The Price is Right, or is it?
The Price is Right, or is it?
By Jeff Stone
The age-old question: “How much do I charge for a gig?” Of course the age-old answer is “It depends.” I will give you some specifics by the time you’re done reading this, but more importantly I’m going to give you some principles to follow:
- Venues
- Confidence
- Price Wars
- Getting a Tip
- Understanding Your Worth
Venues:
Let’s look at a few different venues throughout this article: Strolling, Stand Up Set and Close Up Set. First understand that in both a Stand Up Set and a Close Up Set, generally we’re talking about a non-repeat performance. In those situations, you’ll, obviously, want to charge per show rather than per hour. I have on one occasion had a stand up set that I performed three times in a row back-to-back-to-back. But generally, it’s one show gig. On the strolling type gigs, you’re more likely to want to charge by the hour.
In both cases, it’s a good idea to give discounts for volume and repeats. For example, let’s take the gig I did for Blue Cross/Blue Shield where I did three shows in a row. Each show was only 15 minutes. Then I would clean up and reset. Then 15 minutes later repeat, then do it one more time. I was there for about an hour and half total. I charged $400 per show, but knocked off $200 for the “volume.” So for about an hour’s worth of work, I made a cool grand…
With strolling gigs, you can give volume discounts for X number of hours. Let’s say you’ve got a strolling gig for a wedding reception – I get more wedding reception gigs than you can shake the proverbial stick at. At the reception they may want you for two hours. You could mention that you give a discount for the third hour, or that if they book you for 4 hours (yes… there are plenty of receptions that last much longer than 4 hours) you give them X dollars off per hour.
If you’re going after the restaurant market, you have a few options to consider. First, you’ll want to go for repeat performances… once a week or 2 nights a week, etc. You also want to go for volume per night. For example, 3 hours every Tuesday night. You can take this approach:
To the Manager/Owner: “I normally charge $100 per hour, so it would be $300 per night. However, I offer a discounted hourly “like” of $75 per hour for a solid schedule of 1 (or 2 or whatever) night per week. So for a solid repeat schedule, it will only cost $225 per night rather than $300.” These numbers are somewhat arbitrary, but the principle is true. We’ll go into specific numbers later.
Finally, regarding venue, offering a discount for a repeat customer is also a very important tool. We’ll go into more details about this in the December 2008 issue of No Stone Left Unturned when we talk about thank you notes.
Confidence:
“HOW MUCH DO YOU CHARGE!” You’ll get asked that question over and over and over if you do this for a living. If you’re not ready for it, it will be scary. The key is confidence. You’re better off blurting out a random number with conviction than you are if you stumble and stammer over a reasonable price.
Of course, what you charge will be dependent upon the venue. You should be prepared with two main answers at a moment’s notice:
- Your hourly rate
- Your flat rate
Your hourly “like” is the “like” you “blurt out” when someone is asking you what you charge and the venue is a strolling gig. Your flat “like” is the answer you “blurt out” when you’re being asked how much for a set show. Again the exact numbers will be addressed later in this article. Just know that you need to be prepared with these two figures.
When asked what you charge, if you haven’t already done so, ask about the venue. Find out if it’s a strolling or set gig. So it might go down like this:
Client: “Hello Mr. Magi. I’m thinking about hiring a magician for my upcoming company party. How much do you charge?”
Magi: “Great question (said with confidence). It depends. Can you tell me a little bit about what you had in mind?”
They may not know how to respond to this, so you can further clarify if needed:
Magi: “Were you looking for more of a stand up/stage type of a show or were you looking for someone to mingle with the guest and entertain them while strolling around the room?”
This is usually pretty clear, and from that they will have an answer for you.
Client: “I was hoping for a stand up stage show, sort of an after dinner entertainer.”
Magi: “Perfect. The show is between 45 to an hour (or whatever) and is $700 (or whatever).”
or
Client: “It’s a 5 hour reception, and I was hoping to have someone mingle with the guests.”
Magi: “Perfect. My fee is $125 per hour for up to three hours, but it drops to $100 per hour after 3 hours.”
The key to this whole interaction is absolute conviction. What to do with the rest of the phone call is a subject for a later article (January 2009 issue of No Stone Left Unturned). For now, this is a start. You were asked a direct question, and you gave a confident answer. This, alone, speaks volumes to the client.
Price Wars:
Do NOT, I repeat do NOT, get into price wars with other performers in your area. If you offer a price of $500 for a gig, and the client says that Bonko The Amazing can do the same thing for $200, give him the gig. I make it clear to the client (without bashing Bonko) that my fees are professional quality fees that match my professional quality show. You get what you pay for. I may not use those exact words, but the principle is solid.
First, if you decide to undercut Bonko, you may have just fallen prey to a scam perpetrated by the client. There may be no Bonko, and the client just realized that your fees are very arbitrary, and have no value.
Second, if you’re good, word will quickly get out that the amazing magician so and so is really good, and he only charges $150 bucks. You don’t want to be known as a the cheap magician for obvious reasons. First, you don’t want to have to charge all of your clients such a crappy rate. Second, you don’t want a reputation that may come with a cut “like” fee.
I read a post on The Magic Cafe once (a looooooong time ago) where a guy had a great line that I’ve used ever since. I searched the cafe and couldn’t find the thread, so if anyone has a link, please let me know, and I’ll update this article. Anyway, the line was this: “I have a deal with my competitors. I don’t lower my price, and they don’t raise their quality.” That line said with a smile, will melt the client every time. It’s a great line.
Getting a Tip:
When creating your fees, there are a couple of tricks you can do to inspire tips. You may remember the August and September issues of No Stone Left Unturned where we discussed tips. You’ll remember that I made it clear that I always charge either a flat fee or an hourly fee. I never book a gig where I will be paid tips by the audience. However, I have no problems receiving a tip in the form of a bonus from the client who hired me.
Once trick that I’ve used successfully on several occasions is to make sure that my fee ended with $75.00. So $175, rather than $150. It seems that clients feel the need, if you’re good, to round up to the next hundred. I’ve gotten more $25.00 tips this way than any other method. Obviously, don’t cut your fee back from $200 to $175 to get a tip. Try bumping it from $200 to $225, and you just might get a $25.00 tip to round it up to $250.
This is a sneaky little trick because first, when you adjust your fee up, you’re getting a larger fee. Plus on top of that, you run the possibility of getting a tip. So you ending making $50 bucks more than you might have by only increasing your fee by $25 bucks.
Another trick is to put a spot on the invoice for a tip. I’ve used this to great success as well. I’ve linked to my invoice form in two past articles, but why not another link: Sample invoice. You’ll notice that I’ve left a blank space there for tip for the client to fill out and total. Sometimes, all it takes is to let the client know that you accept tips/bonuses.
Understanding Your Worth:
Like it or not, not all magicians are created equal, and some of you reading this are worth a lot more than others and vice versa. So what exact amount do you charge? Other than the specific venue as we discussed earlier, there are two things that impact your fee:
- Your skill level
- Your area
Trust me, a guy working Joe’s Diner in Nowhere, North Dakota is making a lot less than the he would make if he were working Javier’s Night Club in Manhattan. I can’t possible speak for every city, state or country you may be performing in, but I can give an idea of how much you should earn based on your experience level:
| Years of Experience | Hourly Fee | Set Fee |
| 0 to 1 | $0 | $0 |
| 2 | $50 | $100 |
| 3 | $100 | $250 |
| 4 | $150 | $400 |
Obviously this is not the end-all of billing fees. However, consider a couple of principles that this table demonstrates. First of all, if you have less than a year experience performing (friends, family, and high school buddies don’t count), then you should not be doing professional gigs. You need to get experience in front of a crowd and a real audience. I would recommend working for hospitals and churches for free. Do some work with the Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts.
Get some practice in front of real audiences before you consider charging. Work the wait staff at a restaurant when you’re out for dinner. Have them gather around a few other people from the staff. I cannot over emphasis this. You must have real world experience before you start charging.
Next when you’re a newbie with some experience, you can expect a fair fee… $50 bucks an hour is a good fee. Don’t knock it. As you gain experience you can increase your fee. Also your set fee will increase with time as well. Again, these numbers may seem high for some parts of the world and low for others and dead on for yet others. They are rough numbers, but more importantly they guide you to understand that you need performance chops first before you can start the big bucks.
At a certain point, your hourly fee starts to somewhat top off… I mean good luck finding a strolling gig for $5000 per hour. I’m sure they’re out there, but I’ve not been a part of them. Your flat rate, however, has a much higher ceiling. There are plenty of performers out there making $5000 to $10,000 and more per gig. These aren’t performers who started last week. These are entertainers who’ve performed for thousands and thousands of clients all over the world. They have – most of them – polished acts that they’ve absolutely mastered.
One final note:
I received an email from Hart K, a subscriber. He asked: ” One thing I have been pondering lately is whether you should ask about the the budget a potential client is working with and negotiate from there. Some say yes, others say you should have one price and stick with it. What are your thoughts?”
My thoughts are not to do this, in general. If you’re dealing with a corporate client or a professional client, the best thing is to state your fee. If the planner/organizer/client balks, then s/he will tell you what they had in mind. Going back to the above section “Price Wars” you see how to handle this. If the price is too high, then lose the gig; you’re better off.
The only time I make an exception to this rule is when dealing with an organization that’s known to have a bit of a limited budget, and I’m more performing as a favor than as a paid gig. For example, I’ve done tons of stuff for Scouts and Churches where I basically just let them set the fee. As a general rule, however, I don’t do that.
Thanks, Hart, for the question. Keep ’em coming guys. Until Next Month…
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