A useful structure looks like this:

1. Base fee covers your cost floor plus a small margin.
2. Clear definition of a qualified outcome, written in the contract.
3. A monthly or quarterly cap on the variable component so the client can budget.
4. A minimum term, usually three to six months, because outbound and many other services need time to ramp.

At Sales Corner, we think about data-driven B2B lead generation in exactly these terms: what outcome the client actually values, and how to share risk in a way that is fair to both sides.

Step 4: Build Negotiation Room Without Lying

In Turkey, most buyers will ask for a discount. Procurement departments in larger companies are often measured on how much they reduce supplier prices. If your first number is your final number, you put the buyer in an awkward position.

That doesn't mean inflating prices dishonestly. It means designing proposals with legitimate levers. Here is how I do it:

• Offer tiers. Present three packages: a lighter scope, a recommended scope, and a premium scope. Most buyers choose the middle, and the conversation shifts from "how cheap" to "which option."
• Trade, don't give. If the client wants a lower price, ask for something in return: a longer commitment, upfront payment, shorter payment terms, a case study, or referrals. A 10% discount in exchange for paying quarterly in advance can be better for you than full price paid at 90 days.
• Discount the first period, not the price. Offer a reduced fee for the first month as an onboarding gesture, while keeping the ongoing price intact.
• Know your walk-away number before the meeting. Write it down. Founders who decide in the room usually concede too much.

One more thing: relationships make negotiation easier. If the buyer trusts you, they push less on price and more on outcomes. Investing in that trust, including asking for and acting on feedback, is part of pricing strategy. I covered this in the power of customer feedback in B2B.

Step 5: Protect Yourself with Payment Terms and Indexation

A great price with bad payment terms can be worse than an average price paid on time. Under high inflation, a payment delayed by 90 days loses a meaningful share of its real value.

Concrete protections I recommend:

1. Invoice in advance for retainers. Bill at the start of the month for that month's work, not at the end.
2. Negotiate shorter terms, or price the long ones. If a client insists on 90-day terms, adjust the price upward to account for the delay. Explain this calmly: "Our standard terms are 30 days. For 90 days, the monthly fee is adjusted to reflect the cost of financing."
3. Add an indexation clause for contracts longer than three months. Agree on the reference (official inflation, exchange rate, or a fixed percentage) and the adjustment frequency upfront.
4. Use late payment clauses. Many clients will not enforce them, but having them changes behavior.
5. Stop work rules. State that work pauses if invoices are overdue beyond a certain number of days. Few founders enforce this, but writing it down gives you a professional reason to raise the topic.

Track receivables weekly, the same way you track pipeline. If you already run a structured sales meeting, add a collections check to it. My approach to that meeting is in how to run a weekly pipeline review that works.

Step 6: Handle Taxes and Invoicing Details Early

Turkish invoicing has details that can surprise founders, especially those coming from abroad:

• VAT (KDV) is added on top of most service fees. Make it explicit whether your quoted price includes VAT or not. "Prices exclude VAT" should appear on every proposal.
• VAT withholding (tevkifat) applies to certain service categories, meaning the client pays part of the VAT directly to the tax office instead of to you. This affects your cash flow, so understand whether it applies to your service.
• E-invoice requirements apply to many businesses. Make sure your invoicing system is set up before your first client signs.
• Foreign clients versus local clients may be treated differently for tax purposes.

I am not a tax advisor, and these rules change. The point is simple: talk to a good accountant before you price, not after. A price that ignores tax mechanics can quietly lose you several percentage points of margin.

Step 7: Price for the Buyer in Front of You

Turkish B2B buyers are not one group. The same service can be priced and packaged very differently depending on who is buying.

SMEs and founder-led companies usually decide fast, care deeply about cash, and want flexibility. Monthly contracts, lira pricing, and clear early results work well. The founder is often the decision maker, so the sale is personal.

Large holding companies and corporates have procurement teams, longer approval cycles, and formal supplier onboarding. They can pay higher prices but expect detailed proposals, references, and multiple rounds of negotiation. Build that negotiation room in from the start, and expect payment terms to be a major discussion.

Turkish companies selling abroad are often the easiest to price in foreign currency because they earn in it. They also tend to value international outbound experience highly. For B2B SaaS companies expanding internationally, outbound pipeline is often the most valuable service, which is the focus of SAAS Corner's outbound and lead generation work for B2B SaaS.

Before you send a proposal, answer three questions about the buyer: Who signs? What currency do they earn in? How do they pay suppliers today? Your answers should shape the model, currency, and terms you offer.

Common Mistakes I See

After many proposals, these are the patterns that cost founders the most:

• Pricing by copying competitors. Competitors may have different costs, different quality, or may simply be losing money.
• Fixed lira prices on 12-month contracts. This is effectively giving your client an annual discount equal to inflation.
• Ignoring the cost of sales. If it takes three months and many meetings to close a client, that effort must be paid back through the contract.
• Accepting pure performance deals without controlling the outcome. If your result depends on the client's sales team, share the risk.
• Never raising prices. Existing clients should see regular, well-communicated price adjustments. Announce them in advance with a clear reason.
• Founder doing all the pricing forever. As you scale, pricing rules need to be written down so your sales team can quote confidently. If you are at that stage, my thoughts on when a founder should hire their first sales rep may help.

Conclusion

Pricing B2B services for Turkish companies is not about finding one perfect number. It is about building a system that protects your margin from inflation and currency swings, respects the local culture of negotiation and relationships, and shares risk fairly with your clients. Start by knowing your real cost floor. Choose your currency deliberately. Prefer hybrid models that cover your costs while showing confidence in results. Leave honest room for negotiation, protect yourself with payment terms and indexation, and get your tax and invoicing details right before you sign.

Most importantly, revisit your pricing regularly. In this market, what worked last year probably needs adjusting this year.

If you are building a service business in Turkey and want to talk through pricing, packaging, or how to structure your first proposals, feel free to [get in touch with me through my website](/). I am always happy to exchange notes with fellow founders.

Related Posts

• When Should a Founder Hire Their First Sales Rep?
• How to Move from SDR to Account Executive
• How to Run a Weekly Pipeline Review That Works
• Can AI Replace Your SDRs? A Practical Answer