I Lost an Assignment to a Local Client for Lack of Communication … on the Client’s Part.

Why am I posting this?  I’ll admit up front that this post may seem like me whining about a job I wanted but didn’t get.  Fine.   I’m really doing it to share information about assignment pricing possibly  breaking a taboo.  There’s an abundance of resources for stock pricing, but when it comes to assignment pricing, information seems vague and scarce by comparison and revealing creative fees still seems somewhat taboo.  Thankfully, on ASMP’s site in the member’s forum there is a Paperwork Share where some shooters have actually shown what they charged a client for a particular shoot.  Here is a story of a recent  assignment I didn’t get and the frustration of limited communications with the potential client.

Some background info first.  We’ve been trying to foster a relationship with a local resort for a couple of years.   The client avoided direct communication or any desire to meet in person even though she liked our work and thought our lifestyle imagery in particular would be a good fit for a new campaign if a project came up.   Several voice mails from us were only answered with emails.   This is a resort that markets itself as an “upscale” destination.   Usually, the underlying message of any upscale place is that they are worth paying more for.  However, when it comes to acquiring imagery for marketing this resort subscribes to the exact opposite message:  “How cheap can we get it?”  “What is your day rate” is their main concern.   After a renovation project, the client finally contacts me and asks me to bid on an assignment.   Initially, they don’t provide any information just the typical first question:  “what is your day rate?” and “can we do a partial trade?”   I try to explain how I use creative fees based on how the client uses the images.  Before submitting my estimate I ask for a shot list so I can determine the scope of the project.  It was an ambitious list, perhaps 50 shots that comprised a mix of exterior architectural shots in dawn or dusk light, interior and exterior spa type shots with and without talent,  and of lifestyle and recreation shots in the surrounding area.  Many of them required some kind of lighting set up and directing of talent.   I had questions about the shot list, what resources they would provide and their creative priorities.  The questions were nothing out of the ordinary.  So I leave unanswered voice mails.  Only email responses that don’t really address the questions.  I never had a client not willing to discuss details of an assignment on the phone or in person.   This was a first for me and should have been a red flag.  I was taken back at first by the avoidance of live communication but pushed on really thinking it would be good to do some local assignments.

Client wanted basically “all rights”-  not ownership but unlimited marketing use of an unlimited number of selects with no term limit.   This seems to be the norm these days and goes against all the principles suggested by most and sadly I usually hear things along the lines of:  “the other photographers we’ve used have no problem granting us all rights.”   OK, I know this is a local client and I can’t command what I think to be normal corporate rates.  And I still had unanswered questions about the shot list.  All I could do was take a stab at how long I thought it would take and go from there.  So my estimate and COVER letter indicated completing the list would take 3 days.  I stated that I was willing to only shoot part of the list if they wanted to go that route.   I also clearly indicated that I was quoting two options.  I first quoted for all the rights they were asking for on the whole list.  It was about $9,500 creative fee including expenses except for talent and styling. I offered a more economical alternative.  If they were willing to limit use to 5 years (and explained by that time styles would have changed to warrant a new shoot anyway) and only do a one year exclusive (many of the lifestyle and recreation shots would have made decent stock) I reduced the total fee to about $6000.

I was fortunate that I at least got some feedback, via email of course, about the winning bid.  I was rather shocked at the reply.  The client apparently did not read my cover letter nor the estimate very carefully.   Instead of comparing the two creative fees and perhaps choosing the more economical option, the client added the two and thought I was quoting  $15,000 for a one-day shoot!    Apparently, the winning shooter came in much less than even my less expensive option.  They claimed they didn’t know I was bidding on the whole list.  They also indicated the winning shooter  said the shoot could be done in a day and if it took more than that the rate for the second day would be even less.  Because my estimate and cover letter were completely misunderstood (which could have easily been cleared up in a short phone call), I was dismissed as a contender.

I still feel $6000 for 5 year all marketing rights of multiple selects for a major local resort was more than a fair creative fee.  I also didn’t feel I should have made a concession for a partial trade.  Sadly, explaining how trade for product and services doesn’t translate toward credit on your mortgage usually falls on deaf ears.

The biggest lesson was to never bid on a job with someone who is unwilling to talk to you about the specifics of the job they asked you to bid on!   Am I slow?  Can a pro with even 2 assistants do 50 lifestyle scenarios in a day, half of which require some lighting set up?

Do I feel good about sticking to my principles?  Mostly yes.  I failed to sell my value to the client.   I’m not sure I really had a fair chance to do that.

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