Bascially it boils down to this when companies ask or demand a fee reduction.

The company wants to keep the same or greater amount of profit than they had the prior year.  The goal of any company.

They must now try to accomplish this with less work coming in and completed.  Difficult to say the least.  We have experienced the same thing.

They must either get more business or clients, raise fees, become more efficient, reduce costs or try any combination of the four.

Getting more clients is difficult.
Raising fees will cost them clients.
Become more efficient will cost them money.
Reduce costs is the easiest place to increase profit for them.

Now how to reduce costs.  Easiest and the least painful for them is to have their vendors (us) reduce our fees.  Accomplishing this will save them from cutting their own salaries, benefits and jobs.  Good business sense on their part.

Not getting their vendors to reduce fees will force them to become more efficient, market for more clients, and cut their own salaries and benefits to maintain those profits.  If not they will have to live with less profit, but by golly they will have still have profits.

It is not our job as abstractors to insure they remain profitable.  That is their job. Hopefully they can accomplish that and remain a viable company or at least do the honorable thing and pay for professional services rendered prior to shutting their doors and slipping into the night.  Reducing your fees will not insure continued work or that they will stay in business.   

Our job is provide our service in a professional and timely manner at a reasonable cost, taking into account the costs that we incur as we perform our work.

If we as abstractors do not take ourselves as professionals then no one else will.

So be the professionals that you are and stick to your fees because you are a professional, you deliver a professional service so you deserve your professional fees without any reductions.

imho
Jay