I’ve been thinking about this subject a lot lately. Not necessarily getting a good deal on airfare or eating 12 plates of food at a $50 buffet. More along the lines of getting what you’re worth.
As a marketer, this is something I have to deal with. I get a lot of “What do you recommend?” or “What do you think of this commercial we did?” or “Should I advertise here?” questions. I answer them with the disclaimer that “you’re getting the demo version of my opinion, purchase the full version for more”. My love don’t cost a thing but my brains do, ya dig? I don’t do that to be stingy – I do it because I know my time and expertise are valuable and if a person is trying to get them for free, then they aren’t serious.
We deal with this at the agency quite a bit. Sometimes it’s hard to charge a long-time client extra for work that we do. We want to be the nice guys and understand that times are hard right now. But we have to remember that we providing a service, a great one at that, and there is nothing wrong with getting paid to do so.
Don’t worry about scaring off potential customers or employers. The ones that recognize your worth are going to be more than willing to pay for it. It’s a good tactic to also weed out the PITA clients…