A few weeks ago a longtime client let me know a project was coming my way. Every few years I’ve done an update for an end client’s benefits package video near the end of the year so I thought this was more of the same. I was at another studio when they told me the rate so I didn’t have time to look up what I had charged in the past and the number looked fine.
Last Friday I got the script and they increased the rate because they needed it done by EOD Monday. The script was attached to the email but since I was (yet again) not home and in the middle of a session with another client, I didn’t look at the script, told them the rate was fine, and they would have it on time.
Over the weekend I finally had time to look at the script. Normally the redoes are three pages long. This one was 16. Hmm.
Turns out it’s an entirely new benefits video for a different end client.
Oops.
I emailed my client and apologized for confusing end clients and giving them a quote before I saw the script. I told them my rate for a project of this length.
In good faith I started recording the project on Monday morning, uploaded the first third, and let them know I did so. The client wrote back that they didn’t have the budget to accommodate my actual rate.
I had a decision to make. Do I:
A) Bail on the gig
B) Try to squeeze them for more since they need it asap, or
C) Do the right thing by finishing the project using the agreed-upon rate even though it is about half what I would normally charge?
TIP OF THE WEEK
I went with C) Do The Right Thing.
It’s not the client’s fault I assumed it was for the same end client I have recorded for in the past. It’s not the client’s fault I approved their quote before I looked at the script. I had to eat it. So what do I have now? An eternally grateful client! It’s all about meaningful relationships, you know.
BTW I will invoice them the full rate minus a discount to get the invoice to the amount they budgeted for. That way they will know the value of the work and they can budget appropriately for next time.
NEWS AND NOTES
Johnny Heller’s New England Audiobook Retreat is only two weeks away! I will be leading workshops on marketing and e-learning so it’s more than just an audiobook-pallooza. And there may be ‘smores. Click here to sign up!
HAPPY HAPPYS
Happy Clean Your Virtual Desk Day and Chocolate Cupcake Day!
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
From my village to yours; this is Tom Dheere, GKN News…
Tom Dheere is a 20-year veteran of the voice over industry who has narrated thousands of projects for clients in over a dozen countries. He is also a coach at Edge Studio, voiceover business consultant known as the Voice Over Strategist, and is currently producing the comic book “Agent 1.22”.
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