Be the Super Hero Producers Seek

15 responses so far ↓

• 1 Bryan

  Hey Barry,

  I know you make out extremely well on your Corporate Gigs and I was wondering do you price the same for all day as you do for say a 10 min opening act? If not how do you come up with a structure…is it pro rated or a list of services with different prices or something else? Is it up to your manager or do you set the price?

• 2 admin

  Hi Bryan,

  It’s standard to have a price for up to one hour, and then a 1/2 day workshop price. That’s what we do for corporate dates. Standard for 1/2 day is anywhere from 1.5 – 3.0 times the one hour rate.

• 3 Corporate Juggler

  I’m going to start charging $200 right away!

• 4 admin

  That’s a big jump, CJ… but you go! Live the dream

• 5 Frisbee

  I find that most of the corporate gigs I do is for after dinner entertainment and also for company outings and similar functions, not so much for the corporate presentations etc and even though I try to create a certain amount of customization of material for specific clients, it does seem to me that for this type of company picnic or after dinner entertainment that there is a budget set.

  How would you go about trying to pitch additional benefits for something like this to be able to raise the bar and not get eliminated by over pitching?

• 6 admin

  My gut tells me that if you got eliminated you weren’t pitching benefits. If they put you in the ding pile then the equation of what you offered plus what you charged didn’t compute. That’s the puzzle that has to fit together seamlessly.

  Look at this as a marathon, and not as a sprint. Perfect your craft, your reputation, and your offer at the price at which you are getting work, and then build the benefits and promo to get the bigger bucks. It’s impossible to fool experienced entertainment buyers. You’re way better off approaching this market (and life, to boot) with full integrity.

  We’ll go deeper into this on the teleconference, of course, but I hope this helps explain my take on it.

  Anyone else?

• 7 Bryan

  Hey Barry,

  If you do your one hour show anywhere else (cruise ship, school show, fair or festival, etc…) do you charge the same as a corporate event.

  Is your rate set no matter what kind of venue you play or do you adjust accordingly.

  I have done a ton of the “other gigs” and seem to stay in a certain budget range, but I have only done a handful of Corporate Gigs and have gotten twice what the other gigs pay. I seem to adjust my rate for longer ranging gigs or multiple bookings, is this gonna hurt me when I go after bigger events?

  I feel my material is worth what I would ask for when doing a Corporate Event but don’t want to seem like I’m taking advantage because more money is available. Please help!!

  -Bryan

• 8 Barry

  I wish! Try getting corporate money for a school show – might be fun to hear the laughter

  Here’s the deal… you have to design a fee structure for each market. I just work in corporate these days but I have done cruises (a week on a ship pays a bit less than a one-hour corporate, but it’s a nice get away with the family), schools (these are just to help inspire kids to turn off their video games and do SOMETHING, they pay what they can), and festivals (usually a set budget that hasn’t gone up since I started in 1982).

  As I talked about in the lesson, you can’t be the cheapest option. It’s just not good business. You’ll have to find a price that makes you competitive in the market, and toss on enough benefits (you’ve got your list, right?) of using you that it makes picking you a no-brainer.

  This is definitely an important topic and one which we’ll be talking a lot more about in the membership area. Stay tuned!

• 9 Bryan

  When you quote a price does it include everything like travel and lodging, per diem etc…?

  In the corporate world how long does it usually take to get paid and do you ask for a non refundable deposit to hold the date in advance?

• 10 Barry

  Hey Bryan you’re not going to leave me anything to talk about in future lessons or in my membership site

  Industry standard is fee plus, plus. That translates to fee plus air/hotel/ground/per diem. But, soon I’ve got an angle on this that we’ll go over soon.

  And yeah, get a 50% non refundable when the contract is signed. Get the balance at the show before you put on your makeup! Or, if they are established clients you can do a Net 30 days. Be clear in your contract – it’s just as easy for them to pay you at the gig if they know it’s how you do business.

  I have a really funny story about this that I’ll try to remember to share on the teleseminar.

• 11 paulm

  I promote myself to festivals, schools, libraries, trade shows and corporate events. Every year I try to raise my fee for each of these markets, and I’ve found that corporate events are the only market with no ceiling for fees.

  The other markets plateau at around $500 ( for one show ) depending on the area of the country. Colleges pay more depending on what you do, but corporate clients just have much deeper pockets. The question is always: How deep?

  My question is: Should I just ask a potential client, “What is your budget for this?”. Or does that immediatly paint me into a financial corner. Is it smarter to say to client who is already considering me, “My base fee starts at $$$$” and negotiate from there.

• 12 Barry

  You do have to pick a price. That sounds so simple – sort of like ‘pick a card’, but it’s true. What I talked about in the lesson will give you a lot of guidelines to consider when setting your fee. Don’t take any of it very lightly. Competition, benefits, reputation, and promotional materials are all factors to consider when setting fees.

  Obviously you can charge corporate clients more than you can charge a college, but how much? That is a question I can’t answer here. As I said in the lesson, don’t be either too cheap, or the cheapest. Don’t price yourself out of the game. Provide such a package of benefits that the price seems perfectly unmatchable by any competition you might have. It isn’t just a matter of going for the big bucks… it’s important to provide excellent value to the client.

  Check around websites and see what people charge for different venues. Don’t be afraid to ask what you’re worth. And I’ll tell you one thing, it isn’t $500!

• 13 paulm

  I usually tell a corporate client that my rate starts at $1000 – $1500, depending on travel time involved. I use that number because I’ve never had a corporate client gasp and go into cardiac arrest when I say it, which is why I always suspect I should quote a higher rate.

  Here’s my next question: What effect does the regional market have on pricing? I used to live in Milwaukee, and most of my corporate business was in the Chicago area. Now I live in Boston, and I want to promote myself to the Boston/New York/East Coast market. This is why I’m interested in and willing to try any ideas in this training course.

  Cheers!

• 14 Barry

  It’s an excellent idea to dominate a local market. Many successful corporate entertainers live and work in a major market and it’s something that makes a ton of sense – even more so now days that it did in the past.

  But Paul, don’t wait for them to go into cardiac arrest. Load yourself with so many benefits that they are blown away that they can get you at all – regardless of price. Let the first question they ask is, “Are you available?”, not “How much do you cost?”. You do that by making the offer so sweet that they’ll have no choice but to bite.

  With today’s inexpensive ways of spreading a message to a targeted audience, you have the power to whisper in the ear of those who can book you most effectively. Don’t be afraid to do it.

  Happy New Year!

• 15 Niels Duinker

  Awesome lesson..and so true. A couple weeks ago I was talking with a friend on the phone. We started about the same time with performing. We have about the same annual income but I perform about half the amount of shows a year that he does. He loves performing a lot so that he does now, a lot of shows every month. I love performing too but I also love to practice and to have the time to keep working on my act so that is what I do now. We are now both doing what we choose for.
  Kind Regards,
  Niels

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