Kris Simmons
Forum Replies Created
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I recently proposed a project that will take place over the course of one year. I asked for a 10% deposit upon the execution of the agreement with 12 equal monthly payments due on the 1st of each month. Since so many of my resources will be allocated to this project, it’s important that I keep cash coming in from this client on a regular basis.
In your case, the third/third/third billing model should work just fine since there is a definite completion date (the banquet). You may want to write the contract though so that it states the final 1/3 payment is due prior to the banquet. You don’t want your invoice to get lost in the shuffle after the season is over. Also, make sure to specify exactly when the second payment is due and that failure to comply may result in you not being able to allocate your resources accordingly.
When producing consumer type videos (highlight reels, wedding videos, etc.) I have always tried to get full payment before I deliver the product. People paying out of their own checking accounts tend to flake out more than legitimate businesses. (based on my experiences)
Kristopher G. Simmons
Video Business Coach
https://www.MindYourVideoBusiness.com
https://blog.mindyourvideobusiness.com -
If the rights to your music is vital to your long-term success, do what you can to get them back. If not, odds are good you’ve already spent way more than $4500 in your time and energy trying to figure out what to do in this mess. Replay the history of this deal in your mind, make some corrections and do your best to avoid similar successes in the future. I too agree that moving forward is way better than getting stuck in the past. Good luck!
Kristopher G. Simmons
Video Business Coach
https://www.MindYourVideoBusiness.com
https://blog.mindyourvideobusiness.com -
I’d like to add to BeenyWeenies’ comment:
It
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Pro bono work only begets more pro bono work if you let it. All you have to do is say “no” to the events that don’t make sense for your marketing strategy and “yes” to the ones that do. I also try to stay focused on the events that are attended by my target market. Events that target the general public are a crap shoot. My most recent success includes covering an annual meeting for the Chattanooga Manufacturing Association which resulted in a $34,000 contract to produce a marketing video for a multi-national company. Another success includes a $28,000 video for a retirement community that came from a fundraising event we covered for them a few months prior to that.
To each is own….but this strategy has resulted in great success for my video business.
Kristopher G. Simmons
Video Business Coach
https://www.MindYourVideoBusiness.com -
A community service I provide and what is proving to be a brilliant marketing strategy includes videotaping, editing and streaming highlight videos of important local events for non-profit organizations and membership associations.
Ordinarily, these organizations couldn’t afford or simply do not want to afford the luxury of having their events professionally videotaped and edited by a video production company. Understanding this delimna, we step in to fill the void by offering to videotape these events in exchange for sponsorship recognition. So, the win/win is that we provide a service that benefits the non-profit and our company is exposed to their particular target audience. When the video is complete, the non-profit can link to our website (LocalWebcastNetwork.com) directly from their website, emails or e-newsletters and can distribute a DVD version of the video to VIPs, donors and sponsors. (Our short commercial is at the beginning of every video we donate so every time the videos are watched, we get incredible exposure!) Finally, the organization is free to use the raw footage to produce PSAs, event promo spots, fundraising videos, etc.
The Win/Win/Win comes from the fact that we include other sponsors involved with the event in the finished video presentation. This showcases their involvement in local community activities and gives them the ability to share these videos with their customers and prospects. Giving the sponsors extra exposure also helps the non-profit secure their support for the following year. Plus, it opens more doors for us because these sponsors really appreciate the service we provide.
The overall impact of this civic marketing strategy works extremely well in helping us to generate new business leads, in strengthening our relationships with current customers and in converting several of our existing leads into customers.
How can you use this strategy to your advantage?
Think about the organizations that need support in your area. Could they benefit if you videotaped, edited and streamed their events? Would you benefit by having your commercial or logo animation put on the front of these videos for all to see? Are there other sponsors that support these events that would appreciate the added exposure you would provide for them? Would it benefit your business to build solid relationships with these other sponsors? Would sharing these videos with your customers and prospects help to strengthen these relationships?
If the answer to these questions is a resounding “Yes! Yes! Yes!,” you need to get on the bandwagon. Regardless of whether you do this a few times a year or a few times a month, if you do it properly, you’ll experience the Win/Win/Win results I described above.
This is definitely not your traditional marketing program but it has worked for us in a big way. Good luck!
Kris
Kristopher G. Simmons
Video Business Coach
https://www.MindYourVideoBusiness.com -
Not sure what that’s all about. The same issues happen when I try to load the site on firefox (mac) also. It seems to be working fine on Safari.
It’s always worked on Firefox (mac). Looks like I’ll have to make a few phone calls tomorrow morning. Thanks for the heads up.
Kris
Kristopher G. Simmons
Video Business Coach
https://www.MindYourVideoBusiness.com -
To better understand whether or not you can make money shooting video tours for the real estate industry, you must first understand the customer. Real Estate agencies are comprised of multiple realtors who are nothing more than independent contractors. The Realtors give up a small percentage of each sell to the agency in exchange for name brand recognition and administrative services such as office space, secretaries, sales seminars, technology training, etc. etc. The individual realtors are responsible for funding their own marketing efforts. (i.e. virtual tours, newspaper listings, magazine listings, personal billboards, etc.) After presenting our product to several Real Estate brokerage firms, the top executives all made it quite clear that the agency will not pay for virtual tours. Knowing that you will not be successful in marketing your product to the various agency executives, it is important that you learn more about the individual realtor.
The average realtor is a 43 year old woman who makes around $40,000 a year. Those stats tell you a lot about your prospective customer. First, how well does this demographic use technology? My experience has been that there are very few in the real estate industry that are techno literate. You end up not only trying to market your product, but training the realtors on how use their computer as well. Not fun! Second, she only makes $40,000 per year. Now I
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The bottom line is that you aren’t a bank. You don’t make money by loaning people money. But, since extending credit (Net 30) is pretty standard in this or any business, you must act like a bank in how you size up your prospective client. Why do some people get a better interest rate on their loan terms than others? Because they are a better risk. Same goes for video business clients. Some clients you can trust based on past experience which means they’ll get better terms. Other clients, especially new ones that you have no history with, shouldn’t get the same terms.
My policy for clients that I can drive to in 2 hours or less is 50% down upon execution of the contract and the remaining 50% no later than 30 days after they have signed our Final Project Approval Form. Any new client that is beyond a two hour drive has to pay a 50% deposit to book us and the remaining 50% before they get the tapes. Several “producers” have turned us down based on these terms but more have been perfectly willing to operate this way.
My experience has been that if a client doesn’t give you any trouble about your payment terms then they can be trusted the next time around. They may be a pain in the butt to work with but you’ll never have to worry about getting paid.
Kristopher G. Simmons
Video Business Coach
https://www.MindYourVideoBusiness.com -
Great advice from everyone here. Another thing to consider is the fact that it’s very easy to oversell your high-end guy’s capability. If the work is good, your client will want more and will tell others about it. So, it’s possible that the demand for your new mix of services will outrun your supply. Don’t stop with the one vendor. Find a few others that can do the same level of work and spread the business around. This will keep everyone honest and if they know you are farming out the same kind of work to others, they’ll work that much harder to produce a better product so that hopefully, you’ll start to migrate more of the business to them.
A few points to ponder:
1. If your client(s) are used to high quality work, they’ll expect it at that level every time. So, if the vendor flakes out and you can’t deliver that quality anymore, you’ll lose the business and potentially get the reputation as the guy who has to rely on other people to put out quality work. Having several vendors will alleviate this problem as you’ll have several in your corner to keep those clients satisfied long term.
2. Demand source files from every vendor that produces work for you. If they work in After-Effects, demand all the files required to reconstruct the project if the client wants to make changes down the road. If the vendor won’t do this, find another vendor. Even if you have no idea how to use the software program that they used to build your video, someone else will. You need to control all project files and master copies of everything after the projects are complete. NEVER, NEVER, NEVER leave that control with someone outside your business. Early in my video business, I managed to sell quite a few website design projects. I found a young, extremely talented and cheap designer to do ALL the work for me. I wrote the copy and put together the outline but he did the rest. I made a lot of money and he did pretty well also. The problem is that another website design company hired him away from me and he ran off with all my project files. Since I was competing with his new employer, he was ordered by them not to give me those files. This was terrible because my clients were irate when I couldn’t revise their websites. So, since that experience, I NEVER let a vendor do any work for me unless I own and have copies of everything associated with building the project.
Kristopher G. Simmons
Video Business Coach
https://www.MindYourVideoBusiness.com -
There has already been a lot of great advice here. It will be hard to win this battle anytime soon. Odds are good that your client doesn’t have the money to pay you until their client pays them. And their client won’t pay them until they are happy with the finished product. You could be looking at 60 to 90 days before you see a check. Definitely sucks but chalk this one up as a learning experience and negotiate accordingly next time.
Something I have done in similar situations is to demand payment in full before doing any more work and definitely DO NOT release a master or associated files prior to getting paid. This will force your client to pay all or a portion of your rate OR will force your client to demand payment from their client. It doesn’t make for a comfortable situation but you shouldn’t be the one that loses here.
Of course, it only took a few of these experiences to realize that I need to get as much of the money as possible before the job even begins. It’s now my policy to collect 50% before the job begins. It’s harder to get agencies (or web/brochure/wannabe video companies) to agree to this because they don’t want to pay us before they get paid. For this very reason, agency clients make up a very small percentage of our yearly revenue….we simply don’t target them as prospects.
Kristopher G. Simmons
Video Business Coach
https://MindYourVideoBusiness.com