Re: Harassing Your Client 101

[Travis Petty] "...The price affected the perceived value and sometimes that made all the difference. Same product (in our case, same service or product), but pricing it higher made it sell better."

That's a big part of it right there, Travis. Think of setting your price as one aspect of marketing. You're telling potential customers exactly what they should think about you.

To begin, I came in under the most expensive guy in town, but still stay in the top half of the market. I'd rather have gone back to retail -- which I enjoyed just fine, thanks -- than try to build a business chasing the LOWEST prices the market can bear. Turns out that the market will be perfectly happy for you to starve.

Then after I felt my work was good enough to stand up to that top guy with a straight face, I started charging more. I had real work to show to back it up, great word of mouth, and a smooth pitch. Sounds easy, right?

There was admittedly a gap while this new plan took off...but once it did, I had more work than ever, from clients that I enjoyed working with more. I didn't wind up making exactly twice as much money - the combination of available hours in a day, plus taking time to breathe a little easier, plus spending more on gear - but it was *some* more, and sure a nicer way to work.

I also found a HUGE benefit. When lowballers called, I did a little gentle weeding. If the caller sounded like a grinder, I sent 'em to the Yellow Pages. But if they sounded like an upright citizen, just with a small budget, I passed them to the people in town I felt could do 'em right on that budget. It didn't take long before my lower-priced "competitors" started adapting parts of their business to work more closely with me. One of them in particular became my go-to guy for second camera, or underwater b-roll for my topside interviews, etc. -- but there became three other guys who could count on me for recommendations, and among whom we could reasonably expect to share gear in emergencies.

I'm summarizing, but you get the idea. Yeah, you can probably build this kind of network anyway, and should probably try -- but it's a lot easier when you're pushing jobs their way that THEY WANT, and you DON'T. That was the cool thing -- I made more money, and THEY made more money because I could funnel work their way without feeling like I was potentially undermining myself.