How to tell a client they're not offering enough?

[pulp]

Good to see everyone got you great info, i of course agree with the sage advice, and can also give some additional perspective and ways to handle these 'clients':

It doesn't matter what the work is, charity, etc... your time AND your equipment is worth money. If they ask for a lower price, then you can ask what they are offering in exchange? They as the client usually have a direct benefit from your work, while you the worker are only benefiting from the pay. And please when they say anything about it being a good 'networking' opportunity, kindly mention that when you're on the job, you're ON. THE. JOB. and on top of that networking has no guaranteed benefit, it's all chance. and if you did work all based on the 'chance' you'll get money somehow out of it, you'll die of starvation before long.

And on the note of equipment, if i do feel inclined to be generous for charity or w/e, i'll tell the client that i will charge them only for the equipment rental costs. and it is this that i draw the absolute line. NO ONE, for any reason whatsoever, should be doing work for less than what your equipment costs to rent. PERIOD. no ifs, ands, charities, or buts.

And also be strict about your rates. i don't even do hourly anymore, it's half or full day. if your rate is 100/hr and they only want you for an hour, how much effort to cost ratio can you justify? And don't make your half day rate 1/2 your full day rate. make it 60-70%, because you'll likely not be able to take on any other jobs that day.

And as others stated, deposits are a very good idea. If they BS that they forgot their checkbook or any other excuses: DO. NOT. BUDGE. make your terms clear to them three times in writing/email format and state that if they do forget their means of payment you will not be able to continue.

There will always be crappy clients, and crappy service providers to undercut us, but if we the proper professionals draw the moral and ethical lines, we can save ourselves a lot of headache.

-D

I appreciate the input. When a "potential client" lists "networking" as a benefit, I almost always say no thanks, because the few clients I've worked with who mention it are almost always the same people who want "students with good equipment but not necessarily experience." They don't know what they're doing, and chances are, networking won't happen because they don't know anyone.

I should check out how much my equipment is for rent. I've only ever rented once, and they ended up offering to double the pay just to have me there to watch it and answer any questions if they had it... so it was almost a normal shooting day, as I ended up operating it. Even then, rental was something like $75/hour, but they're good clients and I've worked with them since, they've always been honest and paid well.

I try to stick to day and half day, because you're right, hourly rarely works out, and it's not like I've ever been able to pick up a second shoot on the same day. Not just that, but I've always made my half-day higher than a full day divided in two because, for one, it makes the service more of a bargain, which will usually convince a client that, if they by all means SHOULD be taking a full day to do a shoot, they won't try to cram it all into a half day to save money. Beyond that, it also keeps them from trying to claim it's a half day and then keeping you "just a little longer" until they've wormed an extra hour or three out of you.

Luckily, most clients I've worked with are either at the office or have smart phones, so if any have every tried to see if the old "forgot the checkbook" ruse would work, I'd say, "that's fine, I take PayPal."

I started making sure to get deposits, or at least payment at the end of the shooting day, when a client took two months to pay. After 3 weeks, they said, "oh, we just learned this was a deferred 60 job," meaning THEIR client wasn't paying THEM for 60 days, and they didn't intend to pay ME until their client paid them. Ridiculous. I've been very careful since. Live and learn, and your contract will slowly get longer. Similarly, a client once refused to pay until we helped his production company tear down, which ended up taking 5 hours. We didn't get home til dawn. Never again.

 

[Everts]

carefully without sounding like a money-hungry jerk?

If its one thing I learned or stop doing is to worry about people thinking Im a money hungry wolfie

If you have a fair rate or an overpriced one..most clients lately want the best for less.
So dont worry to much about it just say you've got another appointment that you will benefit from.

Plus this person allready hustled u once and you're worried about sounding like douchebag ? whats up with that .

 

[pulp]

Plus this person allready hustled u once and you're worried about sounding like douchebag ? whats up with that .

Really, the main reason is local business politics. It's a small, touristy arts college town in WV. I've seen a couple good businesses go to crap because of silly things, so I'm just trying to be careful because I'm in the works to shoot several videos for a few different local places, and they're all connected.