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Combating the Issue of Price: A Designer’s Viewpoint
Designers abroad have the stigma that we lose sight of the goals on hand and frolic down from rabbit trail to rabbit trail only to arrive at an ending unbeknown to the client. The scattered brained individuals whom only care about our own opinions, our own ideas, and that our egos are fed effectively at the end of a project. As a designer, you know this is bogus.
People hire designer’s to fulfill the complex need of creative advice, creation, and implementation. Again, people hire designers to fulfill the complex need of creative advice, creation, and implementation (anything I mention twice is usually important).
We are in the same boat as an individual seeking out a doctor to fulfill the complex need of health advice or an iron worker to fulfill the complex need of welding steel 40 floors up. We are skilled and trained individuals constantly relearning our craft and executing a currently unattainable need for a client.
Here me out when I say this: DO NOT GET MAD ABOUT THE THE TRASH PRODUCED BY HUNGRY ARTISTS WHO DO NOT YET REALIZE THAT QUALITY WEBSITES COST MORE THAN $50. I am absolutely SICK of hearing designers, blogs, and the comment rat bitching in the design community about clients and their misunderstanding of how ‘bad’ we got it. We don’t have it bad. Go read the news. There are a lot worse things going on so stop complaining about a child who prices a logo at the same price as a Timex watch at Wal-Mart.
Okay, this is edging on an all out rant, but I do want to supply you all with some solid advice. My buddy jokes about channeling his inner chi. It could be when we are about to have a drink at the bar, he’s about to line up his golf shot, or in he’s the process of headbutting someone. Regardless, this is great advice if you ever find yourself in the situation of someone else comparing an individuals trash work to your elegant, thought-out creation. Here’s a few points to keep in mind if you’re confronted by someone comparing your work to someone else’s:
1. Don’t approach business like a starving artist
When first starting out, designers have the tendency of getting to a point where they’re so hungry for work, anything and everything the client says is like the first time they saw the opposite sex naked. “OMG!!! THAT’S AWESOME!” Likewise, the hungry designer tends to price things low as it is an easy way to add to the portfolio and work around the biggest barrier to entry: skill.
So settle down, and collect yourself. I ask that you channel your inner chi and harness the notion I stated twice to you earlier, “People hire designers to fulfill the complex need of creative advice, creation, and implementation.” We are fulfilling a complex need. No where does it say that the client is always right and no where does it say that our services are so easy a cave-man could do it.
2. Be honest
It is our job to give candid feedback even in situations where we may feel it could hurt the client’s feelings. They don’t have to like it, they’re the decision maker, but the project will be better because of it. A good business person will accept your opinion therefore accepting your hourly rate and a healthy dialogue will unfold. Additionally, they will realize that the website they could have gotten for $50 may have functioned, but it will be as generic as a $4 prescription from Target. To top it off, they would have learned nothing, likely had little input in any of it, and the crappily designed website starting at $50 is now costing them $5000 because of errors made originally by an lesser skilled individual.
This means we must position ourselves solidly as idea champions from the onset. We should allow enough feedback from the client to make them feel as if they were so involved in the process that they created the work, when in all actuality, we remain in the drivers seat the entire time. I know you will come across some that just don’t get it and tell you how to do your job. Avoid them like the plague. They’re devoid of all common sense and will milk you for all you’re worth.
3. Don’t focus on what others are doing
If we all did what everyone else was doing, no one would be unique. If an individual is pricing their work at $50, let them!
(Arnold Voice) Stop whining!
That individual will cease to be a factor in your ideal clients mind if you hold this mentality. Why? You provide better service, a better product, and a lasting image. Any marketing lesson will tell you that a rational buyer will be willing to pay for this.
I remember an example from a marketing professor: an optometrist charging $50 for Lasik eye-surgery raises a red-flag. Well the same can be said for a designer charging $50 for a website to a rational buyer. You’re in business to make money. In order to make money, you must provide quality service. In order to provide quality service, you must pay more. Mercedes are not the same as Kias. Kias are not the same as Mercedes. While they fulfill the same role, they are simply not comparable. Whether your business model is wide or tall it is entirely up to you. Just focus on yourself and be aware of others pricing.
If you’d like to read about pricing from a salesman’s perspective, read “3 Keys to Avoiding a Design Price War” by our own Matt Lakics. I also recommend checking out fellow designer David Airey’s “First Step to Graphic Design Pricing” for more great advice on this topic!
3 Keys To Avoiding a Design Price War
I was told a story from a friend of mine about a plumber. A customer called a plumber to fix a problem, so the plumber drove out to his house. The customer was livid because he needed his sink to wash the dishes, but it was clogged beyond belief. After taking a look at the sink, the plumber knew exactly what the problem was. He took his wrench; hit the pipe in a certain spot, and the water began to drain. The plumber then turned to the customer and said that will be $120. Flabbergasted, the customer asked why as it only took him two minutes. With a big smile on his face, the plumber said you just paid for 15 years of experience.
In the design world, we have found the opposite to be true. Whenever a price is considered, the customer seems to have the power to bring our price down. For whatever reason prices for our services are not seen as something that is fixed, but is viewed more like a flea market. Every time this happens, it drives me nuts because our services are professional, yet it feels like we are at a reverse auction house when quoting a project out. Fifty dollars, forty dollars, thirty dollars, SOLD!
You could not walk into a car mechanic and work their price down. After your accountant prepares your taxes for the year, their prices are non-negotiable. Why, then, can a client walk into our office and demand to pay a lower price for our services?
Unfortunately for us, “graphic designers” are a considered to be a dime-a-dozen, a commodity. There are designers everywhere who will take a project for a percentage of what they should be charging just to keep their lights on. Since this is the case, our potential clients believe they can talk us down to a much lower price. What is unfair for our company is that since this is so common, we sometimes have trouble standing up for our prices. Clients have walked out of our office to go and find someone “more affordable”.
Some pointers for designers out there having these same issues:
1. Stick to your guns:
If you charge $100 an hour, stick to that as close as possible. If you need to dip below that for a smaller client, fine, but try and lock in future value in writing. Some people may not be able to afford the $100 an hour, but may be able to afford $70 an hour. Analyze these situations with caution and only meet if you can get more work in the future at the price you deserve. You can garner large clients from a humbling beginning after all.
2. Let them walk
If the client is threatening that they will walk away unless you drop the price below what you need to make, let them walk. Most of the time you do not want to work with someone of that nature anyways. We have found that it is better to deal with client issues if they are paying a premium rather than dropping below your comfort zone and dealing with the same issues. You may lose a potential client, but may alleviate a major headache before it happens.
3. Demand what you’re worth
Don’t be afraid to demand what you are worth. If you do not do so, you will never make what you need to make. How can you ever expand if you never make a profit on your projects?
It is a tough world for designers these days as people do not want to pay us what we are worth. There will always be people doing inexpensive work, but do not shy away from demanding what you are worth. Keep that in mind when quoting a project and soon enough you will find the clients you deserve, paying the prices you demand, and business will be booming.
Instant Professionalism: Your Business Card
You all have likely heard of Joel Bauer and seen his video on YouTube about business cards and how he tears them to shreds. I know what you are thinking…his ending is nuts. With that pop-up business cards and all his over-the-top shenanigans, it is hard to tell if the guy is being serious. But, delve deeper, and his message is very clear: your business card is crap. He takes a shrewd look at random business cards and after a few chuckles, you realize what he is saying has some legs.
He starts off with the “stock” of the business card. Personally I have been handed business cards that have been printed from an ink jet printer and laugh hysterically when one is handed to me. Also, people hand me a business card they obviously had made at a big box store with a random clip art image and that initiates the same laugh. Ask yourself this: how does this make your business look?
Now I understand if someone is just starting out and they cannot afford anything else, grow as you grow. But, I have met people who have been in business for years and still have such terrible business cards. Why? If you are looking to be perceived as more professional, have a company come up with a logo for your company, or a business card that is not a template held by 5,000 other painters across the country.
With these facts aside, one of the biggest things that bugs me on a business card is when someone directs me to an email address that is ‘@yahoo.com’ or ‘@gmail.com’. So you mean to tell me that you own your own business or you work for a company and they cannot supply a @CompanyName.com? This drives me insane and when I see that, every ounce of me just wants to tell them how unprofessional they appear. Especially if you’re the owner of a small business…businessname@gmail.com is something that needs to be changed as soon as possible.
The last thing that irks me is when people place their titles on their card. In the video, Joel Bauer goes on to talk about people putting their titles on their business card. He states how he knows people who put CFO or Vice President of a company that makes $10,000 a year. “Wow, I’m impressed!” Why should a title matter? So what that I am the Vice-President of my company, that does not mean anything more than just having a title. Keep it simple: name, number, address, website, and a catchy slogan. The business card is a gift that should come only after good conversation. Don’t say your name and carpet bomb a networking event with your card.
Small things of this nature will go a long way. I understand printing your own business cards is cheap, but you should never do so, especially if you want to be perceived as professional. Having the printing done at a big box store is just as expensive as having it done with a professional marketing and design company. The major difference with an order through a big box store vs. a marketing company, is that by going to a big box store you are receiving a template design with a subpar quality stock of business card.
Your business card is a representation of your business when you can’t be. You should not feel confident handing off a representation of your business that is sub-par in quality or that is a template had by a number of others. Doing this would not make me feel confident and would actually make me embarrassed.
You don’t spend the money until you make the money…but you need to spend some money on the representation of your company that you will leave behind with a potential company.