Rant - your take on it

[Daisho]

Maybe I'm just a bit edgy because I didn't get the job, but tell me what you think.
So my wife was approached by one of her co-workers with the request of me taking pictures of the 60th birthday of the client's brother (nothing I would go for in the first place but "things we do for money") because he liked my pictures.
Thus I ask they guy some basic questions, where when etc.
And so he replied me with date place etc. in total he wanted this:
4-5h of coverage
a printed book with 50! edited pictures
a DVD with said pictures and some more pictures

I went in low already, because I wanted this job to get me going there (Jewish family owned business, meaning lots of referrals if this went well), R$ 950 (this translates roughly to $ 550, dirty cheap) with R$120-170 for the printing of the book alone. The rest I figured like this. 4-5h shooting, 2h for going to the venue and back, 4-10h editing (haven't done a book so far thus I guess it will take a bit), 3h print + delivery, camera mileage etc...
Guy said no, too much, so I even lowered the price another 100 bucks and still he said no.
According to my wife he found someone who is going to do it for R$ 600 including video?! I mean seriously, video needs even more editing. And if you go video you need two people to do the job. How can anybody make a living of that?!
Sure I could have done this for R$ 600 but honestly I don't want to undersell myself and if I start out like this I will get bargained down even more further. Plus I think I'm worth more! What do you think?

[scootermcq]

There will always be somebody cheaper. You need to learn to educate your customers to what spending more money will get them, and why they should spend it. In sales it is called vaccinating against the market. People will spend more if they see the value (and if they can afford it). If they don't know the value, or can't see it, then they will always go with the lower price.

[Daisho]

Well, true, I should have handled the negotiation, since my wife is not in the position to negotiate like I could (it is her co-worker/friend) and draw out my USP.
But what rubs me the wrong way is the fact that he comes to me(her) because he likes my work, tries to get me down low and then goes for some joe blow cheap type. If money is the issue, say "I'm willing to pay you X how far will it get me?" and not "Oh I want this that and this as well... how much?" - "Nooo that is way too much"
If he said he gives me 600 I might would have done the shooting and threw in a few edited digitals, but not like this.

[John Hendry]

Better off without them you dont want them refering you at that price, charge what you are worth a lot of people want to bargian so make sure you start high and take somthing away 1 hr work for the saving.

Photographers just do not charge enough

All the best

I was at a Bridal Show on Sunday, promoting my photo booth for wedding receptions. There were four other photo booth companies there.

After an hour or so, I noticed a trend with the brides. They were all asking one question immediately...Price. Only after that question was answered would they ask questions on services, setup, etc. Quality (and this is very important) never entered the conversation. Not once.

If people can't tell the difference between you and the competition, then they're going to go with price everytime. I knew this going into the bridal show, and I had the lowest price

Your photos are quite good, and I would bet most of us could tell the difference between yours and your competitor. However, if the client can't tell, then he's going to go with price.

[Daisho]

Originally Posted by Photoboothguy

If people can't tell the difference between you and the competition, then they're going to go with price everytime. I knew this going into the bridal show, and I had the lowest price

Not sure what I'm supposed to take away from that one. Maybe I should have lured the guy in with a cheap price, not telling him what his options are(if you don't know what you can get you can ask to get it for free right? ), let him hire me, sink the hooks in and then slowly sneak and creep in the choke (aka. print/book sale) and make money this way, but then again, they might opt to print the stuff them selfs and I'm out again.

But one thing is for sure and I some how have to figure out how I'll address this, the propper communication of my value proposition. Guess one of these days I have to shelf out some hard cash to get some semi professional looking site and print a sample album top shelf quality...
I work with this every day, but it is for sure easier to do it working for a multinational company knowing your client profile, than applying it to your own game.

[Optikal iLLusion]

you do have some great shots. id pay good money. I know the pains of having poor quality... what makes poor quality even worse is when it comes from a professional. my sisters wedding was a good example.

[Ambrosia76]

One of my first bosses told me something that has always stuck with me. "Never sell yourself short, charge what your work is worth, some will pay it and some won't, the ones who won't will end up getting what they pay for in the end" and you know what it works, I have always made good money,never wanted for clients, have clients that drive across 2 states just for me to groom their dog. I know it is a different business, but same concept, someone is paying you for your time and your skill.

Your photos are worth more than you originally asked he is the one losing out I am sure.