Negotiation is a powerful tool when building your brand and growing your business. I remember that I left a lot of money on the table due to the fear that I would lose the jobs if I asked for what I really wanted. I also want to urge you to look at the relationships and deals that you create to be long lasting fruit that pays dividends for years to come.
In this PDF I wanted to provide you questions and a check list to reference when you are pricing and negotiating your deals.
Questions:
Is the price you are asking for out of your comfort zone?
If you don’t know how to price a project or negotiate a rate, reach out and talk to other professionals that know how to do it or have done it. Your are her in Noah U. Have you asked me what you should or could charge for your work or are you staying in the same routine? Have your prices raised or are you the same every year?
Have you factored into the price all logistics: sub-contractors? Transportation? Shipping? Revisions? Samples? Time on the phone? Are you selling yourself short?
What can you do to make sure that you are setting up relationships that will have a ripple effect of benefit for you and them? Basically, when you negotiate the deal is it for long term or short term? I would propose three options sometimes: Flat rate one time cost, percentage plus a little upfront money or all percentage revenue share.
Are you beating the client to the punch by pre-discounting the price so that you don’t have them counter for a larger discount?
Is your pitch or presentation designed well and look professional? Is it the best it can look?
Are you providing three versions of the project? Their vision, their vision mixed with a little of your vision and then your version “all out”. Make sure to lead with serving your client or customer.
One of the most important thing I can share with you is the concept of win-win. How can this deal be set up for win-win where both parties benefit? Sometimes this means taking less pay up front for a percentage of the overall deal. Sometimes it means breaking the payments up in installments. Sometimes its allowing a client to pay in installments to make it easier on them. One of the best ways to start a negotiation is with the statement, “My goal with this deal is to find a win-win so we all benefit and flourish in our strengths”.
Remember, are you basing your “worth” on time or value? My motto: get the job done as fast as possible while doing what I love most and creating the most revenue I can. Sometimes I hire subcontractors to execute the job even if I can do it. Our goal is to negotiate deals that allow us to do what we do best. I would encourage you to base your self worth on what you produce not how long it takes.
it’s one thing to be an artist. It’s another to be an artist that is a good business person. Take the steps to set yourself up for success!
