As designers we continually need to decide at what level we pitch our skills. Some might think that during tough economic times it's best to lower rates, but there'll always be a rational choice for quality.

Conran CEO Roger Mavity shared thoughts in a BBC Radio 4 podcast.

Eames lounge chair photo via lofthome.ch.

"Quite a large number of people are in a mindset that if they haven't got that much money they'd rather buy a few things that are good and are going to endure, than lots of stuff which isn't.

"In the Conran shop, for example, we sell a lot of quite classic pieces of modern furniture like the famous Charles Eames lounge chair which you couldn't possibly describe as cheap. It's about 4,000 quid. You can get knockoffs of that for half the price or a quarter of the price very easily, but there's clearly a group of people who would much rather pay the full amount knowing that they're going to get something which will last them a lifetime and they're going to pass to their children, rather than pay a lot less, and have something which will last three years and then be passed to the skip.

"So I think even when money's under pressure, perhaps even more so when money's under pressure, people want a quality experience as well as a cheap one."
— Roger Mavity, Conran

Quoted from The Bottom Line podcast (01 November 2012) with Evan Davis.

Roger Mavity is also co-author of Life's a Pitch: How to Sell Yourself and Your Brilliant Ideas (2008).

Earlier, on pricing: Don't forget to ask about the budget.