- So, the phone rings and the client says, we'd like to hire you. Now, what do you
do? Here's eight questions you should ask to help yourself set up a very successful
estimating experience.
♪ [music] ♪
Hi. This is Jay P. Morgan. Today on the
Slanted Lens, we're going to talk about the questions you need to ask to set up a
very successful estimating experience. When you asked the right questions, your
clients can then give you the information you need to be able to give the client
back what they need in an estimate. So, let's go through those questions and let's
get started and see what we can do. Question number 1. Well, I should say
series of questions. Number 1. Ask interesting and interested questions. They
want to feel from you that you're interested in their project. Ask them
questions that show that you're interested in what they're doing. Well, tell me about
this product. Tell me about what the demographics, the people that it's going
to appeal to. Help me get a good feeling about the product. So, ask them questions
that show that you're interested in the product. Also, ask them questions that
show that you're an interesting person. If you say, "Well, that sounds really fun, I
think I'd like to shoot that." Who's gonna hire that guy? You know if you go,
"Wow, this is a fabulous shoot. I'm really interested in this. This reminds me of
something I've been wanting to work on for my portfolio or something I'd love to do
for. . ." It shows that you're interested and you're an interesting person and you
have a perspective and you have something to bring to the party. Number 2. Remember
this very simple principle. The first person who says the price usually loses.
You can be very upfront in the beginning and say, "Well, what's your budget? Have
you shot something like this before?" And if the person says, "Well, we just have
never shot anything like this, we're not really sure." You say, "Well, have you
ever done photo shoots in the past?" "Yeah, we shot some stuff last year."
"What was your budget on that. How much money did you spend on this project?" Just
anything you could do to try to get them to give you some idea of where they're at
as an agency, how much money they have spent on projects in the past and even how
much money they have for this project. It is interesting, because most people say
to you. "No, we don't really know what the budget is yet," which is not true. I
mean, everyone always knows what the budget is. No one always call them and
says, "Just give me a price, it'll be cool." No. They have an idea what they'd
like to spend or they have an idea of exactly the most they can spend. So, the
more information you can get to give them that information, the better. Number 3.
You've got to ask about usage. In today's market, there's a value to the image
depending on where it's used. And so, if you don't get a good idea of where it's
being used and how it's being used, then you're in trouble. A really good agency
will lead with this in their specs. They'll say, "We're gonna use it as a
billboard. Possibly, we're gonna use it as trade ads. " They'll line that all out for
you. But if you get a client who's calling in is not as savvy. They're gonna say,
"Well we're just doing this shoot." You've got to help them understand that
there's value in the different areas that they use the image. Because if it's only
gonna be used in very small trade publications that's much different than
Pepsi is going to use it as a national ad. That's a much different world that you're
living in. Number 4. This is a very simple one. Who am I competing against? I've done
this for 25 years. If I can find out who I'm competing against, it helps me to know
how much I can charge. There's a gentleman I use to compete with against in Los
Angeles for years and years and I knew when he showed up on the bidding process,
I couldn't make as much money. But if I had another gentleman who's on the bidding
process, I could make a whole lot of money. So, it just depend on the market.
Some people price themselves too low, I felt like. Some people were just so far
out there, that it made so that there was gravy for everybody. So, knowing the
person you're competing against will also give you an idea about the style. Here's
three photographers and she's really this or he's really that and it just gives you
a good idea how do I fit into this mix. Number 5. Is one I always ask. I wanna
know how they find out about me. Was it a card I mailed out to them? Did they see me
online? Was it through an APA site that I put up? How did they find out about Jay P.
Morgan Pictures? First off, it helps me understand what my marketing is doing.
What's successful and what's not. And secondly, depending on where they saw me,
I know the caliber of photographers and what that world is like. It gives me a
good idea of who they are, depending on where they found me.
There's a lot of times that places people look for imagery. Gives you a pretty good
idea of the tier in the market that they're in. Number 6. I ask, is there an
image or group of images that you've responded to that cause you to call me. I
do that because I wanna know if there's an image in there that they said, Hey, that's
great. We love the tiger in the bathtub, call Jay P. Morgan. " Well, now that I
know that that's the kind of image they want. It gives me an idea of almost the
approach they want. Understanding what image they responded to will give you a
better idea about their direction and will help you to estimate a lot easier. Number
7. You've got to find out who's on the team on the creative side. Who's the art
buyer? Who's the art director? Who's the creative director? Find out who all these
people are. Try to determine by asking questions, like, “Who's the one that came
up the concept?” You know, is there someone I should speak to there about
their approach for this concept. You wanna try to find out who it is that's making
the final decision. Well, the art director really is driving the process and they had
this thought and they really like what you did. You wanna get that person on the
phone. It's gonna help you to estimate better because you're gonna get
information from that person that's gonna give you exactly what you need to know to
be able to estimate. And it's also gonna help you to get the job because you're
talking to the decision maker. And again, you wanna to be interesting and interested
with that person, so they're going, "Hey, I'd love to spend a week with this person
and I think they have the right approach and know exactly what I want. Okay, Number
8. This is a big one. It really is the foundation for how this entire process
goes. You've got to ask them all the questions you possibly can about the
approach. Now, as you've asked your questions up to this point. You've asked
them about what image they responded to. You don't say to them. "Well, do you
really want natural window light." When they said, they love your image that was
shot on studio on a set. You don't ask that question. You ask a point blank
question. You say, "So, would you like to see this done as a set? With the tiger in
a bathtub?" And they go, "Yeah, I'd love that." So, it's a process of gaining the
information, feeding it back to them in a manner that will help them to know that
you've got it. And now, you're more likely to get the job. And you also know the
things you need to do to estimate the job, so you can be able to get an estimate that
will reflect the money they can spend. So, there's your 8 questions or line of
questions that you should ask when you start to set up your estimate. But now,
it's time to do the estimate. I'm gonna give you three bonus tips on doing your
estimate. Number 1 is, research the client. Research the agency. Know exactly
who it is you're dealing with. Get online. Look at their webpage. You know if you're
shooting for Coca-Cola versus Ted's Soda, it's gonna be a huge range. Coca-Cola is
going to have a ton more money than Ted's Soda. Ted makes a great soda, I'm sure,
but Ted is not Coca-Cola. So, know the agency and know the client that's gonna
help you know how much you can charge. Number 2 is create a schedule. Just a
quick schedule that says, I'm gonna do this day. We're gonna travel this day.
We're gonna shoot these two days. It's lines out the job. That quick schedule
becomes the skeleton and the foundation for your estimate, because now you know
how many days your assistants will be working. You know how many days you will
charge for. Putting together a schedule for me really becomes the beginning of the
estimate. It helps me answer so many questions. And lastly, take a dare so to
think about it. You know, as much time as you can to think about the price, to think
about the things you have included in the estimate, things you may wanna change.
Just give yourself a little bit of time to let it settle, look at it with fresh eyes.
It will give you an idea of exactly if that's where you want it to be. So,
there's a few tips on doing the estimate. But the reality is, estimating is kind of
a complicated process. I put together a download that's gonna teach you kind of
the estimating process from my point of view. I talk in depth about how to put the
estimate together. I give you templates. I'm gonna show you exactly the things you
need to do, include a walk-through estimate with you. I'll talk about
pricing. I'll do it or commercial photography. I'll do it for wedding
photography. I'll do it for portraits. I put all those things together as a packet
of handouts that gives you great contracts and information that goes with the
estimating process. So, if you go to the Slanted Lens/Estimating, you'll see a
great digital download there that's gonna answer all your questions with regards to
estimating. Gives you great information and it will help you feel secure when you
put together your estimate. I hope this has given you some great information that
will kind of lay a foundation, so you can ask the right questions to set up your
estimate. So, don't be afraid. Ask the questions, do a great estimate, make some
money. Keep those cameras rolling and keep on clicking.
♪ [music] ♪