Champagne Taste, Beer Budget
Would you dicker with a waiter about the price of a steak entrée? Or ask a hairdresser to give you highlights for free? Or expect a cashier to sell you a DVD at less than half its marked price? Probably not.
A viral video making the rounds this summer uses those scenarios to explain a major problem in the client-vendor relationship—specifically, when the former expects the latter to deliver a top-shelf product or service for a bargain-basement price. A typical exchange from the video highlights the shaky logic by placing it in a small-business setting:
Hairdresser: So what are we going to do today?
Client: Well, I'd like the highlights. But for now I can only pay for a trim.
Hairdresser: Okay, so today we're only going to do the trim?
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Comments
I think negotiating prices is healthy for business-customer relationships. if you're willing to help out a customer, chances are they will remember that and keep coming back. Also, in engaging the customer during negotiating, you have a chance to communicate the value of your services, and explain the costs.
I agree with Robert but I will go further. Although of nice quality, the video is mostly silliness. Why not compare a transaction at McDonald’s to the negotiations that normally take place when buying a house where no one would be so naïve as to not try to secure a more favorable price. Along the same lines, while you may not be able to negotiate with iStock, you would be acting irresponsibly if you did not periodically negotiate with your media supplier, your PR agency, your creative agency, etc. You have to love free markets!
I think both commenters are kind of missing the point. Yes, it's one thing to try to negotiate--it's quite another to make ridiculous requests like this. And these scenarios aren't that far off from what small businesses experience all the time.
For example, a friend recently had a client change his mind about wanting the marketing copy he'd hired him for...after it was already done and delivered. He said he was going to do a video instead--and that he wanted a refund. Fortunately, the contract said otherwise. But to top it off, the client had already used some of his copy in his video.
So no, the scenarios in this video aren't actually that far off. Yes, clients do ask you to work for free until they know if they like it, and they're frequently frustrated when you charge more than the guy they saw on Elance--it's the same type of work, right?
The point I was trying to make by posting the video (and that I expound on in a second post called Are You a Taco Stand?) is that when you do a good job of communicating your value, you have fewer ridiculous requests like this to deal with.
Tracy
P.S. Thanks for mentioning my post!