My Over Priced Quote... Not

[stardust 0]

I had a call yesterday from a customer who asked for the following -

 

A 2 hour Disco on Thursday 11th December between 8pm - 10pm

For a Charity organisation in a village hall.

 

I told her i was available, she got excited and started to give me directions and discussing setup times etc,

She then asked how much....

 

I thought, well it's only 2 hours, about 5 miles away, on a thursday night so a bit of extra cash, so i told her i would charge £115.

 

She actually sounded shocked! made up some excuse about how she would have to get this cleared and would ring me back in 10 minutes, and that was that i havent heard from her!!

 

Is it me or is that quite a cheap rate ?

I know it's trivial and business etc but i was actually shocked that she was shocked!!

[Andy Westcott 0]

Sounds reasonable to me, but you have to bear in mind that these people are looking to raise money from such events, and therefore your fee would probably have mopped up most of the potential profit.

 

I expect she was hoping you'd quote about £40 or so - would you still have made a few pounds had you performed for that fee? I expect you would have, and being a Thursday you probably wouldn't have been missing out on a better paid gig.

 

The way I look at this is any money is better than sitting at home not earning - unless you need a rest or are earning enough for it not to matter.

 

You must decide... smile icon

[Dukesy 0]

Andy is right. All down to the end decision of the service at the end of the day. smile icon

 

[dh140770 0]

All down to individual. I would have charged circa £70 as a charity as goodwill, just to cover costs of going out.

[deejaymitch 0]

2 points to consider here, both of which I think are covered elsewhere on these forums.

 

Length of booking - 2 hours/3 hours/4 hours it doesn't matter. I charge by the night, not by the hour. Whether I work 8-10 or 7-11 I have given up a night so the relatively short duration is irrelevant when pricing.

 

Charity - Depending on the cause in question I might work at a discount or even free. This comes down to personal choice though.

[Norfolk DJ 0]

 

You could and might get 100 opinions on this one and none of them will be wrong!

 

Personally given the information provided and not knowing the charitable cause I would have charged £95, as it sounds better being in double figures. I would not go out for a nominal sum.

[skydj 0]

I had a call yesterday from a customer who asked for the following -

 

A 2 hour Disco on Thursday 11th December between 8pm - 10pm

For a Charity organisation in a village hall.

 

I told her i was available, she got excited and started to give me directions and discussing setup times etc,

She then asked how much....

 

I thought, well it's only 2 hours, about 5 miles away, on a thursday night so a bit of extra cash, so i told her i would charge £115.

 

She actually sounded shocked! made up some excuse about how she would have to get this cleared and would ring me back in 10 minutes, and that was that i havent heard from her!!

 

Is it me or is that quite a cheap rate ?

I know it's trivial and business etc but i was actually shocked that she was shocked!!

 

 

 

Na, Not cheap at all (especially for the area as well), I normally do a 2 hour kids party for £120 - £160 depending on the finish time (London Rates)

 

At the end of the day I look at it its not just for 2 hours, rig in to the car unload etc etc

 

I would consider that as prices good

[Kingy 0]

You won't please everyone everytime.

 

i would have explained all the points above, offered a longer night,pointing out two hours is not very long and then quoted my minimum fee. At which point I would have heard the paramedics trying to re-start her heart.....

 

Always remember...CHARITY begains at HOME. YOU are, or at least should be, a profitable BUSINESS and December is the wrong month to expect feebees!

Edited November 16, 2008 by Kingy

[stoke53 0]

I used to work for a chartity shop delivering and collecting bags and you would be amazed where the money goes. They had area managers and regional managers on unbeliebale salaries so made me think twice about charities, not all the money raised goes to where it should.

 

alan

[stardust 0]

Interesting feedback...

I charge £130 for a 2 hour kids disco which fills up 4 hours of my time most weekend daytimes so I think £115 for a weekday evening is very reasonable.

 

I think it boils down to the charity... If it was a charity close to my heart or if I was doing it for a friend’s charity then I would probably do it for free or maybe £20

 

I could definitely do with the extra cash and in hindsight maybe I should have quoted her a bit less, however call me lazy but I am not going to spend 4 hours (travel, setting up etc) doing a Disco for less than £100

(If i was in my 20's and didn't have kids and had all the time in the world.... well that's a different story)

 

Fair enough in these day’s of Credit Crunch and recession, earning extra cash is important but with the thousands of pounds I have invested into my equipment and time I have spent perfecting my performance I am not yet at that position of offering cut price mid week gigs for £50...

 

Maybe in January, but not yet :scared:

 

[mikeee 0]

And no one came up with the business answer :)

 

You charge full price, because to them it's tax deductable, then at the end of the evening you present them with a cheque to the charity which is tax deductable to you, and if you sign that little slip for them they can claim the tax from the Inland revenue.

 

So it looks vaguely like this:

 

You charge £450.00

 

You give them £400.00 and because of expenses pay no tax.

 

They right it off against the £450.00, so they are down £50.00, but you have signed that little slip of paper for the IR, which at 20% of £400.00 gives them (in affect) £80.00 extra.

 

So you have made £50.00 and they have made £30.00, sounds like a win win situation.

 

I do need to point out, this is how I believe it works, you would need to check with a charity or an accountant.

[Dukesy 0]

[mikeee 0]

 

Unlike you to be confused :bouncy:

 

[Andy Westcott 0]

Doesn't smell right to me, but the idea's there. smile icon

[YourBigEvent 0]

I was actually waiting for Mikees answer.

 

I look at it like this...

 

I'll do the disco for £100

You pay me £100 at the end of the night.

I then write a cheque out to you for £80 and present it to you (in front of the local rags photographer and get the free publicity in the newspaper), and sign the Gift Aid certificate, so they 'claim' back the 23% (or whatever it is)

 

I have worked for £20

They have been presented with a cheque for £80

They also claim back the 23% of my cheque amount (£18)

 

In the end you have £20, they have £18 'extra'

 

Simple

 

But what do I know ?

[otronics 0]

The way I look at this is any money is better than sitting at home not earning - unless you need a rest or are earning enough for it not to matter.

 

Exactly.

 

I would have charged a bit less for the event - being a charity function but £115 is not bad.