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talk about quoting process!
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I’ve thought about it – but I’m just not into all the drugs, women, and booze that posting in the lounge leads to.
Wait, yes I am!
John Davidson____ writer | producer | director____https://www.magicfeatherinc.com
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Yes, we’re all animals in the COWmedy Club Lounge.
Yeah, you have to be careful in there, I hear that some of the animals there are on catnip.
Yer pal,
Cowdog
visit my homepage -
Unfortunately, most of us have dealt with clients who won’t tell you how much their budget is, if they want talent, what they hope to accomplish with the finished product or anything else regarding details. Usually this is because they don’t know themselves. Maybe this is their first time ever doing a video and they have no idea how much it really costs. They can’t tell you how much they are willing to spend because they don’t know how much to be prepared to spend. Or maybe the person who is requesting the bid is doing the job handed down to him. “Hey Joe, go get me a bid for doing a couple of videos,” says the marketing director. Either way, it is very frustrating.
At this point if I decide to pursue the work (have I eaten in the last week or has it been a month?) I create something for them. I put together a very brief outline of a concept and cost. I become proactive. This is what you need, this is how to communicate it and this is how much it will cost.
Usually one of 2 things happens at this point. 1) They will realize they are not prepared to spend what it really takes, or they do not have all the elements on their end lined up and are not at a stage to move forward. Or 2) they will start giving you the info and details you need. “I like your idea, but this is what we had in mind… we’d rather do it this way… that’s exactly what we want, you’re awesome.”
We’ve all heard “I don’t know what I want but I will tell you when I see it.” this could very well be one of those.
Hope this helps.
It’s ALL ball bearings these days.
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Deja Vu! I just had a client experience IDENTICAL to this one! They wanted to know how much a 2 minute video would cost. Period. I had to tell them that it all depends on what you want to see inside of those 2 minutes: one location or ten? One talent or twenty? Cranes? Dollies? It could all be yours…if you pay for it. Their eyes glazed over and again they demanded a simple base price. I walked.
Moral of the story, if they want you to come up with an AL INCLUSIVE price, you have to make an ALL INCLUSIVE quote. Include contengencies. It will be really high. But then your a## is covered when they ask for all of these things, and, most importantly, YOU GET PAID for your troubles.
I once (and never since) agreed to a nebulous, all-inclusive quote without spelling out the specifics, and by the time the dust settled, I had produced/shot/ edited a 3 day out-of-town shoot and pocketed $100! Needless to day, the client was THRILLED with the final product, I, on the otherhand, was not a happy camper.
BTW, if they don’t agree to the high-yet-realistic quote and they won’t spell out a VERY SPECIFIC guideline of what they want, RUN AWAY. You are better off without them!
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When we get a non detail request for quote, we usually try to get them to the studio and start showing them samples of other things we have done till they yell out “That one. I want that one!” Then, we tell them how much “That one” costs. Or, you can explain to them that they set the price and you simply accomodate their budget. It’s just like buying a house or even a car. If you were to call a realtor or visit a car dealership, the first question is “What price range are you in?” Imagine if you said “I want a 4 bedroom, 2 bath house on a 12,000sf lot but I’m not going to tell you how much we want to spend. ” Around here, that could run from $150k to millions of dollars. Or how about “I want a 4 door car with leather seats”. Are they shopping for a Saturn or a Mercedes? Most clients will think that you’ll come up with a price that will eat their entire budget, and that’s exactly what you should do. We’ll also ask “How much do you want to spend” and then “How much can you spend?”, two entirely different questions.
However you do it, the info they provided will give you a range to work with. Give them a high and a low and say this: “You get what you pay for, and… You don’t get what you don’t pay for.” It’s up to them, not you.
Steve Wargo
Tempe, ArizonaIt’s a dry heat!
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[Steve Wargo] “…you can explain to them that they set the price and you simply accomodate their budget. It’s just like buying a house or a car. If you were to call a realtor or visit a car dealership, the first question they’d ask is “What price range are you in?” Imagine if you said “I want a 4 bedroom, 2 bath house on a 12,000sf lot but I’m not going to tell you how much we want to spend. ” Or how about “I want a 4 door car with leather seats”. Are they shopping for a Saturn or a Mercedes?”
Nice comments, Steve. I’ve never used that line but I can see where it puts the onus on the client to clearly elaborate what they want and are willing to pay. Straight up, on the rocks, thank you…
:o)
Ron Lindeboom
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Ypp, I’ve used the car and house analogy many times myself. But in this situation I have received a request for a bid. There’s no client meeting. The numbers you put on the bid are the numberrs you must be willing to live with.
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Got it. In that case, I’d fall back on my earlier proposal of figuring your real time and costs and add about 3% for company profit. Thinking back, about 10 years ago, I had an opportunity to bid on a project that was not government related and we submitted two bids. They actually took the higher bid because they saw that while it could be done cheap, all they were getting was a cheap job. Actually, what you have to do is be fair to both sides. If possible, submit a page explaing how you arrived at your price, taking everything into consideration. Also, explain what you will do for them after the job is done. Tell them that you will not hold copyright to the material and they are free to do what they want with it. In the above situation where the client took my higher bid, during the last meeting before the contract was awarded, the client asked us “Why should we chose your company” (We were bidding against the biggest company in town), my wife turned to them and said “We will treat you like family. We will put your needs above our own. We will take care of you.” We were awarded a very lucrative five year contract.
Steve Wargo
Tempe, ArizonaIt’s a dry heat!
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We used to get RFPs like this and most of them turned out to be a search for a 2nd or 3rd bidder when the company already had selected a vendor – it was used for checks and balances. In their vagueness, you actually HAVE to give them creative ideas as well. If you are using talent, you must elaborate on why that would be beneficial. If you’re bid includes a jib, you must show them why the budget warrants it. You’ll end up writing a 4-5 page proposal… I’m really surprised they didn’t include the line “all submissions and creative concepts become the property of XX and may be used at our discretion.”
On bids like this, you have to determine how much your time is worth and if you really have a chance at or want the job. If you’re going to spend 2 or 3 days on the phone, in a meeting, collecting demos and writing a proposal, are you going to recoup that on the job? And if you lose that time, can you make it up on the next job? That’s somewhere between $1000 and $1500 of time spent that needs to be compensated for.
Steve
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(Greg) “My market is a large one. I produce, direct, and edit mostly corporate videos for large corporations. We certainly have the capability of pulling a crew of 40, and using Billy Crystal as a host”
Sounds like you’re doing some pretty high-end stuff, Greg. Do you have a web site? Would be a great opportunity for a smaller time operator such as myself to check out some of your work.
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