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One of my new mortgage broker clients was quite impressed by the
newsletter I did for them and I asked if I could do all of their
marketing. I gladly accepted, of course. I'm not dumb.
The first thing they wanted me to do was jazz
up one of their current advertising flyers and print up 5,000 copies for
them. I crunched the numbers--based on my newsletter rates--and sent
them a quote of $1,085. I figured that was about right considering I'd
be doing the jazzing up and editing and custom layout for free.
So did we have a deal? Nope.
They sorta balked at the price, so I told them
I could print the flyers on cheaper 24 lb. non-glossy paper rather than
my standard semi-expensive 32 lb. newsletter stock (sorry to get
technical here). I revised my quote downward to $870, which I though was
fair. I figured they'd be happy that had I dropped my price by $200.
Gotta deal now? Um, still no.
They sent me a long email saying that they were
a small business and they couldn't afford that much especially since the
market is slow etc., etc. They also did a little comparison shopping
with some printers and found someone who could do it for $547 (which is
about right, after I checked into it myself). Ouch. I definitely can't
compete with printing companies. But since I really didn't want to turn
down the business, I refigured my profit margins and supply costs and
thought about it for a long while. Okay, fine. I reluctantly told them I
could do it for $565, but that's as low as I could go. I'd still make a
little bit of profit, but not a whole lot.
Deal? Deal! They were pretty damn happy with
that price and gave me the go-ahead.
So how the hell did I go from $1,085 all the
way down to $565? And why didn't I come back with a number somewhere
between my quote of $870 and their quote of $547 rather than pretty much
giving in right away?
I guess my negotiating skills need some work. |
2000-2007