Friends and Discounts

A couple of days ago, I had a discussion with John A. about giving discounts to friends and relatives. It turns out that we both had to deal with giving discounts to friends in the last month. The interesting part was that we came to very similar conclusions in different ways.

The question is you have a friend that knows that you are a photographer, and she wants you to do them portraits, cover a wedding… Do you give her a discount on your photo services? What about a discount on the prints? Is 25% off good enough? Or do I need to give a 33% discount or even a 50% discount?

The problem that I have with giving discounts from my full regular rate is that:

1. She will tell their friends about my ''cheaper'' rate. I know: “this is only for you and you are not supposed to tell anybody else…” It doesn't work.
2. She still feel that they have been overcharged, and that I should have given them even more of a discount.

So last week, I took photos of Walter for free and Danyelle was very pleased with the photos. She will do her own prints.

On the other hand, John A. was asked to provide a full wedding coverage for a friend. It was the best friend of his friend, so he decided, no discount and charge the full price, but at the end he gave a beautifully mounted 11" by 14" photo of the bride kissing the groom as a present. They were excited and very happy with the free print. His friend wasn't too happy that he didn't give a discount, but that became OK when he saw the print.

Both of these occurrences summarize my own position. I have seen too many times, people grumbling behind one's back of how they got screwed by… they got charged… he made a killing on me… Family relatives are even worth, especially cousins, uncles, aunts…