Grad night Q's

[on time]

I was contacted to do a grad night for a local highschool, the lady I talked to wanted me to be there from 11pm till 1am so two hours. I told her I would do it for $125 an hour Min 2 hours and $100 additional hours.
well after i sent her the Contract now she wants me to start at 12 for 2 hours.
Being that is on a friday night and starting at midnight I feel i may have under priced myself. Should I honor my price and start at 12 of would it be bad to up my price $25???

part of me feels I should have charged more and the other part feels to not let greed get the better of me.

[KevinS]

I haven't done any tatt events yet, but I was a vendor for a major event planner for 2 years (doing AG Edwards, MicroSoft, etc type of clients). We didn't change our prices based on time, but did based on whether or not we had to get a motel room, if it was an out of town event. I think in this situation I would keep the same price that you quoted and hope that the word of mouth and the excitement from the kids will pay you back ten fold in the long run.

[Tat2guy]

Ontime: you have to be flexable on this one. By letting her slide on the hour start time she may have you stay a hour later after they see how popular you are going to be. Yes you will lose a little sleep but pick up a school which you may have for many years to come. A lady called today and asked if we could do there grad nite on saturday (this sat) and we are already booked for another one. So I told her that only one airbrusher would be available to come and she was good with that knowing she called us so close to the date. Yes its short notice and yes its going to be some work for me to handle alone but they want us bad and this puts us into the school for future events. I think you should do it and put on your invoice next time that time changes will cost you a extra $25.00 in case it happens again. That way you can feel good about the extra charge. It's in writing! Good luck with the grad nite afterwards we can compare notes on the nite's events.

[on time]

after thinking about it I figured I would rather them have a good memory for next year than be the guy that changes his prices. was'nt really a big deal.

thanks all

[slepore]

Correct move ontime. A few more bucks in your pocket is nothing compared to bad customer feelings and lost potential future business imo. Greed is not good despite what Gordon Gekko says.

[Franco]

but I just saw it and wanted to say something.

I think I am more surprised at the question than anything else. Of course you change the time and do not charge her. And you really shouldn't put in writing, anywhere or at anytime, that there is a charge for changing the time. Why would anyone charge a client for changing their time?

Now, with that said, I want to mention that I tell all clients I will change their time an hour or so either way AS LONG as it does not interfere with another parties start or stop time. I will GLADLY do whatever it takes to make my clients party a success Changing the time, as long as it doesn't interfere with another party is no problem.

That type of service of what I mean when I say I'm in business to provide a service, not make money. People know when you genuinely care about them and their needs and they know when you are trying to hustle them for an extra buck. And to possibly lose a long-term client over $25 or $50 is ridiculous in my opinion. You gain $50 today but lose $1000's in the next couple years.

The old saying of "treat others the way you want to be treated" can and should easily be applied to your business decisions.

[rmanuel]

Franco. We are contracted for most of the Grad Nights in our area and I feel the same way too. The thing about Grad Nights is that once your in with the committee, your contact info and contract go in the folder for next year's committee. You can almost bet if you deliver a quality service and the kids have fun, they'll call you back next year.

I take into consideration the time frame for Grad Nights are usually in the early hours since their overnight so that is just part of the business/event.

[Franco]

parties this year and have had to turn down just as many because I can't do them all. I will think about adding equipment to do more parties next year, but probably wont.

Most of these schools have been using us for years and they book us right after the end of the one they are doing because they know how quickly we get booked.

[grinmpt]

Originally Posted by Franco

parties this year and have had to turn down just as many because I can't do them all. I will think about adding equipment to do more parties next year, but probably wont.

Most of these schools have been using us for years and they book us right after the end of the one they are doing because they know how quickly we get booked.

Franco - I am new to this forum (today) & have spent the last 7.5 hrs reading through many of the posts. My brain is stuffed! This is actually the first post that has prompted my first question (scary, eh?)

I am just getting ready to put some collateral together for Grad Nite. We have schools all around us. From previous posts, it looks as though many of you charge your regular hourly rates. I have a friend that is on the committee for one of the schools & she said that they try to get many vendors to "donate" their services. I know in the past they have asked my husband (a professional photographer) to do Green Screen as a "donation" or "at cost". He graciously declined. Do you have any thoughts/rebuttals that you use or ever offer a "discount rate" for these requests? I don't necessarily want to give them a "special rate" for their first year, because it will be difficult to raise it to a competitive rate next year.

Thanks for your thoughts/advisal! - Michelle

[Franco]

I don't know what is right or best for you, or where you live, so what I'm going to tell is what works for me.

I do not give discounts to grad nights. I used to in the past, but now we get so many parties that I'm turning away schools, so it make NO sense to give away money. If the school doesn't want to pay, the next one will. And I am not upcharging the grad nights. My rates to them are the same as to the mom booking a birthday party.

Another reason I don't give discounts is I know how much they pay the hypnotist to be there for an hour, and it's usually more than they want to pay us to do tattoos for 4 hours with two artists. Go figure! They get WAY better value with what we do, but they want us to give it away. There are schools in my area that spend at LEAST $50,000 on their grad night, and they want to negotiate a DEAL with me? Oh no.

I just explain to them that we get booked quickly and when it's all said and done I turn away schools so it makes no sense to give discounts. This year I am ONLY giving discounts to schools that book multiple services and that is only through December 31. After the new year I wont give discounts to anyone.

BUT!!! You gotta do what's right for you.