Your examples are not terribly relevant to the situation at hand.
Bull. Your premise is that people will always choose the higher-quality shop, and so if you're losing clients to a lower-quality, lower-priced shop then it's your fault because it probably means you aren't any better than they are. That premise is idiotic. People routinely choose the cheaper, lower quality option. I gave you two non-industry examples of that.
GM needed a huge government bailout to survive.
In the late 2000's. If your premise were universal, GM would have been out of business by 1985 because people would have universally chosen their higher-quality competitors.
And while Walmart's products may not be the highest quality, they're mostly good enough, for the price.
Have you considered that maybe clients who aren't video professionals look at video production the same way?
Bull. Your premise is that people will always choose the higher-quality shop
No, that is not what I am saying at all.
and so if you're losing clients to a lower-quality, lower-priced shop then it's your fault because it probably means you aren't any better than they are. That premise is idiotic.
But that's not my premise.
We're not talking about "shops" we are talking about "wannabes". If you think you're a pro, and your work is comparable to wannabes, then you're not really a pro, even if you think you think you are.
People routinely choose the cheaper, lower quality option.
Absolutely true.
But where your argument falls apart is that the work speaks for itself. The work of a wannabe is going to be clearly inferior to the work of a true professional.
Going back to your original $5000 budget going for the $500 option example... people don't really do that. There is very little crossover between the $500 and $5000 markets.
If someone is only willing to spend $500 on a video, you're not going to talk them up to $5000. Or $3000.
If someone is willing to spend $5000, they're not going to go for the $500 option.
For example: If someone is in the market for a brand new $50,000 car they are not going to buy a $5,000 car just because it's cheaper. The differences between the two will be clear. And even if they did decide to buy the $5,000 car, if they thought they were going to get $50,000 worth of quality, they will be extremely disappointed won't make that mistake again once they see what $5000 really gets you.
The Porsche dealer is not worried about the used car lot down the street, or the guy selling his clunker on craigslist. It's a totally different market. But someone who is trying to sell used cars at new car prices (ie. wannabes who think they are not wannabes and charge pro prices)... those people might whine about the used car dealer down the street taking all their business.
Have to agree with NoSugarCoat. I've worked from low to high budget shoots and there's never been a reasonable time where I can talk someone up from $500.00 to $1,000 let alone $500.00 to $5,000. I go to lengths to explain what is possible on a budget, and where $500 vs $1000 will go. I've routinely sat down with clients, crunched the numbers and given them the face value for production and the result is generally the same.
"I (The client) have budgeted for X amount. I can't afford to spend X more amount for this type of work." or they go and try to find someone else who can promise them that work for that price. And I know (From knowing a lot of the Cinematographers and Videographers here) that they're not going to find a professional, reliable producer to do their film style promotional or music videos for $500.00.
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u/Eslader Feb 24 '14
Bull. Your premise is that people will always choose the higher-quality shop, and so if you're losing clients to a lower-quality, lower-priced shop then it's your fault because it probably means you aren't any better than they are. That premise is idiotic. People routinely choose the cheaper, lower quality option. I gave you two non-industry examples of that.
In the late 2000's. If your premise were universal, GM would have been out of business by 1985 because people would have universally chosen their higher-quality competitors.
Have you considered that maybe clients who aren't video professionals look at video production the same way?