Why you shouldn’t cut your price just to land a contract
Discounting to win a job feels like progress. More often it trains the client to expect less, squeezes your crew and gear, and leaves you with work you can’t afford to do well.
Devon Race
2 min read
Every production company has done it: a big inquiry comes in, the client says another company came in lower, and you cut the number to keep the job. Sometimes it’s the right call. Most of the time it costs more than it saves.
The discount becomes the price
The price you win a client at is the price they remember. Next year they expect the same number, or less, and raising it later is much harder than holding it the first time. A one-time discount quietly becomes your rate for that client.
Something has to give
When the price drops, the show doesn’t get smaller. The cost comes out somewhere else: fewer crew on the call, older gear, a tighter schedule, less time for the project manager to get the details right. Those are exactly the things the client will notice on the day, and the show is what they’ll judge you on, not the discount.
Price-shoppers are rarely your best clients
A client who chooses you only because you were cheapest will leave the moment someone else is cheaper. The clients who book every year and refer you to others usually chose you because they trusted you to deliver. That’s the relationship worth building, and you can’t build it from a position where you’re losing money on the work.
What to do instead
When a client pushes on price, change the scope instead of the rate. Show them what a smaller package looks like, which line items are driving the number, or which pieces they could drop. That keeps your pricing intact and puts the decision in their hands.
- Offer options: a full package and a lean one, each priced at your real rates.
- Explain the difference in what they’re getting, not just the difference in price.
- Trade value for value: a lower number for a multi-event commitment, earlier payment or a longer booking window.
- Know your floor before the conversation starts, and be willing to walk away below it.
When a lower price makes sense
There are times to sharpen a price on purpose: a first job with an account that runs many events a year, a slow week when your gear would otherwise sit idle, or a show that opens a new market. The difference is that it’s a decision with a reason and a limit, not a reflex when someone says the other company was cheaper.
Common questions
- Should I match a competitor’s lower price?
- Usually not. Change the scope instead of the rate: offer a lean option at your real prices, or trade a lower number for a multi-event commitment.
- When does a discount make sense?
- When it’s a deliberate decision with a reason and a limit: an account with many events a year, idle gear in a slow week, or a show that opens a new market.
