I closed a deal recently for one of my clients with a major consumer products brand. I quoted a rate that I knew ran high. I expected a counter.The brand came back lower, exactly as planned on their end. Their lower number landed almost exactly where I would have priced the deal from the start. That price was based on my client's real deliverables and usage terms.I got what I wanted for my client. But we both spent an extra round of back and forth getting to a number that could have been the opening offer.That is not a story about a brand losing a negotiation. It is a story about two sides performing a ritual neither one actually needed.Every time a brand negotiates an influencer’s rate down, it teaches that influencer to quote higher next time. That single habit, repeated across thousands of deals, is the real reason influencer rates keep climbing. Brands built the cycle. Now they are the ones calling the results inflated.

The Cycle That Keeps Repeating

Here is how it typically plays out. A brand asks an influencer for a rate. The influencer quotes a number. The brand pushes for a discount and gets one.The next time that influencer works with a brand, the rate is higher. The influencer, or their manager, already expects to be talked down.In most cases, the influencer did not invent an unreasonable price. The market taught them to price that way.

A Familiar Pattern From Health Care

This dynamic is not unique to influencer marketing. Health care providers went through something similar when insurance companies began pushing for discounted rates. Providers responded by listing one rate for a paying customer and a........

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