Don’t Sell Yourself Short
I hear a familiar ‘bing’ and look down at my phone. It’s another email from a potential client, but there have been a lot of dud offers and spam messages lately and I’m going to need my morning coffee first. 10 minutes later and I’m sitting at my desk in my home office and I open the email. It’s for an upcoming television show and it sounds like a lot of fun with the potential to lead to something bigger.
After some back and forth with the client it all seems legitimate. They’ve already done a lot of the foundational work and they have potential investors lined up, so I feel like they are serious about their project. They compliment my work several times and seem very eager to work with me, so I’m suitably flattered and malleable. Then I send them a quote for the project and the tone of the conversation changes immediately. If you’re a seasoned illustrator you can probably guess where this is headed.
It was a standard quote based on a modest hourly rate and included a breakdown of tasks and expectations. I always do this to ensure objectives are clear and expectations are managed to avoid wasting time or creating unpleasant surprises for later on.
”Can you explain some of these expenses? We’re just not sure what they mean” the client inquires. I know what’s coming.
”We’re just working out our budget - any chance you could get this done in half the time?” they ask wishfully.
With an impending sense of dread and exhaustion I enter the negotiation stage. I know from experience this has nothing to do with hours quoted but instead to do with the bottom line. Somewhere in the back of their minds they have an arbitrary figure they are trying to whittle my quote down to, and it’s almost certainly going to be unrealistic and potentially insulting.
When illustrators get to this stage they have a choice to make. Do I agree to their low ball figure and sell myself short in order to secure the contract or do I cut my losses and wait for another opportunity? For newer illustrators (and sometimes even the experienced ones), the temptation to accept the low ball offer is born out of insecurity or fear of losing the client. I get it and I’ve done it, many times. However the problem is that you set a precedent with that client for all future work as well as contributing to the devaluation of the profession.
About 5 years ago I decided to change the way I deal with these situations. I now offer a discount (at my discretion and only if I really like the project) but add a caveat of a 30% deposit upfront. Failing that, I walk away.
What I’ve found is that the serious clients are usually happy with the original quote or accept the discount with gratitude. The less serious clients never reply. No courtesy follow up or a polite decline, just radio silence. This filtering method protects me as much as possible from time wasters and ensures I’m spending my time and skills on more meaningful pursuits.