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amateur's ruining the market
Kim Guibord:
I have been in production for well over 18 years now, have learned alot, and expect to always learn something new, I feel my pricing is fair, use really good gear, and my customer service is also very good, We now have a couple of new sound Companys that provide full sound & lighting @ "giving it away" rates which makes it tough for us guy's that do this for our living & and have a good history.
Just had a previous Client tell me " why would I pay your price when I get it for almost half from this other guy, I did not reply to him, but my thought is this other guy prices soooo low because of his inexperience, I was at one of his shows, 3 double 18" and 2 tops per side, absolutely no low end, I mean like if the amps were off and alot of mid/hi feedback for the majority of the bands first set... I just tell people now...you get what you pay for.
Dick Rees:
Please forgive me for this, but I wonder ....... if the deciding factor for these clients is low cost, then it would seem that at one time you were the lowest cost option. That is no longer the case and the club/band market continues its downward spiral. Have you considered seeking other applications for your gear and experience? Bands have not been a particularly lucrative market for a while now.
RYAN LOUDMUSIC JENKINS:
How about pros ruining the market. Like the one that comes down here for winter from a cold state and under cuts all the big boys by about 50%???? Gets him work for half the year and ruins the market for our local high end professional providers for the entire year!
Some promoters only care about price and you can't do anything about that. Some care about relationships and trust, you can control that.
Raise your prices a little higher and when you are asked why your prices are even higher explain that you never want to be the cheapest because the cheapest will alway be worth what they are paid!
brian maddox:
RYAN LOUDMUSIC JENKINS wrote on Sun, 13 February 2011 21:31
How about pros ruining the market. Like the one that comes down here for winter from a cold state and under cuts all the big boys by about 50%???? Gets him work for half the year and ruins the market for our local high end professional providers for the entire year!
Some promoters only care about price and you can't do anything about that. Some care about relationships and trust, you can control that.
Raise your prices a little higher and when you are asked why your prices are even higher explain that you never want to be the cheapest because the cheapest will alway be worth what they are paid!
there is an interesting thing that happens when you price your services. when you price then low, you attract people for whom price is the selling point. when you price high [some would call it reasonable] you attract people for whom quality is paramount. this second group will rarely turn into a 'i need it cheaper' customer. the first will remain that way for as long your relationship lasts.
fwiw, this issue is not new, or different, or 'worse than ever'. there may be regional fluctuations, but people have been low-balling entertainment gigs for decades, mostly because they're 'cool' and fun to do. if this is happening in your region, the solution is simple. stop going after all the entertainment gigs. if the thought of doing a teleconference, or a dinner, or a corporate event [or God forbid, wearing a tie] makes you want to break out in hives, then guess what... you are one of those people who are doing this because it's 'cool' and fun to do. and that's fine. but don't expect to ever be able to extricate yourself from the feedback loop of price focused clients.
my dos centavos
brian
Mark Gensman:
This is called the "drawbridge" syndrome.
"I'm here so raise the drawbridge and don't allow anyone else"..
Did most of you start off by charging top dollar? Did you care at all about established sound contractors when you decided to start doing it or did you work for very little to get known and established?
It's called business.
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