[Bruce Bennett]

Hi Lisa,

I have two clients that require vendors be incorporated some how (i.e., LLC, inc., etc.) and have general liability insurance. If the vendor does not meet these two “have to haves” they are not accepted as vendors. I think this is pretty common with “larger companies.”

I do not have an Errors & Omissions policy. From what my agent told me, it didn’t cover what I wanted it to cover, and seemed like it was too much money for what little it did cover. For instance, if I subcontract 5,000 replicated DVDs or CD-ROMs, sign off on “artwork with typos” or “a content master that didn’t work” my agent told me that E&O would not cover the re-doing them. The reason he told me is that the bad ROMs did not hurt the client’s income or reputation, thus such “screw ups” do not fall within the O&E policy coverage.

In my opinion, all video related companies that are “in charge” on location sets should have general liability insurance. Especially since I find that many TBA videographers do not carry it. I pay about $40 per month for $1 million General Liability insurance with a Marine clause that covers “video related stuff.”
My insurance provider is ACUITY: https://www4.acuity.com/acuityweb/home

Good Luck!
Bruce

Bruce Bennett
Bennett Marketing & Media Production, LLC

[Bruce Bennett]

Hi Bryce,

Some Community Development Credit Unions (learn more here: http://www.natfed.org) and credit union supported/related organizations have special loan programs designed to help small business start-ups that improve the quality of life in their neighborhoods. For instance, here is one in your city, San Antonio: https://www.acciontexas.org/

If you cannot find this type of chartered credit union near you, I suggest trying a “mainstream” credit union whose charter includes business members.

Good Luck,
Bruce

Bruce Bennett
Bennett Marketing & Media Production, LLC

[Bruce Bennett]

Hi Bryce,

The number one rule for cold calling is to get a face-to-face meeting. Get the sit.

If the potential client is out-of-state and a face-to-face meeting is not possible, then get a phone call meeting with whoever is in charge of the checkbook.

At the meeting, ask for the sale (a couple/few times if you have to). Once you get a “yes” shut up and get out.

Go back to the office and put together your estimate/bid with the terms clearly stated. No matter what, get a down payment for new clients.

Good luck,
Bruce

Bruce Bennett
Bennett Marketing & Media Production, LLC

[Bruce Bennett]

Hi John,

When I used to work for a full-service production company and we had 100+ clients that kept the whole staff of eight people busy, we used to charge rush charges (between 20%-100% depending on when they needed final delivery). It worked because we were always able to justify “disturbing” the workflow and having to move other clients around in order to accommodate the rush.

Now that I run a one-man shop, I do not implement rush charges unless my subcontractors charge me. My clients know they can come to me no matter what the circumstance and that I can almost always deliver exactly what they want no matter what the timeline. It is one of the reasons why they keep coming back to me.

Other than some of my duplication/replication vendors, my subcontractors/vendors have rarely charged me a rush charge. On that rare occasion that it does come up, I open QuickBooks and look up how many thousands (or tens of thousands) of dollars I’ve spent with them. Then I ask the question, “Are you really going to charge me a rush charge?”

Bottom line… the big picture is about the “overall big money” and keeping clients from going elsewhere. I think rush charges can have a negative, non-retractable effect on your relationships, can cost you big money and perhaps the loss of good paying clients. In this biz, we are only as good as our last project and we are all replaceable now matter how good we think we are.

Good luck,
Bruce

Bruce Bennett
Bennett Marketing & Media Production, LLC

[Bruce Bennett]

Hi Brian,

I’m not proclaiming that I do “top notch” production, but one thing that I try to do to make my end products better is hire people who are better than I am. For example, if the budget allows it, I may hire a better script writer versus writing the script myself. Or I may take on the role of Producer and hire a Director who has more experience working with different types of lenses, cranes, Stedicam, $200K projects, etc. I get paid to learn, absorb what I take away, and apply it all to my future projects. The end result is a better portfolio which has led to higher paying clients.

Good luck,
Bruce

P.S. On another note… I see you’ve been a member of the COW since 2005. You may want to take some time and fill out your profile. You’ll get better, more accurate, feedback/advice when people respond to your posts.

Bruce Bennett
Bennett Marketing & Media Production, LLC

[Bruce Bennett]

From my Website…

Channel Integration

We all know what brand, branding and brand strategy are. At
Bennett Marketing & Media Production, we believe a company’s
brand is built on the customer experience. Aside from the actual use
of a product or service, the customer experience is created via
“touch points,” or delivery channels (Internet, face-to-face, phone,
direct marketing, etc.). When a customer has a great experience
with a company’s delivery channel, that great experience is
absorbed into the customer’s brand loyalty psyche – the ultimately
desired effect of branding.

But delivery channels need to be integrated. Most customers use
more than one: paying bills via the Internet . . . receiving rebates in
the mail after making an in-store purchase . . . finding a local dealer
or product information via the Internet . . . or checking a catalog
order status via the phone. Before, during and after the purchase,
each customer experience associated with each delivery channel
needs to create the best possible effect on the customer’s brand
loyalty psyche. And when you consistently deliver great experiences
with every delivery channel, you get customer intimacy. We believe
this is what channel integration is all about.

Bennett Marketing & Media Production specializes in the design of
“customer experience focused” marketing campaigns and media for
delivery channels.

Bruce Bennett
Bennett Marketing & Media Production, LLC

[Bruce Bennett]

Hi Phil,

My experience tells me that your Form won’t help much. Graphic artist are simply either knowledgeable or not knowledgeable when it comes to graphic file types.

For instance, when I request a logo as an EPS, RBG, saved as outlines file from a professional, knowledgeable graphic artist, I almost always get it.

When I request the same thing from a newbie or graphic artist that has no business being a graphic artist, I usually get rasterized bitmaps saved as EPS, or worse, “right click and save” GIF files from their Websites.

Good luck,
Bruce

Bruce Bennett
Bennett Marketing & Media Production, LLC

[Bruce Bennett]

Hi Mike,

If I were you, I would also post your question in the Cinematography forum.

Good luck,
Bruce

Bruce Bennett
Bennett Marketing & Media Production, LLC

[Bruce Bennett]

Hi Chris,

Good luck. It would be nice to know what you did and how it all turned out.

Bruce

Bruce Bennett
Bennett Marketing & Media Production, LLC

[Bruce Bennett]

Hi Mick,

I add up all my travel expenses for one line item and call/label it: “Expenses (airfare, lodging, taxis, food, parking, etc.)”. This was the line item description for the bid/estimate and thus it is the same line item that appears on the final invoice. Your/my client does not need to know how it breaks out and doesn’t need to tell you/me how to be a professional Producer. My clients don’t really care how I spend the budget as long as I deliver a project that they love and within budget. It’s all about the client/vendor trust issue.

Since your client is asking you for individual receipts, I’m guessing the issue is one of three things:
1). He/she is trying to get you to re-do the invoice with a lower amount due. Maybe because the entire project (video, print materials, electronic media, overpaid ad agency, etc.) is over budget and the client is now trying to cover his/her butt.
2) There is now a new corporate policy that requires vendors to submit individual receipts with final invoices. (This is actually a policy with some companies and breaks my third rule for running my business).
3). He/she has lost trust with you.

I would call again and remind them that you brought the project in under/at budget, but you’ll still submit photocopies of the requested receipts. Let the chips fall as they will. Tell them that since payment is way over due, you now need to front their money to pay your overhead. Try to figure out what the reason is for non-payment.

This is what I’d do… If it’s #1, try your best to help them out. If it’s #2 or #3, wait it out for payment and then drop them as a client.

Good luck,
Bruce

Bruce Bennett
Bennett Marketing & Media Production, LLC