Best Business Practices for Photographers [71]
When on assignment with clients, I often will discreetly survey them about how I came to be their photographer of choice. To date, I've not had a client state that it was due to price; I am aware that I am not the least expensive photographer in my community. Typically, I am a sole-source contractor who came to them by a recommendation, or a review of my website gave them the confidence to book me. If, however, it was because I was the cheapest, I'd ask a few more questions. Perhaps there was a misunderstanding about rights, rush turnarounds, or what was included in the assignment expectations. Either way, asking appropriate questions can give you insight into what you might not have (but should have) factored into the assignment.
* * *
NOTE
I know who the cheapest photographers in my community are because whenever I lose an assignment, I always ask to whom, and I always follow that up with, "And was it a matter of price?" Then, I ask what the price difference was. About 80 percent of the time clients tell me who they did hire. Seventy percent of the time they also tell me it was about price, and then they tell me what the differential was. It's amazing what you can learn just by asking!
* * *
What Do You Charge for Whenever You're Working for a Client?
One of the most surprising things I see my fellow photographers do is forget when they are free to do as they wish and when they are doing things on behalf of a client. I see my colleagues making lab runs; participating in site visits and conference calls; and doing scouting, pre-production, and post-production—and they worry about billing for these things. Whenever you are working on a part of a project that is for a client, you should charge for that. Period.
We bill for a delivery service to and from the lab, whether we outsource that to a courier company, I send my assistant, or I opt to do it myself. If we have to produce a second CD of images for a client, we bill for that. If we have to pull an archive drive and send out e-mails, that's billable. Retouching blemishes on a face? Billable.
The key is to explain to the client that these things do apply, so there are no surprises. Just as with other professions—lawyers, doctors' initial consultations, general contractors, accountants, and the like—the first meeting or phone call is free, and more often than not, meetings and calls beyond that are billable.
Tools and Resources for Understanding the Body Politic of Photographic Pricing
First, it's important to understand that media giants are not producing magazines for altruistic reasons; they are producing magazines to generate revenue. If even a modicum of altruism existed, Life magazine—a publication that changed lives and arguably governments—would still be published. In the end, Life's circulation declined, and advertisers were not getting the bang for the buck they wanted from the demographic they wanted, so they cut back on the advertising, and "poof," away it went. Oh, and this applies to newspapers as well. The articles, stories, and accompanying photographs are designed to cause you to turn from page to page, seeing the ads that pay the reporters, keep the presses running, and, most importantly, earn money for the owners or shareholders. In the end, editorial publications serve commercial interests. If you have any doubts about this, visit the websites of the parent corporations that own groups of publications, and look under the For Investors tab or the promotional material they make available to potential advertisers to entice them to spend their money in the magazine's pages. You will have a different and less generous purse when considering whether it's smart to take the assignment because the magazine's goals are to change the world.
Advertisers are looking to get the most for the least. Can you blame them? Almost everyone wants this in some form or another. However, in this case, they are paying you the least, and you're usually giving the most. While others involved in the project may