What is Repelling Potential Clients?

[Dave ©]

I'm just getting started in this business so take this with a grain of salt. I have lots of experience in the professional services / business consulting arena but not a whole lot in the film making or video services industry.

I recently sold my first project to a gentleman I met through a relative. I knew this man had a business and that he wasn't using video in any way whatsoever. I met him for dinner one night and we talked about the idea of creating a promotional video for his business, something simple that would help raise awareness about his company and the services it offers. At first, he didn't see the value in creating a video. Who would watch them? Through a series of conversations about how videos could be used to help grow his business, he decided to take a chance. We agreed on compensation and signed a contract. I wrote a short, three-to-four minute script, we used one of his employees to communicate the message and recorded the video. We still haven't even published that first video publicly (his priorities shifted slightly -- I still got paid) but I've already shot a second video for him and received inquiries from a couple of other businesses who saw the first video I created (which he -- client -- showed to them).

Here's my point. I live outside of Washington DC. They are all in Philly, about 3 hours from my house. I have yet to sell a single video here in DC (granted, I haven't tried). But I'm willing to go up to Philly if that's the path of least resistence, if that's where the immediate demand is for me, which means I can get established, build a portfolio, and get paid without having to expend lots of energy trying to drum up business.

Expand your market. Connecticut isn't that big. You can't be far from Hartford, Danbury, Bridgeport, Springfield (MA), Providence, or even NY or Boston.

To your friend's advice about devaluing your work, I only have one response. Who cares how much your work is worth if you can't pay your bills? According to your #s, you only need to make $12.50/hour to break even ($500/week). Complete five $100 jobs per week and you can at least pay your bills. Yes, I know that sounds awful but you have to start somewhere. Do that for six months...then start worrying about making more money by either increasing your rates, winning more deals (and being more efficient so you can complete more jobs per week), or winning larger deals (most likely in larger markets).

PS. I hope this is all coming across OK. I'm trying to help and I know others are as well.

 

[chromeboy007]

I met him for dinner one night and we talked about the idea of creating a promotional video for his business, something simple that would help raise awareness about his company and the services it offers. At first, he didn't see the value in creating a video. Who would watch them? Through a series of conversations about how videos could be used to help grow his business, he decided to take a chance. We agreed on compensation and signed a contract.

This.... this is what I need to learn to do. I can only close people who are already interested in using video. That's pretty easy to do.

 

[chromeboy007]

Basspig:

"That's what we have here. I happen to live near a golf course and country club, overlooking a large lake. Crime is nonexistent here, as the median income is $150K.. mostly bankers, doctors, lawyers, land developers and politicians.. also this area is home to several actors and famous musicians.. Skitch Henderson, Leroy Anderson, etc."

This is your market. Lawyers need videos for their promo and their injury cases:

http://legalreel.com/

I did some local work for this girl once here in my city of Toronto. There is a huge market in your country as everybody sues everybody, and the winning victim gets millions.


Surgeons and doctors of various types can use videos.

http://www.goldbergcentre.com/lecc/laser_vision_correction.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_cDUTmWtew


Land developers

3D models and graphics illustrations if you know how to do them. But again, huge market.


Politicians

They are centres of influence in the business world.


On the other hand, how did you get to live in a place like this??

 

[chromeboy007]

To your friend's advice about devaluing your work, I only have one response. Who cares how much your work is worth if you can't pay your bills?

Good point man. In general I think experts advice is taken out of context AND to the extreme by the inexperienced entrepreneurs. Thats why I'm starting to turn away from so called experts and find my way around the ropes. No one knows this better than I do. And if I make mistakes now, it is for my own good.

Having said that, I now have trouble convincing earlier clients that I'm now worth a higher pay rate since I have gotten better... hopefully they will come around in due time.

 

[basspig]

Well, you met the client prospect through a relative.. that's a shoe-in. Quite a different thing from cold-calling, which I do all the time. And believe me, after a few thousand calls, it's hard to mask your frustration and come across as inhuman.

I have a friend who is very good at making an argument for things like this.. he is very creative and can 'think on his feet'. I think that's why he's so good at selling himself (software coding) to the companies he contracts for. Me? I just draw a blank when someone throws me a curveball. I'm not quick with a rebuttal to a client's objection. Sure, on the drive home, or on the next coffee break I can think of a rebuttal, and I'm always kicking myself for being so slow-brained.

Danbury's not far from me, but not a whole lot going on. My last good client was in NYC. Luckily, he came to the college in Danbury to do a master class and that was where the taping session was done. The rest was by phone and through his manager/former student who lives about 25 miles away. Providence is an all-day trip. That'd require a hotel overnight stay. I am making exceptions for the Boston Symphony and New York Philharmonic, because I really want to break into the realm of internationally-acclaimed orchestras. The regionals don't like to be recorded because they feel embarassed about their performance and having it compared with commercial recordings by the major orchestras. Hartford's about 80 minutes. I visited a church there in 2005 because I was trying to put together a recording session with the organ there. That never materialized.

The point my friend is making is that once you devalue yourself, you'll wear that badge forever. That's why during a slowdown in the software biz 20 years ago, he took a job at Radio Shack to pay the bills, rather than knock down his rate as a software programmer. I'm already doing rock concerts and recitals for an absurd $500-999. It's more than just paying bills. I have to amortized hundreds of thousands of dollars of software, hardware, cameras and other equipment. The typical amortization is 5 years for capital equipment. At the rates you're suggesting, it might take 40 years to pay off my gear and software investment, and then I'd be so far into obsolesence it wouldn't be funny. I have to charge enough to be able to pay the taxes, pay off the gear, upgrade as needed to stay current, and have something left over to pay the bills, feed my wife, my kid and my parrots. That's not possible on $12.50/hr.


I don't have any 'legal reel', so how would I convince a lawyer that I can fulfill his/her needs? I supposed I could contact my personal injury lawyer from when I was rear-ended in 2007, as we got along fairly well, and see what he might know about other lawyers that he works with and whether they could use my services. But a lot of these lawyers are busy to the hilt and many of them don't advertise at all. I've got the greatest dentist in the world, and he's got more patients than he can handle. He never advertizes.

I tried to get into the medical video field last year, but without some prior related portfolio, I have no credibility.

I'm not strong on 3D at the level of doing advanced architectural visualizations. I can do logo animations and simpler product modeling, but working with surveyor data is something I'm not equipped to do. I'm trying to stick to one thing that I do well, which is video and sound capture.

How do you sell to a politician? The one candidate that I could stomach working for does his own video blogs on YouTube with a webcam. They're terrible quality, but viewers are listening to his message, not the video quality.

How did I get to live here? Simple. It was cheap to buy the land here 44 years ago. I got my 1/2 acre swamp for $1850, filled it in with landfill trucked in, roughed it with no well, septic or permanent electric wiring for the first 3 years and gradually added the amenities as I could afford them. It was just me and the radio tower sharing this mountain. Then the 80s came and a sudden influx of New Yawkers started building their mansions here, pushing land prices and taxes through the roof.

The problem is, as my friend put it, "I'm the best kept secret in Connecticut." Craiglist ads notwithstanding..

 

[chromeboy007]

I give up.

 

[xqzt]

You don't have to charge 12 an hour, but you should compete somewhat. A big problem is that you have every college grad under the sun with a dslr, offering exactly what we do for a little more than they made at Mcdonalds. I work primarily in Providence, RI and vid sales have slumped considerably but biz is just starting to come back. 2 years ago I shot and edited 30 weddings. This year I've only done about 6. So what I do is just constantly look for gigs of all types. Even if its questionable whether I want to do it or not I contact them see if I can get more info. I work about 50-60 hours a week between being a news graphics guy(chyron), filmmaking teacher for 7th graders, DP for a feature film, and freelance one-man-band, yet everyday I still scour craigslist, productionhub, mandy for new opportunities. My experience has been when I don't have a job at all I go on an internet job hunt frenzy and suffer as long as I can til I find something, even if its digging ditches. I too have struggled to get responses for weddings and my prices are competitive, I've kind of given up on weddings, unless someone I know sends me a gig I'm tired of trying to compete with the skewy infants. If you're still trying to work weddings and think you have problems with selling yourself, join with a wedding video subcontractor, of course you won't make the same as selling your own package, but eventually you can get some work and not have to hassle with future bridezilla. Astorybookimag just started in your neck of the woods, owned by a reliable person who is just starting up. I have done countless gigs for her in southwestern ct.(thats money!). But wedding season is coming to a close. Maybe start hunting for potential commercial clients. Look for one or two indie projects give them a good rate and use that as your day job. It sounds like you have great experience and could get quality work for people, but the economy still sucks so we need to be creative and unfortunately as cheap as we can handle. Good Luck

 

[Dave ©]

...There is a huge market in your country as everybody sues everybody...

ROFL!!! True. Hilarious and true!

 

[Dave ©]

Well, you met the client prospect through a relative.. that's a shoe-in.

You are right about the first part and dead wrong about the second part. Yes, I met this guy through a relative. That very well might be the only reason he agreed to meet me for dinner. But well before we sat down at the dinner table and began to talk, my relative actually became a liability. In many respects, it would have been better had I been a random person off the street.

Put yourself in this guy's shoes for just one second. You run a small business. Are you going to trust some guy with your brand simply because you know one of his relatives? C'mon! Absolutely not. He told me flat-out that he had very low expectations until he saw some stuff I'd done for my own family and I explained my vision for his videos and how they could help him. It was only after he actually saw the first video we produced when his skepticism was lifted and you could visibly see the excitement on his face.

Quite a different thing from cold-calling, which I do all the time. And believe me, after a few thousand calls, it's hard to mask your frustration and come across as inhuman.

Then stop making cold calls and get out and meet people.

I have a friend who is very good at making an argument for things like this.. he is very creative and can 'think on his feet'. I think that's why he's so good at selling himself (software coding) to the companies he contracts for. Me? I just draw a blank when someone throws me a curveball. I'm not quick with a rebuttal to a client's objection. Sure, on the drive home, or on the next coffee break I can think of a rebuttal, and I'm always kicking myself for being so slow-brained.

Overcome that obstacle with a simple phrase: "That's a really great question. Let me think about it and get back to you later today or tomorrow." That kills at least two birds with one stone. First, it helps you establish credibiilty because you're not just making up crap because you think any answer will do and they'll believe you. Second, it gives you the perfect reason to stop in again or call them back. "I was thinking about your question and..."

The point my friend is making is that once you devalue yourself, you'll wear that badge forever.

There's some truth to this, no doubt, but it's not insurmountable.

I'm already doing rock concerts and recitals for an absurd $500-999.

How many? Unless I'm mistaken, you said you grossed about $3k last year.

It's more than just paying bills. I have to amortized hundreds of thousands of dollars of software, hardware, cameras and other equipment. The typical amortization is 5 years for capital equipment. At the rates you're suggesting, it might take 40 years to pay off my gear and software investment, and then I'd be so far into obsolesence it wouldn't be funny.

Sell your equipment. Most of it anyway. You don't need $100k+ in equipment to make money in this business. Keep your essential gear and a few non-essentials that you are likely to use.

That's not possible on $12.50/hr.

I was going by the #s you provided.

I don't have any 'legal reel', so how would I convince a lawyer that I can fulfill his/her needs?

Have you done any interviews? If not, film one with your wife. Do 50 takes if you have to in order to get a good 60 second spot.

But a lot of these lawyers are busy to the hilt and many of them don't advertise at all. I've got the greatest dentist in the world, and he's got more patients than he can handle. He never advertizes.

Then take a different angle. What is the one thing most lawyers are concerned with (after making money)? I'm not a lawyer but I'd bet it's their reputation. Even crash-chasers want to appear noble and just. Talk to them about how a video on their website can improve their reputation in the community. NOTE: I'm just making this part up as an example. Do your homework. Ask five lawyers what they care about. Then take time to think about how a video could help them in that area. Then go back to them with your ideas.

I tried to get into the medical video field last year, but without some prior related portfolio, I have no credibility.

See above.

The problem is, as my friend put it, "I'm the best kept secret in Connecticut." Craiglist ads notwithstanding..

Look, I'm not interested in winning a debate with you. If all you want to do is debate then please let me know so I can move on. I'm genuinely interested in helping you. So I'm just gonna say this bluntly.

You've got more excuses than my six year old daughter when she doesn't want to go to bed: I'm still hungry; I have to go to the bathroom; I didn't have any dessert; I haven't finished my homework; I need a drink of water; we didn't read yet; we didn't read two books yet; I haven't said goodnight to Hope yet; I haven't said goodnight to Mommy yet; I have to poop; I forgot to pickup my toys downstairs; I haven't picked out my clothes for tomorrow; I want to talk to Grandma and Grandpa; I haven't saved enough money for college yet (OK, that one isn't real but it won't surprise me when she finally pulls it out of her rear)...

Either you want to be successful or you don't. You want advice from others or you don't. You want help or you don't.

You can be successful! You can! But you'll never be successful if you don't stop with the excuses.

 

[Dave ©]

In general I think experts advice is taken out of context AND to the extreme by the inexperienced entrepreneurs. Thats why I'm starting to turn away from so called experts and find my way around the ropes. No one knows this better than I do. And if I make mistakes now, it is for my own good.

I believe there is tremendous value in advice from those who've been there and done that. But I agree with your point, I think. You can't just listen to what everyone else is doing or you will do and look just like everyone else.

Having said that, I now have trouble convincing earlier clients that I'm now worth a higher pay rate since I have gotten better... hopefully they will come around in due time.

Sure. I haven't yet been there in this particular industry but I have to believe it's the same in most industries. Business is business and I've seen and had to deal with this in the business consulting arena. It doesn't happen overnight, that's for sure. It's one job at a time. From what I've seen, a completely satisfied client would much rather spend a little more (and in some cases a lot more) money on you than someone they don't know or who hasn't proven himself. Again, it's all about the relationship.

At the same time, there are some old clients who you don't really want or need going forward. Why take a $500 job when you can exert a little more energy and win a $1000 job that's basically the same with another client?

 

[Wilbur Eddings]

1) Ask yourself the RIGHT questions:
Your subconscious is listening and you are murdering your natural ability to creatively solve problems.
The mind is a machine that solves problems, it answers questions - the answers are determined by the questions you ask it.
if you ask: "How can I do this?", your mind will come up with the answers. BUT if you ask "Why CAN'T I do this?", you will re-enforce your negative suspicions.

2) Create your own client base.
You should always be working. If you are not getting paid for your work, it should be work that creates clients:
When I started my company, the first thing I did with our gear was to shoot unsolicited 30 second ads for every company around us. We would take those ads to the company and offer it to them at an 'opening special' of 'whatever you can afford'. Sometimes we ended up leaving the ad with the company for free but asking them to refer work to us as a trade. We were always professional, courteous and extremely humble.
20 Ads turned into leads that eventually got us the biggest (literally) corporate clients in our state.
We kept on doing that for a few years - best strategy ever.

We always made the delivery as memorable as possible with free coffee for everyone in the potential client's office and sometimes even cookies or donuts. (Later when we had bigger budgets, we would take a sushi chef along with us...)

3) How your website looks creatively is 5% relevant.
The main questions you need to answer on your site are these three:

What is it?
How much does it cost?
Where can I get it?

Service
Price
Contact.

Simple.

People who are browsing the web looking for a product or a service rarely give a rats ass about your web design award.
Crayons and smiley faces with ribbons made on microsoft paint is good enough if the three main questions are answered.

Service
price
Contact.

Always make sure you have 'Special offers' and such. Everyone loves a discount.

A nice linky to your showreel is also important.

4) See number 1).

 

[chromeboy007]

When I started my company, the first thing I did with our gear was to shoot unsolicited 30 second ads for every company around us. We would take those ads to the company and offer it to them at an 'opening special' of 'whatever you can afford'. Sometimes we ended up leaving the ad with the company for free but asking them to refer work to us as a trade. We were always professional, courteous and extremely humble.

May I see one of these videos? Or can you explain how you did it? I wonder what you can do if you have no access to their facility, personnel etc. Or is your work mostly CGI?

Thanks

 

[P.S.T.]

I know there's tons of replies already but one thing I observed from a buddy that's helping me land gigs is this: Well, let's back track. I met this friend at work and we started talking about past jobs. He brought up the fact that he takes photos for weddings. I brought up the fact that I just did a wedding video shoot. We teamed up and now he gets the clients, sells the video/photo package and brings me along to do video shoot/editing. Now, I came in all puffed up thinking that I know more about technology,science behind digital photos and videos(which is very minimal what I know) , lighting(which I really don't), and etc. He knows enough to use his camera to leave a nice memory. But you know what? He showed me something I know NOTHING about and that is giving a 110% good effort in service.

I mean he goes dressed nice,greets the clients at the event, has the photo subjects laughing, he takes initiative to find the best spots for the photos,and get this he even grabs the dj's mic and livens up the party! He'll take the time to help organize the dance or whatever it might be for the benefit of the video and photos and for the benefit of leaving a great impression on the client. It's awesome.Two weekends ago the birthday girl's mother thanked us so much because we "saved the party". You bet your butt she's going to recommend us to everyone she knows. And I thank my buddy for his great effort in customer service.

that's my 2 cents.

 

[P.S.T.]

Oh, and some humor behind this is that he runs into old clients at the events because it's all a network of people who spread it by word of mouth.

 

[Wilbur Eddings]

May I see one of these videos? Or can you explain how you did it? I wonder what you can do if you have no access to their facility, personnel etc. Or is your work mostly CGI?

Thanks

Well, it was quite a while back that we did those ads (5 years ago I think) but we basically downloaded company logos, read up on their mission statements and used whatever products we could beg, buy, steal or borrow...

A few companies were car dealerships or furniture retailers. We would borrow products of the same label and shoot an 'ad' with those products.

I think it would be a great deal easier to do it with the current tech than it was for us - DSLR can impress the hat off a hatter with very low finance and energy spend!


I scratched around and found this cool showreel presentation on youtube. One guy talking to the camera while the talents of the DP and Editor are simplistically shown off. Very clever and fun to watch. Stuff like this works really well when people visit a website.

Some of this is corny and I don't think they needed to go into the showreel bit after the intro but I think this is a very effective presentation!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RAvSfmAYpi0

 

[Jason Adams]

Just my opinion.

I live in a small town in West Virginia. Our state does not even have a gear rental house. But I stay really busy. I am not saying that to seem self-important I am saying that to offer encouragement. Blaming lack of industry is not a great excuse. The thing is. If you move to NY or LA there will be 100,000 guys just like you fighting for the same piece of the pie. So while you may not have mega industry out your back door, you don't have a lot of competition either. The internet has made the world a small place. I just directed a gig for an Ad Agency and a Fortune 500 in Maryland and I leave for Tampa Florida in 3 weeks to direct a gig.

Again please understand I am not trying to pat myself on the back just saying that small town little industry can still be a great place to do some great production. My company is only 3 years old and I feel I have much to learn and lots to grow but I am making living and having a blast.

1.) Since you seem to think the Website is the problem I will offer a few observations.

1.) Your site seems desperate. You seem to offer anything that anyone will buy.
Many times an Ad Agency will be scared by the fact that you do weddings and a bride-to-be could be scared off that you record a lot of symphonies. Perhaps sepearting things a bit into different sites. It would also cut down on all the info you have to go through on your site.
2.) You list work you have no example of - Your exhaustive lists of things you could do for the corporate world is just a list of text. People want to see your reel not your explanation
3.) Drop the why HD video section. Cell phones now shoot HD video. HD is not quantifiable advantage it is expected. Explaining the benefits of a technology that soccer moms now have makes you appear uninformed or behind the times.
4.) Less words overall. You are video company. Your video should out number your ad copy.
5.) You talk about quality. I think quality is poor sale. because people can equate value on their own. They will have an instant opnion on if your work is high quality. Talk about anything else, the creative process, the client commitment/relationship, the accessible cost.
6.) Get your work out front. Have a sizzle reel or an easy way to see your demos.

2.) Take an honest assessment of your skill set and flaunt the skill you are best at.

If I can offer some advice. Ask yourself what you do better than anyone or at least what could you master the fastest. When I started this company I offered everything from Websites to custom printed key chains. As a result I got few calls for anything. When I got serious about doing this company full time I stripped it back to the thing I thought I was really good at, video production. Not just production Directing and DPing. That vision has kept me from things like offering duplication services, buying a lot of lights and grip gear, doing live events. Even though there is money there I want to concentrate on what I feel I can be great at.

I have turned down more weddings than I can count. Not because weddings are not a good money making gig, but because I want to concentrate on what I want to be great at.

3.) Network with people that will bring you clients

Once you have the answer to what you really want to do; Network with people that will sell for you. I have never ran an advertisement, ad words campaign, and up until last year I was not even in the phonebook. The only reason I was in the phonebook, they were my client and I directed their TV commercials so they put me in. I did not pay for it.

I have networked with people who sell for me. Ad Agencies, Media Buyers, Network affiliates. Because I want to direct and DP that is a great fit. If your skill set is weddings. Than I would start selling your services to Wedding Planners, Wedding Photographers, Banquet Halls etc. Offer them 15% percent of anything they bring you, or allow photogs or wedding planners to mark up your services.

I have had an ad agency mark me up as much 40% I don't care. I get my rate. We are all happy.

Just remember end clients require a lot of hand holding and rarely come back. A corporate video that you do for 10,000 dollars they are not going to call you back next month for another 10,000 video. The ad agency that represents 10 corporate clients that need 10 videos will call you every month. Same with a bride. The only way a bride becomes a repeat customer is after a divorce. That is why wedding planners and photographers are more valuable as clients.

I hope that helps a bit.

 

[chromeboy007]

thats a good post Jason thanks.

 

[EIREHotspur]

I agree with most of your comments but this:

People who are browsing the web looking for a product or a service rarely give a rats ass about your web design award.
Crayons and smiley faces with ribbons made on microsoft paint is good enough if the three main questions are answered.

That is just plain gibberish.

Companies like Adobe would have been making millions from adobe crayon 5 over the years if that was true.
A professional website is your online portfolio, a window to outside world to showcase your abilities.

A website done right can have the same/more appeal as an advert.
You appeal to peoples emotions with showreels set to music.....few things are more emotive than that.

Bad web design gives the web a bad name and holds it back.