As clients are still being very careful with their dollars these days, the price you sell your magic at has become more important than ever.
Several times this year clients have called us looking for a performer within a specific budget, and then called an hour or two later wanting to cancel as they've found someone who's agreed to do it cheaper.
On one occasion a local performer was booked to do a relatively modest paying show for a 21st, when the client called him back wanting to cancel because "a famous TV magician" was willing to do the show for less, (about 25% of his normal fee) and fly down from Queensland at his own expense.
The more "flexible" performers are with their prices, the less clients will expect to pay.
One option is to offer a selection of different shows so that if your regular show is too expensive for the client you can offer them an alternative which will fit their budget. Make sure they are visibly different shows though.
There's nothing worse for a client who's paying $3000 to hear from a past client that they paid $300 for the exact same show.
The other issue is commissions. We quote our shows at the same price to direct bookers and to agents. We instruct the agents to take their commission out of our fee. This way, if a client gets a quote from an agent, it will be the same price as the quote they'll get directly from us. The agent doesn't look like a rip-off artist, and can feel confident in quoting our shows knowing we won't undercut him or her.
Allowing the agent to put a commission on top can cause problems.
We had been negotiating with a venue to have an artist appear on a regular basis. Unbeknownst to us, the client of an agent decided to pitch us to the same venue. This client heard the prices we were quoting to the venue and was very upset because they were lower. Why? Because she was adding her commission on top, and the agent who she normally booked us through was taking her commission out of our fee. Complicated, but messy. As a result, the venue owner felt it all sounded a bit dodgy and decided not to book anyone.
Another example is a close up artist who normally performs for $450. Now and then he fills in for another performer who frequently has a sore back. This performer pays him $1000-$2000 for his work. The client pays double that. The close up performer thinks it's great because he's getting more money than usual. The other performer thinks it's great because he's getting half his regular fee without even showing up. Who loses in this situation?
Well the client, of course, gets an artist other than the one he or she originally booked and, you could argue, if they were happy with the job the close up performer did all's well.
But if they were happy, and they sought out the close up performer for a repeat gig and booked him directly, they may get a shock that the act they paid $4000 for quoted them $450. In the end everyone loses.
Your thoughts?
