Jeremy Tuber

What should you think when your videographer, marketing agency, or graphic designer cuts their price at your request

You ask for a discount from your videographer or graphic designer. They give a big one—should that trouble you?

How often has a prospect asked you to drop your prices?

Have you ever heard, “I like your products/services, but can we do something about the price?”

If you’re running a small business, you have. Below is an example on how I managed this request.

A business owner who bought and sold commercial property was referred over to me to design an upscale presentation package for his clients. He was looking for first-rate service, design and marketing expertise; anything less than this wasn’t going to work.

I drove out to his home in an exorbitant affluent part of town to meet him, his colleague, and wife. After two hours of brainstorming they felt expressed they were excited about moving forward and wanted to get started immediately. I sent over a project proposal and waited to hear from them. After several days passed the owner called and inquired, “We really want to establish a long term, mutually beneficial relationship with you. That being said, we had another firm come in notably lower than you were. Will you reduce your price?” The prospect asked me to drop my price about a quarter of what I had quoted.

Tough spot, isn’t it?

Well, no it’s not.

Instead of defending my quote, I asked, “If I was immediately able to reduce my price the 25% to compete with your other firm, wouldn’t that suggest that my initial quote to you was not only over inflated but it was unfair?”

The truth is, no matter what business you’re in, there are always going to be customers, clients, and prospects who feel you charge too much. That’s okay.

Let’s take this one step further, I asked the owners, “As a video marketing and design firm, if the only way I could compete with other marketing/design firms would be to reduce or cut my prices, how effective do you think I could market your company?” If the only way a video, marketing, or design firm can compete is on price, do you think they’ll be able to market for your small business any better? If you don’t want to compete on price in your profession, you shouldn’t hire a videographer, marketer, or designer who competes on price.

What’s going on if the videographer, marketer, or designer cuts their price?

  • They need work and money.
  • They need more experience in designing projects in this area.
  • Their original quote was over inflated and perhaps unfair.
  • They don’t know any other way to compete.
  • They really would like to work with you. You might be a high-profile client, your project is interesting or you just might be someone.

Bottom line for sharp business owners:

Customers, clients, and prospects will pay anything for products/services if they can see the value in them. If you honestly feel a videographer, marketer, or designer came in too high on a quote, ask her/him about it. Based on their answer, you should get a good feel for how effective they will be in marketing for your company.

A) If they immediately cut price, that’s a red flag.
B)   If they defend their price and tell you why it was quoted as such, that’s a yellow flag.
C)   If they help you paint the picture as to why the price was quoted as it was, rather than telling you—hire them. This creative professional knows sales and marketing and will be able to infuse this knowledge into your marketing materials and design projects.

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