Jeff Gitomer says in his little red book you shouldn't ask this question "Are you the decision-maker?" because they could lie.

Good point.

But Grant Cardone is slinging more sales knowledge than Jeff these days, and I'm a fan of Uncle G, so ask away.

Or take Jeff's approach: ask how will the decision process work.

I wonder how Zig Ziglar would handle this question? I think I need to read some more Zig... you should too while you're at it.

Jake, I'm not in sales! I'm just a videographer/cinematographer/editor/grip/guy with a Movie Pass subscription.

First of all... Not true - if you want with your whole being to make films and tell visual stories of hope or some kernel of redeeming value, you will sell people on your vision, on funding your vision, on showing up on time, on delivering when they're dog-tired at 5 am, and so on so forth. You are in sales because everybody is in sales! That's Zig for you.

Secondly, Movie Pass will be like Napster or Pets.com soon enough.

2. Ask if they're the head-honcho for x-dollar projects

Want another classic "I-biffed-it" story?

This one's more recent. Being in Vegas, there is no shortage of (live) AV work, so I decided I'd flex my sales skills I'm acquiring every day and bid on a live gig in Tampa.

After all, whose grandparents don't live at least part time in Florida, AZ, or Las Vegas? I wanted an excuse to go visit Opa and Oma.

I had the right decision-maker. Check.

I didn't know how much to quote for this job. I had zero idea. I'm still learning how to pitch LIVE video jobs (we're talking a switcher, shader, camera ops, cabling, and so much more) as of this writing, and so I erroneously made my buddy waste precious mental energy and time coming up with a ballpark figure with me.

It turns out this prospect was fielding bids for a live video crew (with streaming, mind you) to work the weekend gig for about $1,500 all-in.

We're talking gear, manpower, and more across 2 days - live streaming by the way.

My jaw dropped. It was just so... what Craigslist producers say (look it up sometime on YouTube; it's full of colorful language, but its truth can't be overstated despite their best attempts).

But, it wasn't his fault he was looking to pay a penny or two on the dollar.

Nope, it was MY FAULT.

I should have qualified his project from the get-go, not waste an hour or two of my buddy's mental energy, or waste my time (or his) for that matter. It was 100% my fault. I knew better and didn't execute.

But Jake, how do you qualify the price if you don't know what to charge?

I pride myself on lickety-split quotes; I have a whole tool for that express purpose (see below - the RED font), but it's only for pre-recorded live action/animation, even with a crew, per diem, etc.

Live video production? 'Tis a whole 'nother story; I'm learning. I am, however, an ex-math teacher, and you don't have to be one to understand a floor or a minimum: quote a minimum for one factor you do know.

Like manpower.

What I SHOULD HAVE DONE is qualify with a floor pricing:

Uncle Bob, are you the guy behind $5,000+ projects?

We needed 5 people on the gig. Excluding flight days, we would have needed, just for manpower (not gear), approx. $5,000 for 5 quality video techies across 2 days of all-day broadcasting.

Could it have been $6,000 just for manpower? Yeah, but the point is to give a floor price, a lower bound, a minimum for just one facet of the production - and then mention it's simply for manpower. Gear, flights, hotels, etc. will be tacked on later; you can even assure the prospect right now you want to be respectful of everyone's time. For example,

Uncle Bob, I want to be respectful of everyone's time; are you the guy behind $5,000+ projects?

Shoot, he might have gear and just need quality people, so err on that side of the equation and give a floor price that covers manpower and adds at least 10% profit just on wrangling people, if not more.

If he's fielding bids for the comically low $1,500, he'll lose his marbles here.

The point is to save both parties time. Get them qualified quickly and if they're not qualified, move along; they're not the droids you're looking for.

Don't send this bitmoji, as tempted as you might be. I did this ONCE and the prospect let me know I was unprofessional. She was right, but she'll also remember my name from here on out. But don't follow my example with an ill-timed bitmoji; it is unprofessional, and we're called to serve others, not laugh in their faces when they want to undercut a business with a 90% discount.

When I have my head on straight, I typically give them a range. The guys at HubSpot advise against this. They think you should say a firm price point AND what that firm price point includes.

In our line of work, that could look like this:

$2,000

1 camera

1 sound operator

3-hour shoot

b-roll

two revisions

music that is free to use in commercial projects

a ham sammich

cloud storage

a thumb drive with your completed video

no actors

no voiceover

no locations (other than yours)

no scripting (your team handles the script)

no visual fx (for example, no green-screening)

some typography

5 edited still photos of your new location

bonus: 30 keywords your competition isn't leveraging - .pdf bonus

50% payment to book our pre-production meeting and the remaining 50% is due with your final deliverable

Or if it's animated project, it could look like this:

$2,000

no voiceover

Developer is not developing the script but will assist in crafting the language

Buyer will issue "storyboards" which can be dictated (see the attachment example) or roughly drawn with simple (even über simple) illustrations

two revisions (1st, 2nd, and final draft)

three-week turnaround if Buyer stays in the communication loop from the time of signing and consideration

use of music that is licensed in perpetuity from our library - no copyright infringements, ever

HD video playable anywhere, online, externally, or internally - even broadcast mediums

Indefinite access to web-ready and high-quality video files - hosted in the cloud

no DVDs, Blu-Rays, or physical media

16:9 widescreen

customer service

→ available every day but Saturday & Tuesday, 8a - 5p PST

→ Office line (call/text): 702-JakeTFG

Back on track.

I combine sections 1. and 2. into one question:

Are you the one who leads $3,000 - $5,000 projects like this or are there others you'd like to get involved too?

You can phrase it multiple ways, but scope out their personality first before you call them:

the head honcho

the big kahuna

the top dawg

the guy in charge

el capitan

Instead of "leads $3,000 projects" you can say:

oversees video projects

leads video projects

is in charge of videos

runs these kinds of projects

manages video projects

any variation of this with a dollar amount or range

The sky is the limit. Vary it up, be tactful, and ask the bloomin' question.