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Negotiating The Best Price For Your Services
By Maria Piscopo
Negotiating The Best Price For Your Services
To get paid what you want and make a profit on your creative services, usage rights are the first things to discuss with your clients. This should be done at the very beginning of the entire discussion of price. When no usage rights are stated, no rights are transferred and the client is just paying for the pleasure of working with you!
Once you and your client decide on the usage, getting your best price will require planning your verbal and written presentation. Remember that everything you do and say when you first talk price with a client will set a precedent and be very difficult to change on future jobs. Review this checklist before you next talk price with your clients:
- Remove the word "You"
When discussing the price, talk about what "The creative service" is worth, not what "You" are worth. Putting price and yourself in the same sentence reduces your ability to remain objective. You could say, "It would cost $5,000.00 for that creative service", not "I would charge $5,000.00" This will make negotiating simpler for you and the client.
- Use industry standard terms and conditions
Don’t re-invent the wheel! Tell your client you are a professional by acting like a pro. Every creative professional should have both The Code Of Fair Practice booklet (Joint Ethics Committee, New York) and the book Pricing Photography: The Complete Guide to Assignment and Stock Prices (Allworth Press, allworth.com) on hand when working. For designers and illustrators, you need the 9th Edition of the Pricing & Ethical Guidelines Handbook (Graphic Artists Guild, gag.org) to walk you through everything you need to know about business standards and practices with real-life pricing examples. If a client abuses you on price or copyright because of your lack of knowledge, you have no room to complain! Graphic arts and photography organizations have worked very hard to bring you this information. It is up to you to use it.
- Is this a competitive or comparative pricing situation?
In a competitive bid, the client (very often government contracts) must hire the lowest bidder. In a comparative situation, the client is looking for the best and most suitable creative professional for this job. Competitive bidding can be very lucrative as long as you make a profit. In a comparative bid, you have the chance to "sell" your price by packaging a cost proposal that includes the irresistible benefits of working with you. This technique is often called "added value" and is used by many other types of businesses. These benefits could include experience, expertise, equipment, and location of your studio, knowledge of the client’s industry, unique locations to shoot or a new style they haven’t seen. Benefits can also be very personal such as being bi-lingual, well-traveled or even having a background in physics! You can’t possibly know what is important to the client (besides price) until you ask. Then you can gather together all the reasons you are special and present them with a written proposal.
- Who is the real decision-maker?
Often clients split up the responsibility to find you and the authority to hire you. Find out who makes the final decision on the creative service that gets hired. It could be someone you have never met or an entire committee. Then, make sure everyone gets an original copy of your "packaged" proposal.
- What does the client really need?
For example, a client asks you to use digital capture for a catalog. Without determining their future use of the photos or their overall marketing plan, you could give a price for the wrong job! Ask your client, "What is your purpose and long-term goals for these photos?" Any mistake due to a lack of information at the beginning of the project will be blamed on you. Also, always inform your client they will receive an estimate amendment if they make any changes or revisions to the original job description.
- Add credibility
The increase of projects put out "to bid" means more competition and closer scrutiny of each and every proposal. It means more people involved in the examination of your price. A complete package will demonstrate your professionalism, various services and benefits to help the client hire you at your price. You have already made this point in some kind of benefits cover letter but that’s just you telling the client how terrific you are. You need to include "Third Party Proof"so that someone else can say you are worthy. It can be anything that has someone else saying how great you are to work with. For example, you can include client testimonials, a client list, awards won, published press releases, any juried exhibit, client references or quotes.
- Samples of your work
Giving examples of your work with your price will increase your chances of getting the job. The client probably has other bids and they have to "sell" your price to some committee. Samples say in a soft sell and non-verbal way, "Yes, it will cost this much money, but look at the great work you’ll get!" Help your client get you the job at the price you want!
- Always follow-up
Many times I hear creative professionals complain about giving a client a price and never hearing from them again. It is your job to follow-up with the client. Your clients are pressed and stressed and can’t always call back. You have the highest level of interest in the final decision. So call! It’s your job and your price, so go get it.
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