When To Quote Price? How Much To Charge?
Business By coolmom Updated 16 Oct 2006 , 9:18pm by divaofcakes
Okay, I know this is an all too common question around here, but I still need to ask... I sent an e-mail out to a lot of my friends/acquaintances asking them to pass my website along to anyone who they thought might be in the market for a cake. From this e-mail, I have had one response so far. This lady said that her son saw a Thomas the Train cake in the grocery store and decided that he wants a Thomas cake too. She asked me to e-mail her pictures of Thomas cakes to choose from. I did, and she chose the 3-D Thomas cake that I had made for my son last year. She told me that she will pick the cake up on Friday. At this point she still hasn't asked how much the cake will cost. I know that I made a mistake here ...I should have quoted her a price already, but when? I know that she was looking in the grocery store before she asked me to make the cake, so is she expecting grocery store pricing? Well, this is long enough already, so what do you think? How should I tell her the price for the cake, and how much should I tell her that this cake costs. Thanks for reading my novel!
I would simply call the customer and bring it to her attention that price was never discussed and that you charge $xx for that particular cake. I'm sure she wasn't expecting it for free. She'll be glad you called instead of waiting till she picked it up!
Think the best thing is to respond to request with the confirmation of size, flavors, etc. and price. That sounds like a reasonable process. Then you have real time to plan and think about the price you should charge!
Becky
Since Thomas is a licensed character, you have to call it something else. Your train cake would depend on how long it takes you and how big, and all the other factors. Just a guess, but a decorated train would probably start at about $40.
And, personally, I would make and photogragh a model that does not include those difficult to get colors like black and red. Maybe brown and yellow?
Good call! I'm still trying to go from bake for my kids and family mode to the "sell-what-I-bake" mode. I hadn't even thought of the license issue with this even though I have read many posts on the topic. This boy is just really into trains, I don't think he'll care if it's Thomas or not.
Just for future reference, I always start with asking clients what their budget is for their cake. I tell them that this will help me decide which pictures/ideas to present to them. Some people are a little nervous about this but most everyone is okay with it.
asking what their budget is works like a charm....even after they've selected a design sometimes........you can tweak it, make it smaller, less decorations, etc. to fit their budget but still have it look similar. I think that cake could fetch anywhere from 40-50 dollars!
I just delivered a 3-D Thomas cake this weekend and charged $40. It was for a friend so I gave her the "girlfriend discount."
I love the idea of asking for a budget up front. You will find out in advance if they can afford you and save a lot of time and hassle.
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