Way back in my teenage years, I worked part-time at a take-out pizza store. Customers would sometimes say, “Give me a large pizza with everything on it.”
When I’d reply, “Okay, that’ll be $26.00” (or whatever the price was), the customer would gasp and quickly change to, “Just make it pepperoni and mushrooms.”
Wants and needs can be quite different when a price tag is attached.
What do you need?
A corporate photography customer recently asked for some photos of their Toronto office. The pictures were to be used on their web site and printed in a brochure. The company sent a list describing the ten pictures they wanted.
I sent a quote for about $2,800.
The customer e-mailed back and was quite shocked at the price. Why is it so expensive?
They wanted ten pictures for their web site and a printed brochure, correct?
Apparently they needed only four or five pictures. I sent a revised quote for $1,780.
The customer again e-mailed to ask about the revised fee.
They wanted four or five pictures for their web site and a printed brochure, right?
The customer explained that they weren’t doing a brochure but only thinking about it. They only needed two or three pictures for their web site.
I sent another revised quote for $860 which the customer accepted.
Pay for needs not wants
Last month, a pharmaceutical business requested editorial photography of their president speaking at a Toronto conference and also a few other pictures of him attending the event. After posting 63 proofs online, how many finished pictures did the company want?
“We want all of them.”
After reminding them that each finished picture was an additional $40 to post-process, they chose five.
Wanting more than you really need
“We want all rights to the picture.”
Okay, that’ll be $6,000.
“What?!”
Do you need TV rights, movie rights, resale rights and product packaging rights? What about advertising on billboards and on the sides of buses? Do you need publishing rights for Asia, Africa, Australia and Russia?
“No. We just need the rights to use the picture in a textbook that’ll be published in North America for five years.”
Okay, so you don’t need all rights. In that case, it’ll be $460.
Often the best way to separate wants from needs is to attach a price tag.
