Branden Mason
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 p.1 #9 · Photography consulting, what to charge? | |
mmurph,
I understand your concern with my statements, although I may not have explained myself properly. I do not intentionally try to undercut other professionals. Actually the situations I deal with are almost always in regards to customers who simply will not pay the prices the professionals charge. So, at least with them I am not stealing away customers, as they weren't going to pay the professional to do it anyways.
I also make my position well know to the customer. They know I am not associated as a professional (I simply have experience). I do the jobs as my time allows me to do it, therefore in many cases the job may not be done in the timeframe they need. These situations are simply jobs that are in my area of hobby enjoyment. I already have the equipment necessary for the jobs. It isnt my form of financial security, and if I made it as such I wouldnt enjoy doing it for my own personal purpose.
I also never do any kind of advertising, I dont ask anyone to do it for me either, but word spreads, which I cannot help. I stay pretty busy as it is so I do not do alot of that kind of work anyways, and as such I tend to turn down a fair amount. Generally, I simply try to limit such jobs to friends or their close relations.
But my pricing is not in order to try to steal away work. I price things how I feel it is worth in regards to the situation. People know that when I do any kind of work, I do not offer insurance for any possible problems or loss duringthe process, no bonding, no guarantees, no warranties, etc. With professionals they can offer this type of thing, but it does affect what they have to charge. I could probably charge the same as the professionals, but I would not feel right in doing so. For those who want that type of thing I also have lot of professionals with whom I refer them (actually I do more referring than work, as I just cant get around to doing most of it anyways). Actually, I have considered going into a form of consulting rather than the actual work as I have so many asking me who I would suggest for various jobs, but I never charge for that kind of thing. I'm simply out trying to help people out who are often in a jam or unable to afford professional services (sometimes I even do it at a loss). Usually I deal with people that really need something done, but are completely unable to pay for proessionals....for those that need professional work and are able to afford (even if they dont want to) I almost always refer them to the professionals, as that is not what I am after. I do alot of it because it is a hobby and if I can be paid a little for my time to further my hobby then wonderful...it typically works well for both parties.
In short, I do not try to steal away any business. Especially if I know a business is already in negotioations with someone to work out a deal to do the work, I will not do the job in those situations. Oddly enough though I have a few professional organizations which also refer some people to me. So, even though my attempts at an explanation above may have not been done so well, my reputation around here is very good and I have never heard of anyone feeling I was trying to low-ball them or steal business, but I can understand how it might sound that way to those not familiar with how I actually do things.
Actually, in reference to what I even do professionally as my main source of income, the situations remain similar. There are many situations which I know we can handle, but that I also know other professionals could do quicker. I almost always inform the customers in such situations that they would be better of dealing with someone more direct. Due to our reputation, they almost always still have use come out first and probably 75% of the time we still refer them over to someone else, meaning t he whole situation will cost them more than if they would have simply taken our advice to start with, but they simply prefer to deal with us, even if it costs more (considering that they were hoping to save some money to start with).
In regards to the purpose of this thread, my main point was simply directed more towards the fact that the OP should take into consideration if consulting is something he wants to begin offering as a regular business item, or if this is just a rare or one time thing...that may help determine some means of how to price his services. Just with many businesses just starting out, you may have to take a loss to get things going and to get the word out. Since this is new to him, his consulting abilities would not be on par with those who do it professionally and as such may not warrant the same pricing. However that is a line bordering both on business and moral, and that is not one for me to decide.
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- but I thought it important to not let that comment stand as reflecting a good professional practice, for the reasons mentioned.