Once, during a legal squabble, my lawyer told me that the legal definition of "fair price" is "the price a motivated buyer is willing to pay to a motivated seller" (or something like that, it was a long time ago).
This stuck with me (obviously). If you think about it and apply it to your own business, it has pretty far-reaching ramifications. Assuming you really want to do the work, and assuming customers really want to have the work done, why do so many back down when a price is quoted?
My own take on this is that they have their own mental picture of what is involved in restoring a photo (I imagine they picture something along the lines of a magic photocopier), and are shocked to learn that actual human labor is involved. How else could you explain that they'd gladly pay someone more to dig a ditch than to restore Grandma Minnie's wedding portrait?
The only other option is they found someone cheaper, and since they rarely contact me to explain why they changed their mind, I prefer my first explanation.
So, if customers go elsewhere, or simply don't get the work done at all, are you charging a fair price?
This stuck with me (obviously). If you think about it and apply it to your own business, it has pretty far-reaching ramifications. Assuming you really want to do the work, and assuming customers really want to have the work done, why do so many back down when a price is quoted?
My own take on this is that they have their own mental picture of what is involved in restoring a photo (I imagine they picture something along the lines of a magic photocopier), and are shocked to learn that actual human labor is involved. How else could you explain that they'd gladly pay someone more to dig a ditch than to restore Grandma Minnie's wedding portrait?
The only other option is they found someone cheaper, and since they rarely contact me to explain why they changed their mind, I prefer my first explanation.
So, if customers go elsewhere, or simply don't get the work done at all, are you charging a fair price?
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