We Need an Accurate Estimate

Last week, I received a call from an "old client" but it wasn't the "old client", my contact left about a couple years ago and there's a new person, Brenda. Brenda called to check if I was still available "to do some quick photos." I didn't argue and said yes, so she sent me an email asking for an "accurate estimate of the cost" with some description of the work.

The dictionary definition of an estimate is:

to form an approximate judgment or opinion regarding the worth, amount, size, weight, etc., of

The important words are:

• Judgment
• Opinion
• Approximate

But that's not what Brenda wanted. Brenda wanted a quote with a fixed price and wanted me to stick to that fixed price even when they would change the specifications and what the job entitled.

I have no problem being on fixed price, I have done it for years and now I am putting a different package where customers will be buying a license per photograph as a fixed price per photograph + expenses. One photograph: $199, two photographs: $398... and then there's the volume discount.

"Do I leave money on the table?" (I hate that expression.) Maybe yes, maybe no. Do I make a profit at this level? That depends. If the customer buys only one photograph, I usually do not make a profit. But it's unusual that a customer buys only one photograph.

Quoting fixed price has resulted in me getting some clients that would have not become a client. People like to know their costs. Would you buy shoes or clothes without knowing the final price?