Discount on Fish

In my experience the guys that say that usually bring you nothing. (just my experience) I may give a guy that is a longtime customer some driftwood for a fish or something like that as an upgrade on bringing more than 3 fish. Can most guys really come up with a deposit on 13 fish?
I charge $350 for panfish which is 4,500, 50% deposit on that, wow!
Its like the guy who says "give me a deal and I've got friends and clubs that will send you all the work you can do" What you get after the deal is "crickets".

 

As Bryan said, most of these types are all talk, BUT.... I also learned many years ago to NEVER, ever ASSUME what your potential customer's budget is! NEVER! Once you land a few of these jobs that actually DO pan out you'll understand why!

What I do is think about the time I'll save by not having to deal with MORE customers. And the time I'll save by batching. Also, it's a PERFECT opportunity to do something really cool - diorama's and $uch!!! Think about the time you'll save and throw a % discount you can still be happy with and write up a quick quote and you may be handsomely rewarded! (Don't cut yourself short though - the guys that bite can afford it!) I haven't had many, but a few customers through the years that have plopped down $2500+ deposit without batting an eyelash!

 

Marty has a good point, Occasionally they "bite". I'm just saying that most don't. A lot of the "tire kickers" are all talk. If the call starts with "how much do you charge" they seem to end with, "I'll get back to you"! Ya can't throw the baby out with the bathwater. I would cut the guy a break when he's standing in front of you with the fish. If he's a good customer, then a break is probably in order.
As Marty said batching is important and I do that as much as possible. I don't really see that as a huge factor when painting individual scales 2 or 3x each though.
As a side note What you charge is up to you, not the area you live in. A lions share of my clients are nowhere near me, so I ship. (some may be near you though )
It doesn't really matter what anyone thinks but you and your client. I don't get advice from my competitors. 8)

 

No I don't do it unless he's one heck of a client that brought me a ton of work plus clients. That's the only time I give one and the most I give is 10%. Other than
that I say to other clients it still takes me the same time to mount one as to twenty of them and the costs are the same. So I ask what do you want me to eliminate on their fish for the discount? Most just want a cheap price for that and don't come any way cause I'm still to high and ps I don't need those for clients!

 

I never do extra work for less money...., doesn't seem to be a good business plan. I will sometimes give breaks to good customers that have proven to be just that, but it is things such as throw in driftwood for free or add frills to the mount such as extra habitat materials to the finished mount, if I have them laying around that is. If you give breaks up front to new customers, they will expect it and if they send anyone else your way then they will expect it. Did I mention that no one that asks for a discount gets one.

 

X2

 

Also X2

 

If you are doing a 13" perch for $130 and they still want a discount I would tell them to go elsewhere. Dont send them around the corner, they really won't like my prices lol. Again, maybe you should. That way they will really appreciate your prices.

 

That's the highest # I would (and have) thrown at them too - no less or you'll be regretting it! And just between us girls (for me), all things being equal I actually save time and make more money at that 10% discount vs. processing 12 other customers at full price...

 

Yup, i figured that was who you were talking about.

 

This JUST happened to me last night. Dude wrote me, said he was thinking of getting about six bass done. Said he liked my work. I just raised my prices by $2 per inch this year so I told him that I'd give him my last yrs price (I didn't tell him I'd just raised my prices) Just told him I'd give him the discount. As I expected once he saw the price he backed down. Two of his fish were 11 lbs and 12 lbs with bigger bellies. He said that the problem with repros are the tails are usually too small. So I sent him some pics of several choices and he picked them apart pretty good, tail too small, belly didn't look right....so oh well. I think the real problem is the price. I think it worked out to about $1700. I didn't have too much hope to begin with but I agree with Marty, I never assume my client doesn't have the money.