On Tue, 6 Jan 2004 02:44:41 +1000, you wrote: >Hi all, well, it is 2.12am here and I am heading for bed after a long night >of invoicing, contracts, photoshopping files for ftp'ing etc. > >I just wanted to tell you all about my rollercoaster of a day. > >Just when I thought I might have been "getting somewhere" with this whole >charging what i'm apparently worth thingy, I was quickly dragged down off my >high-horse by a would-be wedding client. They had telephoned me in late >November after seeing my website and an add in the paper (this was a local >enquiry), and the bride to be had said "omigosh, i've just seen your website >and you HAVE to shoot my wedding - your images are just beautiful, our >budget is this, but i don't really care what you charge, i just want you, >blah, blah". So, we talked budget, deposits etc and she promised to pay her >deposit within 7 days as I always require, to reserve her day etc. Well, 14 >days came and went and I telephoned her and she said that they had had some >unexpected bills and so could she pay on 24 December? No worries I say, I >understand these things. 26th December, no money received, so I phone her >again, reminding her that if anyone else wants her date before her deposit >is paid, and they are flashing $$$ under my nose, I will be forced to give >it to them. I said this extremely politely of course, and she responded >with "well, too bad, i can't afford it now until 7 Jan, and if someone else >pays before then well that's just not fair because i booked it first". Ok, >so in the meantime, whilst waiting for 7 Jan to role around, I send her out >a really nice package of information, a very polite "congratulations on your >engagement and thankyou for choosing TMP" letter, some sample images etc. I >figure this will wet her appetite a bit and maybe make her keep her word >this time. Well, today, I ring her back to check if she was going to >deposit the payment tomorrow as promised and who should answer but the >groom-to-be, he says to me "oh, is this about the photos. well, i've >decided that i don't want you as i have found this bloke with a better deal, >thanks anyway..." I ask him if it was the quality of my work that has let me >down and he says "no didn't even look at your work, it was dollar signs that >i was looking at". Click! And that was the end of that conversation... > >Now this was, let me tell you after he was presented with my OLD price >list - imagine what he would've said had I shown him my "new improved, >fairygirl charging for what she is apparently worth" list?!!? Just goes to >show that I am not "worth" as much as you all seem to think... > >So, then my day progresses, and I get a phone call from my kids clothing >lady who starts the conversation by telling me just how much she loves the >work that i have so far completed for her, and really appreciates all of the >extras I have given her, and how she has always loved my stuff etc, and that >she has paid me by depositing the funds into my account. Ok, so far, so >good... then i go on to explain about how i am re-assessing my rates and >how i need to start making money rather than just covering costs as i will >never be a true professional photographer until i do (her and i have become >quite friendly during all of this and discuss business/money issues all the >time as she is just starting out too). she agrees with everything that i >say, even adding comments such as "well, there is no use being in business >if you aren't able to pay yourself a wage" etc. So, then i explain that any >future work that i do for her will be charged out at either an hourly rate >($25 p/hr) rather than a flat quote, OR on a "by image" basis, whereby she >pays $100 per image that she decides to use on her website/catalogue etc. >Suddenly, her tone completely changes and she says that she could never >afford that and that she would have to fly her dad (a landscape >photographer) up here for any future work. She said the only reason that >she didn't get him up here for this job was because she loved my work so >much and it is very different from the sort of stuff that he does... I >said, I totally understand, but I can't keep working so many hours and >palming my kids off to people for no reason, and I thought that of all >people she would appreciate that as we have just completed a business >management course and in the classes she was SUCH a stickler for working out >the financial side of things. I said "please no that I won't be upset if >you need to use your dad in future, and I am sure that you will be as happy >with his work as you have been with mine and that it will help you to sell >your products just as well", she said "well, i won't be, cause he's a >landscape photographer and you are the only person around here that i really >trust, but i won't have a choice now will i, i'll just have to make do with >him..." > >Now fairygirl is dragging on the ground, eating dust behind her >high-horse... > >Round three - the Arab guy. Emails me after seeing my packages, and says >"yep, we want you and we want X-package, but without these things in it and >don't want to pay anymore than this for the package with those items >removed..." He had chosen the smallest package that I quoted, less work for >me sure, but also, not much more profit than I would have for a local >booking, and the items he wanted removed? Well, they were things that don't >cost me a red cent - one was a web gallery of their proofs (which I upload >for nix to my own domain) and the second was wedding announcements that are >submitted to newspapers in their social pages (again, free to me, in fact >the newspapers generally beg me to submit stuff to fill their pages and make >them look pretty...), so now I am forced to discount an already cheap >package for the removal of items that cost me nothing anyways... > >The high-horse runs off into the distance and fairygirl lays in the dirt... > >Oh, and then my ever-loving mother arrives on my doorstep, right as I am on >the phone to the groom who was cancelling me, and basically says "I told you >so", finished with "well, it's about time you got off your high-horse and >came back to earth, you just can't expect people to pay that much money for >a few photos...", yeah, I know it, she has no idea what she's talking about >etc... but, it seems like she is completely right today... > >Yep, really hot sh*t I am guys, three people (four if you count my mother, >but I am getting used to her) in one day telling me that a) I am not good >enough and b) I am charging too much - now what was it I have been telling >you all along? > >Ok, off to drown my sorrows in a big block of chocolate whilst watching >Letterman (he comes on really late here), and then to try and get some >ZZZZZZ's... > >'night, >tan. >
I feel for you, but if you got to eat chocolate, and the kids still love you, the day weren't all bad. Anyway, let me tell you a different story. It's kinda long and rambling, but it challenges the notion that one must charge certain high prices. My industry has become a commodity industry - we have to sell our product for not much more than the price of raw materials. This happened over the course of several years, partly because more efficient machinery created excess production capacity in the US. Years ago our sales force charged a premium price, and proclaimed our superiority because of some significant value-add services and market research we performed. We had work overflowing our work order bins. Blah blah blah. At the end of the day - which is right now, we take any orders we get, usually at the slimmest of margins, just to keep families employed, paychecks flowing, and light bills paid. And our stock price has steadily increased partly because we still have a solid positive cash flow in an era where our competition is going bankrupt and/or selling out. My company employs over thirty thousand people worldwide, grosses several billion dollars per year, has been in business over a hundred years, and is generally credited with creating the methods of hiring, training, compensating, and retaining a modern sales force. So we have done some things right over the years. So don't be surprised at what many people in the real world now consider most important: price. It's the way of life for many industries. Get used to it. One can even sell some items at a loss, if the loss items are part of a package that pays the bills. There are three foundations to a business: price, quality, and service. Years ago, people in my industry would say "Price-Quality-Service - pick any two" and mean it, because one could not get a quality product at a cheap price, unless you were willing to wait a long time for it from companies who produced huge volumes at their own fixed schedule which guaranteed them efficiency of scale. Nowadays, changes in production equipment and changes in customer expectations have made a new motto: Quality and Service are a Given, Price is Negotiable. Remember that quality and service are a given, at least in the customer's mind if not in actual delivery. No prospective customer is even considering they may get a poor product just because they paid less. Nor has the idea crossed their mind that they may be hiring a cheap photographer who won't show up at the wedding because he or she got a more lucrative offer the night before. Many customers are swayed by price, that's for sure. I can't tell you a perfect method to get around that, nor is it always a good idea to be the low-price seller unless you can also be the low-cost producer. None of use will ever be able to sell for less than the packages at the discount mart that read like "1-8x10, 2-5x7, and 33 Wallet Size for Only $9.95 - No Sitting Fee!!!" But the way around the price shoppers may be to sell, sell sell... Sell yourself, sell your portfolio, sell the things you do that add value and create customer confidence. And don't sweat the sales you don't get. That's just one "no" that's now out of the way, on your way to a nice "yes". -- John Mustarde www.photolin.com
