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|| SportsShooter.com: Member Message Board
Pricing?
Lisa Hall, Photographer
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Oklahoma City | OK | USA | Posted: 7:48 PM on 05.23.11 |
->> Would like some opinions on a job. I normally charge per hour, but a job has come up with a total of 6.5 hours during the day with breaks at least every 2.5 hours. Basically candid shots-----all indoors.
Daily rate (if so, how much) or hourly?
Thanks |
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Tod Gomes, Photographer
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Pleasant Hill | CA | USA | Posted: 8:03 PM on 05.23.11 |
| ->> What are they getting as an end product? Is it for coverage only? More details please. |
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Lisa Hall, Photographer
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Oklahoma City | OK | USA | Posted: 8:13 PM on 05.23.11 |
| ->> Images to be used on their website, and pamphlet. A burned DVD is required at the end of the day. |
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Butch Miller, Photographer
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Lock Haven | PA | USA | Posted: 8:29 PM on 05.23.11 |
->> Are you inquiring about licensing fees for the images involved ... or what amount you should bill them for labor/equipment fees for the shoot?
Both are quite different concerns ... the licensing fees ... you would have to take into consideration the time period they would be licensed for use and the per use publication fee ... this is a reasonable calculator to give you ball park starting points for various usage ...
http://photographersindex.com/stockprice.htm
As far as your time and equipment invested, I think you would be ok with charging a full day rate for 6.5 hour shoot ... because your setup and tear down time, as well as any travel time and prep time involved ... should be included ... as for any extra or specialty equipment you may need to rent for the job ... pass that expense along itemized as the client may require ... be sure to add 5%-10% over your cost to cover your personal administrative expenses involved ... |
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Chris Mackler, Photographer
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Doug Pizac, Photographer
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Sandy | UT | USA | Posted: 10:15 PM on 05.23.11 |
->> Lisa...
Instead of charging by the day rate you need to price by the job with licensing tied in. Your creative fee is determined on what you internally believe to be the amount of time and difficulty of the assignment along with the usage value (ie. fotoQuote).
For example, let's say you quote $500 for a day rate and you're done with everything by noon. The client will then either say they only owe you $250 or that they are paying for 8 hours instead of 4 whereupon they begin having you do a bunch of other shots to round out your work day. In the end you've either earned half the money or done 2-3x more work than what you planned and quoted for. But by pricing the work by the job, it doesn't matter if it takes you 4 hours or 8; when you're done, you're done as long as the time allowance is under your control. And if they want more things photographed you will be happy to accommodate their desires -- for an additional creative fee.
But be sure you have as part of your pricing quote that if the job takes longer than estimated because of client delays, then an hourly surcharge of say $100 is tacked on. For example, they say you'll be done by 1p. But at noon they say one of the people you're there to photograph is going to be two hours late. Since that's not your fault, you'll stay and will therefore be charging them an extra $200 for you to wait around. I have these delay charges in my contracts. Doing so increases the efficiency of the client because any delays costs them money that they have control over. Knowing they could be subject to extra charges the subjects show usually up on time.
You say the images are for the website and a pamphlet. How many for each? If they need 30 for online and 6 for print, deliver the 30 at 500 pixels and the six at full 300 dpi. If you give them everything at high res, then they can use the extras beyond the pamphlet for other publications without paying you more in the form of licensing fees. But by giving them the online at web-res, when they want to use one of them in a high-res print product later on they will have to come back to you for the high res version whereupon you'll know of the additional use and can invoice accordingly.
Just be sure that what they use and for what is spelled out in writing for just those purposes ahead of time. That way when they want additional use you can charge additional money. And list the usage terms as part of your invoice too. That way not only the editor knows of the contract terms, but the company's accounts payable knows too. It's just added insurance for if/when you need to invoice for extra usage down the line because it creates a paper trail in two different sections of the company. |
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Jim Colburn, Photographer, Photo Editor
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Omaha | NE | USA | Posted: 11:14 PM on 05.23.11 |
->> Your first question:
What's Your Budget? |
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Michael Fischer, Photographer
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Spencer | Ia | USA | Posted: 1:17 PM on 05.25.11 |
->> Actually, asking the budget question first sends a message that the only thing you want to do is get as much money as you can. Getting any sale is first and foremost about building a business relationship.
In sales, what is your budget it is certainly an important question but WHEN you ask it is critical. This is called qualifying the prospect and it's the most often overlooked part of professional selling.
You qualify the prospect by asking questions that contain the following words:
Who
What
Where
When
Why
How
Once you've got the basics of the job, then ask the money question this way:
"Ok, so we have a event that will require us to photograph senior executives at a ribbon cutting. We anticipate that the event will start at 9 and end at noon. We need .. etc"
You repeat back what you heard and you do this for the following reasons:
1) You want to make sure you got the basic needs/requirements down
2) It gives them a chance to add something or correct a misunderstanding
3) It shows you're interested in their NEEDS FIRST - that you are LISTENING to THEM. This is key if you want to have any chance of a business relationship with them.
Then and only then, do you ask "What sort of budget are we working with on this?
Sometimes they will "dance" and say something like "I'm taking bids". Ok, took an extra minute to find out they are price sensitive. I've written before about, knowing your cost of doing business allows you to throw a opening price point out there that is low - but allows you to be profitable. "Well, depending on what else you need pricing will range from $XX to $XXX."
If they don't appear to be overly price sensitive, it means they want more information. This is good.
It is at this point you can go into creative, licensing and so on. Ask questions FIRST will help you build a relationship. What you want is a win-win. Make sure you tell the client that.
So part of the answer is the approach you use, ie creative and licensing, etc - and part of it is in how you communicate with the potential client. There's an old slogan in selling "we are given two ears and one mouth - it's a excellent ratio to keep in mind." In other words, ask questions and then be quiet and LISTEN. LISTENING is the key.
Make sense? |
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