I had a client that came to me for a very small role in their staff party entertainment. They have access to a bunch of performers, so I felt that all I could do is try to offer them the lowest price possible. I like them and wanted to be genuinely helpful.
I talked to the point person feeling like I was not very useful and probably not very valuable and probably would have to charge too much for them to hire me. A few minutes in to the conversation, I started to envision what the gig would actually be. As i dug in more to how they were planning it, what the experience for the audience would be, etc…
- my imposter syndrome disappeared
- my understanding of what i could do for them went up
- my irreplaceablitly went thru the roof
- the amount of money i quoted them was multiplied by 12
- they got something insanely awesome and it dug them out of a hole they didn’t even know they were in
This imagining process takes time, it takes energy, and it gets stronger with experience. My best advice for quick pricing is to imagine the gig and give a price based on that. This is what I mean. We wanna listen and really hear what’s being set up so that we can do our best. We can imagine together with our potential customers so that they get something amazing and are excited to pay for it.
Once we listen, we can often see how much we know that the prospect doesn’t know. They have a very differnt experience in life than we do.
Take Action:
Think about one gig from your past that was not fulfilling. Write down three questions that you could have asked to help you imagine the gig beforehand.
If you have a gig on the line right now, what’s a smart question you could ask right now of that potential client that would help you understand their situation?