SOUND ON SOUND

[awjoe]

Sam Inglis - 'Difficult Conversations in the Studio' - brilliant.

[The Red Bladder]

More importantly, he has an MS20 so obviously, he knows what he is doing.

"What will it cost?" is the first thing people ask, so I hit them with a very high price from the get-go and then bring it down from there 'because they are special'.

[Sam Inglis]

I hit them with a very high price from the get-go and then bring it down from there 'because they are special'.

We had a double-glazing salesman who adopted that tactic once. It was bizarre. Over the course of about half an hour he talked his own price down from about £20k to about £6k without us actually saying anything.

[Hugh Robjohns]

Yes, we've had that too, several times. The salesman from the company named after the mountain was hilarious. A well known reptilian company fitting garage roller shutters was just as bad. Neither got my business...

[Hugh Robjohns]

... so I hit them with a very high price from the get-go and then bring it down from there 'because they are special'.

Yes, I do that too. Start at the appropriate, fair (not inflated) rate, and then discount if/as necessary -- but always list the full price and discount on the invoice so that the client knows the going rate and you can charge the right price next time!

[Eddy Deegan]

I too enjoyed the video a lot :-)

With regards to high quotes, my strategy is to get some more quotes from other providers/suppliers. I'd rather go with a company that gives me a sensible quote and sticks to it rather than negotiate an initial high price down because a high quote is indicative of a party that feels it's acceptable to 'try it on' from the start and I'm not interested in that kind of relationship.

This isn't to say I'll always pick the cheapest. I go with the one that I get the best vibe from!

[ManFromGlass]

For our house reno we managed to find an old contractor who had been in the business for years. He was a goldmine for suggesting other trades and because he had given those people lots of work over the years they all returned my call when I mentioned his name. They all did a great job. Not sure how this would apply to the music bizness.

[awjoe]

The combination of experience, tact, and skillful psychology, plus Inglis humour, is what made it a winner. My favourite bit was asking the client for some references, so that if they didn't like the necessary autotuning, you could say: 'But that's how to get the sound you said you like.' It's like judo.

[Martin Walker]

Just watched Sam's podcast myself, and once again it's a prize-winning potpourri of entertaining helpfulness.

Keep up the good work Sam! :clap:


Martin