Discount?
 

Do you guys offer a discount? And if yes what season is best. I live in California. I feel when you discount you get people's attention, but you may just get the wrong type of people's attention. The ones who want it all for cheap. If you do discount how much do you discount? Thanks for your suggestions.

Re: Discount?
 

Discounting can be very tricky. To do it as a everytime type thing then why not just lower your prices? To do it once in a while to get the deal...sure IF it's done right.

You can't just drop your price, you need to justify the reason you're dropping the price and you can't drop the price by a large amount all at once.
Have I dropped my prices? Sure but in very small increments and always with a logical sounding reason but by doing so there is no thinking about the new deal by the client. It's a one time offer and if they "want to go home and think about it..." it's over. This deal is NOW, RIGHT NOW. A take it or leave it type of thing.

I have a friend who is very very wealthy and we were talking about this once and he said "when you lower your price you lower the perceived value of your service. If you have to lower your price to get the sale then you didn't sell yourself well enough and the client doesn't feel that you're worth it". True enough but sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do to get the deal. Just be careful about it, don't do it ALL the time and again, give a logical reason for dropping...and drop by small numbers but also keep in mind that you need to have a bottom line and no matter what you aren't going to go below that.

Re: Discount?
 

Hey Jeff

No!! As Don says you are screaming "I can't get any work, I'm prepared to work for peanuts so I'm giving you 40% off if you book me" ...All that does is tell them you used to be a big ripoff artist who is now dropping prices to the correct level! All you are doing is lowering the perceived value of your service.

Are you sure you are not sitting at the cusp of two markets? You might be too expensive for the DIY brides wanting a cheap Uncle Bob shoot OR you might also be too cheap for the brides that expect to pay say $1500 for a 6 hour wedding and you are offering it for $999.00 Sometimes you have to raise your perceived value to get the right sort of bride and not compete with the weekend warriors.

Check out your competition in your area and see what they are charging for the same sort of package ...you could easily have drifted away from the sweet spot in a market group where you really want to be right in the middle so you appear healthy and competitive !!

Chris

Re: Discount?
 

This year will be my first year completed. I am wondering when folks start booking. I believe it's 8-12 months from their wedding. Do many book in January?

Re: Discount?
 

I would never offer a discount on my base price but if you have an option list that might be ok to offer some freebies like a blu-ray at no extra cost or maybe a 3 minute trailer for free if you are trying to get extra bookings during a certain slow period (like winter) because people do get married then as well.

Re: Discount?
 

In my time I found December and January as slow booking months. February thru June then September thru the first half of November were the months to book.
Having said that, I DID book in the off months but that's when you need to get out and advertise heavily so when the brides did start booking, they remember you.
Keep in mind the first 2 to 3 years are the hardest because that's when you have to start setting your reputation.

Re: Discount?
 

For those who don't offer a discount, how do you respond to those who request it?
I have a hard time saying "no" to discount requests because of all the competition in the area, but I know it undermines myself and other videographers to lower prices.

Has anyone found any language that works best for not reducing your price? I will provide incentives and military discounts, but as a whole, I don't believe in discounting as a matter of fact.

Re: Discount?
 

Yes, in my language it's "Sorry, ik geef geen korting" or "sorry, I don't give any discounts" :) but seriously, I think you never should give any discounts on your standard prices, even if it means loosing the client, they might try to get some additional discount later or tell their friends and the next one that ends up with you could start demanding it as well because they know of a friend who got it too.

What I would consider better is to say that your basic price stays the same but if they choose and pay for a optional trailer that you would be willing to trow in a free blu-ray dvd.

Re: Discount?
 

Thanks again for your guys' insight.

Re: Discount?
 

Noa, I LITERALLY laughed out loud at that!

Re: Discount?
 

I offer package discounts, as in, if they book both DJ and Videography, we usually do the photobooth or up lighting for free.

Otherwise, I will offer different options if they calling with short notice, or a Tuesday. I did a ceremony only video ($500) that booked me six weeks out - I will also offer that to my DJ clients.

The gal who, this week, asked about videography in September 2016 does not get that option. Not worth it.

Re: Discount?
 

I used to give a discount if they hired a professional wedding coordinator. My thought was that they could take some of the organizing off of me, but I got burned by some professional coordinators who were more decorators than coordinators, so I don't really offer that discount anymore.

I think if you are just starting out and want to get your portfolio built up really fast, a discount might be a good strategy, but I wouldn't do it forever. Because if your customers 'don't qualify' for what ever reason for the discount, that's a negative you might not be able to recover the sale.

Re: Discount?
 

My advice is to never discount your services unless you're literally just starting out and need a couple of samples for your website. Clients will ask you for it occasionally but you have to stand your ground. We made a decision one day that we not entertain discounted offers period, and you know what? We have yet to discount our services ever since (with the exception of my cousin's wedding).

What we WILL do though, is offer one of our add-ons at a discount ONLY IF IT CLOSES THE SALE. For example we sell things like engagement films, same-day edits, raw footage, blu-rays, aerial quadcopter, etc. etc. all as additional purchases. Our blu-rays we sell for $125 ea. so if it's something that I discover is appealing to them I'll throw in one or two for free and it usually will go a long way.

Re: Discount?
 

Our photo and video packages are a little cheaper than if you hired us individually as a photog and videographer as we would have more transport costs than working together ..otherwise our price is our price ..no negotiation.

Then again we stopped doing middle Eastern weddings a long time ago and their culture requires you to bargain so if you do them you need to probably keep prices somewhat higher than normally to give room to negotiate

Re: Discount?
 

Never offer a discount. It makes you look desperate for the work. Just settle on a price and stick to it. Also, in my experience, clients who ask for discounts will be a nightmare to work with because they won't have any respect for you, or the value of your work. About 30% of my enquiries every year come tagged with "can you do it any cheaper?" I always refuse, and about half of them end up booking anyway, which establishes the business relationship from a position of mutual respect.