I did a private party last night for a wealthy woman in the Omaha region. She owns a ranch with really large metal barns (the $250,000 type) and she sponsors and puts on a Halloween party for friends, church members and family. She catered the event and paid her handyman to build a haunted house that rivals any I have ever seen, anywhere!
I charged $1695 to do the show. Asked for a deposit of $600, which she deposited in my account for me, and - something interesting took place...
I video every show with the purpose of selling the videos to the people in the show, or anyone else who wants to buy a copy. As I came to the 'end of show pitch', I realized (1) I was getting paid by an individual at her private party and I thought to myself 'it's rude to sell something to her friends and family' as well as I knew they all knew each other and sharing, pirating or buying one copy was all the group needed, as well as I knew the client's own family was on stage - it just felt wrong to charge them for DVDs, so I announced, "I will set business cards out and I will post the video on my private Vimeo site. If you email me, I will send you the private URL to see the show." I also added that "if anyone feels embarrassed by the video and you ask me to remove it, I will."
I figured, what a great way to attract more business from this group and - an unexpected result also happened; the client tipped me $405.00. Normally I sell the DVDs for $20 each at the show ($32 on my web site) and I rarely sell 20 DVDs following a show, so the tip more than compensated for any DVDs I might have sold.
It was a rare occurrence, the timing was right. I don't think I will do this all the time, but it certainly worked well this time!
I think I will put a note on the free DVD when I put it on-line stating the Video will only remain up for 1 month, and if they want a copy forever, they can buy a copy from my web site - but the "free on my Vimeo channel" idea is something to discuss.
If I put it on my web site and there is where they go to find it, it will also drive traffic to my web site. It seems to be a win/win in every way!
Please leave comments here for others to read. Thank you.
