Negotiating with Haggling Clients

[Johannes Soetandi]

Originally Posted by Paul R Johnson

Do discount once, and word gets around - probably more work but for much lower profit, and do you want to be known as the 'budget' video man!

hmmm.. thanks Paul.. this is really get me thinking now.........

[Kren Barnes]

My 2 cents...maybe you can meet them halfway say $1300 -$1500?....given that you are still building up your portfolio it might be reasonable to do this....i don't think it will affect your reputation too much given the nice work i've seen you do... you can probably start charging more for next year... eventually though you'd have to decide on a market and stand firm on your prices ...remember, you'll gain some and lose some...

Good luck,

Kren
www.verticalvideoworks.ca

[Dave Blackhurst]

Here's the flip side - would you rather work at a reduced rate or do something else for "nothing"... there's a "break even" point there for all of us <wink>, and after that it's money in the bank.

Not saying to undervalue your services/skills, but sometimes making that bit of extra money is worth it, even if it's not a lot extra, and you can also generate future "goodwill" when their friends get married and remember "the really great guy who worked with us to save our budget, and then over-delivered". Lots of businesses "give away" a little something because they know in the long run how much of an impression that makes on the customer, and builds the long term value of the business.

[Johannes Soetandi]

Overall the advice has been a resounding "do not reduce my rate without reducing service".. hmmmm... this is a hard decision.. but after all these I will definitely holding back reducing the price.. maybe only a slight discount..

[Jim Snow]

How much price haggling do you think goes on with photographers, DJ's, and other wedding vendors? Are videographers pegged as the price suckers more often than other vendors?

[Bart Wierzbicki]

While most couples won't have any troubles paying a 500$ more for a bigger cake or an extra side-dish for the guests, they want to save money to reduce the videographer even for 50$.
I think it's because there are a lot of videographers throwing with discounts to get the job.
Anyway, I always say ... how big the cake is ... the day after ... it's gone ! ;o)

[Cody Dulock]

I'm sure other people can chime in with better thoughts on this topic, but these are my thoughts on the subject.

We did a couple weddings for super cheap and regret every minute of it. All of the leads we get from those weddings become dead leads almost immediately (even using a sales script) because they had different expectations and budgeted for that and considered video last minute (tri-fecta!).

Lesson initially learned from doing cheap weddings: Do it for free or full price with nothing in between.

Other observations and deep thinking...
Lowering prices can effect these things:

- How people value your work
- How people value the industry
- How people value the market

By offering a discount or a "deal" that is not in your favor, people will perceive that your time and effort is not worth the money. You will get stomped on. We live in a time where everyone wants it now and wants it cheaper. We are creative artists/business men. In situations like this, our creative side is telling our business side to back off and lets just be creative... take the job, make some content. but what we should do is kick the creative side in butt and listen to our business side. If we can't listen to our business side, we should hire someone that only deals with business and not creativeness... especially if our business side is telling to take the gig just to get a couple bucks in the bank. Have you ever calculated how much you make per hour when factoring in equipment, editing, shooting, marketing, website/blog updating, accounting, etc...? It can tend to be pretty ugly.

Some questions to ponder: if you do give a discount will you still give 110% to that job as you would for a job that didn't get a discount? If yes, why?

Why does the client get the impression that your services can be negotiated? Is it how you advertise, your sales process, or something else? If your services are truly worth less than your listed price, consider lowering your prices.


In the end, we are in the service industry and the client should pick us not only for the quality of work we do (creative side), but the quality of service we provide (business side). "If we can't invest in ourselves, why would others want to invest in us" (quote from Patrick of still motion).

[Johannes Soetandi]

Hi guys,

Again I am so thankful for all the great suggestions. I feel so helped and this has really made up my final decisions.

Based on the strong recommendations, I've decided NOT to lower the price.. but instead I have revised my price list to include new packages that will offer them options and decide which one will fit their budget and requirement. It varies in the hours of coverage.

I think I've made a wrong step when I constructed my package to have either 'cheap' or 'expensive' and have not allowed people who's only willing to spend in between.

I for one have made very bad decision in accepting several cheap wedding projects. This is probably the main reason why people immediately think of us as the 'budget' videographer as they may have heard from people that we are 'cheap but good!'.

But its mistakes being done and I just have to do my best. At least I've learnt not to undervalue our service and must help the industry getting the recognizion it deserves on the market.

Again, thanks for all the responses! I'm glad I've asked for opinions before deciding on anything.

Cheers,


John

[Corey Leigh]

Originally Posted by Bart Wierzbicki

While most couples won't have any troubles paying a 500$ more for a bigger cake or an extra side-dish for the guests, they want to save money to reduce the videographer even for 50$.
I think it's because there are a lot of videographers throwing with discounts to get the job.
Anyway, I always say ... how big the cake is ... the day after ... it's gone ! ;o)

So, funny side-note based on this. I had a couple negotiate with me to the point of trying to negotiate me down $50 (your point resonated with me). Thing is, come video delivery, they tipped me $300.

Both things stick in my mind....but they could have just saved the negotiation, not tipped me, and I would have been thrilled and wouldn't have thought twice.

I should also comment that I have not before or since been negotiated with that much, nor tipped that generously...which makes it all the more intriguing!

[David Schuurman]

Corey is that common practice? to tip on receipt of the video?