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TIPS60 - Determining A Client's Budget for the Project You're Going To Provide An Estimate for

Here is another of our videos offering tips and inisights into the business of photography. a transcript of the video is included after the jump.



TRANSCRIPT:Here are a few thoughts on determining the client's budget when you're talking to them about the job. I'm John Harrington. When you're dealing with a client, you're trying to figure out what their budget is you need to ask a lot of questions. One of the reasons that you ask about the client's budget is you're trying to determine what production level is exactly they're hoping to have you bring to bear. Flash on camera, no assistants, an assistant, one light, a large production, big trailers, everything, you just never know. It really helps to understand what the client's expectations are. If the client says to you, ""Gosh, we don't have a budget, we don't know what our budget is"" you need to start asking some probing questions. ""Well, were you trying to get this done for $1,000, $5000, $10,000, $20,000?"" Once you start asking questions like that you really do start to get an understanding about what the clients per hour budget is or at least the parameters within which they're trying to work. If the client says $200 and your out the door is $750 then maybe this client just isn't for you. So always ask the question about what kind of budget you're trying to work within.

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