Cut me a deal…..

Richard Charpentier Notes from Rich, Prints, RLC Design, Wide Format Printing 4 Comments

Do you know how often I hear those words? Too often. Let’s talk about that.

Over the course of the past week I’ve had several new potential clients come in, call, and e-mail.  In each interaction the folks have at some point asked if I could give them a price break.  Struggling artist, bad economy, what have you.  And personally, I’m amazed each time.

Now, I know for a fact that my nearest competitors all charge higher than I do for print reproduction services.  Don’t even get me started on the canvas pricing, I’m amazingly cheap, and the final product goes beyond high quality.  According to Allison Smith, my number one canvas customer, I have saved her huge sums of money compared to her previous printer.  She never wants me to go away.  🙂

As an aside, Allison used to do business with a company out of Connecticut.  For the price of one scanned 4×5 positive film scan with her old printer she could do 4 scans with me, and keep some extra change to boot.  I remember the first time she came in with a few positives in hand, and when I told her my rates her jaw dropped.  The next day she came in with 16 4×5’s for me to scan!

Finally, I’ve worked up an answer to the wheeling and dealing crowd, and amazingly enough the answer works:

If you can get me a deal on my medical insurance, car insurance, rent, and groceries then I will certainly consider working something up for you.  Otherwise, check out my competition, see the services they offer and the prices they charge.  I’ll look forward to talking to you again when you realize that I’m already a great deal!

Think I’m joking about that response?  I’m not.  Had a person call me just a few days ago, and we got to the “That’s awfully expensive for canvas, isn’t it?  Could you make me a better deal?”  I rattled off the above statement (or an approximate match to it), the line went quiet and then I heard, “Oh, guess I never thought about it that way.”

Hmmmmm…..I must look like a guy with an “economy bubble” around me keeping me safe from all that’s going on in the outer world.  Now that would be a technology I think we could all use!  If someone came out with such a device I would only hope that they would cut me a deal………

Comments 4

  1. Post
    Author

    For you Carlos, I’ve got a special deal. 100% markup above my standard rates….. 🙂 LOL!

    Actually, next time I hear, “What’s your best price?” I’m going to say double my asking price. Why? Because “my best price” would equate to more in my pocket. 🙂

  2. What is it that people have about “getting a deal” anyway? I think there is some sort of change going on in the American psyche that says we should never pay retail cost for anything – that you should always wheel and deal. Your analogy is great. I counter with similar responses:

    “Do you ask the grocer to give you a better deal on bread or milk? You can probably get these cheaper at a discount store, but the milk will expire sooner and the bread will go stale quicker. Which do you want: the cheap stale milk or the stuff that will last. Nothing wrong with paying for quality.”
    .-= Jason´s last blog ..All about Brighton, Baby! =-.

  3. Back in my independent scriptwriter days, I’d always have potential customers tell me they were working on a series of, say, five shows, so could I give them a “quantity” discount? I’d offer to do the first four at full price and fifth one for free. Funny that none of them ever came back.

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