Reasons you lost a bid?

[Steve]

What are some of the reasons you heard of why you lost a bid on a job?

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number one reason...too high of a price I don't think that I have lost it to anything else but that

[Steve]

What % of bids do you feel that happens with?

I would say probably 99.9% of my bids.

I can't think of another other way that I would lose them, unless it was my presentation or lack of knowledge about something.

[Steve]

But I mean out of all the bids you give how many would you say you don't get? What kind of percentage?

I would say around 60% of my bids I did not get. I am just guessing though

Price is also my enemy. This usually stems from a lack of education in the world of business, on the importance and the work involved in my field (design and advertising). The sad part is, I so often see people who refuse my services because of price, in the market for a new Graphic Designer a very short time afterwards. By then, they are usually too embarassed to come back, but some do. I feel it is a pity that people have to learn the hard way...

In the end though, it pays off to maintain your stand, and don't try to beat out the competition by "lowballing". Unless your position is in "cheap, no-name service" (ie, this is often a great position for printers offering graphic design services), then you will lose your footing in the market if you "cheapen yourself". For a professional high-end designer, this would be losing sight of your brand...

[Steve]

You know this is a fascinating topic. It made me think of consmer goods. A little while back, these new fluorescent bulbs came out.


They are designed to last a lot longer than conventional light bulbs but cost more. They didn't take off as fast as designers thought because of the price. It seems consumers were more willing to buy cheaper and throw them away when they burned out, even if it costed them more in the long run.

If this is human nature and we can't fight it, is it better to try and work with it?

Actually my whole house has CFL bulbs in it. *Believe this or not, my power bill dropped approx $15 a month when I put those suckers in. *5 year warranty on them *They are pricey though, around $4 a bulb.

You could go back to the whole price situation as why I got those too. I picked them up to save money on our power bill

[Steve]

Troy I really think you are on to something here. I think you found a vulnerability that will allow you to exploit it.

I think you are going to be able to get many more customers this way from the larger competitors.