Current News and Past News Briefs

 

Negotiation: Tricks of the Trade

by Paul Basista, Executive Director

Nothing turns talented and successful professionals into quivering masses of insecurity more quickly than the very idea, let alone the practice, of negotiation. Even the largest artistic egos - people who otherwise can conceive and execute any number of creative solutions - often break out in a cold sweat when trying to nail down deadlines, fees, rights, credit, and work samples. Perhaps they're daunted by quantifying their self-worth to a potential buyer or they perceive themselves as lacking bargaining skills.

But those skills can be learned. Negotiation is really an art grounded in science. Artists do it every day, although they take it so much for granted they're often unaware they're doing it. Think about the last time you challenged a phone company customer service representative over a bill. Whether you applied sugar or vinegar, you evaluated the person you were dealing with and chose a course of action. Some methods work better than others, but it is the desired result that counts.

Some pros are quite good at it. They get those plum assignments with fees bigger than other artists earn in six months. While some certainly have a natural aptitude for bargaining, others have developed those skills the hard way - through practice, practice, and more practice.

"A great trick is to role play," says illustrator representative Vicki Morgan. "Then you get feedback about how you're coming across, and the person you're practicing with might come up with an idea you might not have thought of." However, not everyone has someone like Vicki Morgan working for them. As an artist's representative, negotiating deals is what Morgan does full time. "I can bob and weave and think quickly on my feet," she says. "I do this every day. I have an objectivity that an individual artist can't have because their work is on the line." In the absence of an agent or business partner representing your interests to a client, graphic artists can take a number of steps to better communicate their worth to clients.

Try this exercise, for example. Each morning look in the mirror and practice saying "That'll be a hundred thousand dollars" until you can say it with a straight face. That's exactly what Pentagram partner Paula Scher did for years. Now the graphic designer says, "A hundred thousand isn't enough."

Differentiate Needs and Wants

Calisthenics aside, the first step in any negotiation is understanding needs - yours and your client's. Remember that "needs" are not the same as "wants." When approaching any important negotiation, one technique is to create three lists: a "wish" list, a "nice-to-have" list, and the "bottom line." Blue sky the first list. Put down everything you'd like to have: a huge fee plus a royalty, your name in blazing neon, 5,000 samples, very limited rights, and six months to do the work. Be aware you may not be successful in getting any of them.

On the second list, bullet those items that it would be nice to have, eliminating what you could live without: shorter deadline, lower fee, fewer samples, for example. On the last list, itemize those things you must have: no work-for-hire, for example. Be prepared to walk away from a job if you can't meet your own minimums.

Creative problem solving can sometimes turn an apparent loser into a job with possibilities. Guy Billout, a self-described conceptual problem-solver, generally doesn't use written contracts, but makes sure his purchase order and invoice reflect the understanding he and his client reach. "In my experience," he says, "people are trustworthy."

To a point. Billout assiduously avoids buyouts. He explains to his client that his work is his "only possession." If on occasion he does sell all rights, he does so only for a specific term so the rights ultimately come back to him. He never does work-for-hire or work-on-spec. Interestingly, he rarely walks away from a job.

Ask Questions

In any negotiation, information equals leverage. The more you know about the client, the job, and the competition, the better you can arrive at a solution that at least meets everyone's basic needs. The simplest way to get information is to ask lots of questions.

Illustrator Rob Saunders always asks, "How are you familiar with my work?" The response reveals what style the client is interested in. It also tips him off to who the competition is, and he makes sure that the competition is in the same league with him.

That also applies to designers. When asked to bid on a job, designer Eric Baker asks: "Are you speaking to other designers?" If the answer is yes, he asks, "Can you tell me who they are?" The key here is to make sure he's being compared with designers of comparable talent and size.

What if the client is unwilling to reveal who the competition is? "That puts me at a disadvantage," says Baker, "because if it's me and some schmo working out of his bedroom, it's not apples to apples." At that point he tells the client: "I'd really like to know what level of designer you're speaking to." If the client still balks, he says the job may not be worth bidding for. How Much Am I Worth?

Asking for money is probably the toughest thing for anyone to do. One problem facing illustrators and designers is that some clients don't understand the value of art or design. "The end of the project - what's in your hand - only represents the finished piece," says Baker, "not the tons of sketches that go into it."

Another problem is knowing how much to ask for. Says Baker, "I'm the person doing the work, and this is how much I'm worth." Everyone interviewed for this article says they start negotiations by checking the Graphic Artists Guild Handbook: Pricing & Ethical Guidelines. The ranges in PEGs allows them to set themselves at a desired point on the bell curve. If the information in PEGs is sparse for a particular type of work, or if the job is unusually complex, some make use of their own networks to learn how colleagues solved similar business problems.

What happens if the client's budget falls short of your needs or desires? Again, it doesn't hurt to ask for more money. Guy Billout always asks clients, "Can you do a little better?" and they usually can. His advice: "Don't be modest. Don't be afraid to ask. If you don't ask, you don't get it."

What if a client is playing her cards close to the chest and won't discuss budget or pricing? Morgan asks the ridiculous: "Do you have more than $500 or $20,000?" She finds the client's reaction reveals a lot about how the work is being valued.

However, value is not measured only in dollars. Sometimes exposure, good portfolio samples, or flexibility on deadlines can make up for lower fees. Artists and designers need to carefully consider all the benefits of doing a job, not just the fees received.

In a service industry like visual communications, the key word is service - particularly customer service. As Morgan says, "If you focus on satisfying the customer, you can be more objective about the negotiation. The client is in commerce, so the artist has to put on their business hat. Even if the AD is an arty person, the person he reports to is a business person, or the art buyer is a business person."

If there's blame to be laid for the lack of negotiating skills, who deserves it? Schools of art and design are notorious for failing to adequately prepare students to deal effectively in the world of commerce. "We go to art school," says Baker, "we have a certain talent, and we go into the business with the youthful, naive belief that we just want to do good work. But, now, we're in business." Advises Morgan: "Artists should stop seeing themselves as artists, but rather as small businessesÉ. Because people are not comfortable with negotiating, [they] should go out of [their] way to learn more about it - take a Guild course, get a book or tape on the subject." Practice, practice, practice.

 

Postcard from Phoenicia

by Polly M. Law

When the delegates to the National Board voted to approve the recommendations of the Board Reorganization Task Force last June, they proved that they were willing to make a leap of faith into a new way of doing business. Few had any inkling that part of that leap would involve boarding a bus in New York City and disembarking on the side of a mountain in the heart of the Catskills this November. Now that there is only one meeting of the National Board of Directors each year (barring special circumstances), we decided to make the Annual Convention of the National Board of Directors more of an occasion. The Pathworks Center in Phoenicia proved to be a good choice, catering to both our indoor (comfortable spaces, delicious food, delightful meeting ambiance) and outdoor needs and wants (nightly visits from the local black bears and more deer than you could shake a stick at).

This year, thanks to Paul's foresight and effective dealings, we were able to secure the services of Linda Shinn, a partner in the Consensus Management Group, for an exciting all-day workshop on the ins and outs of volunteer organizations. Shinn led us all into new insights and managed to make a potentially dry topic exciting.

We worked in smaller groups to determine ways in which our perceptions or experience differed from how a healthy and productive Board should operate. We discussed the responsibilities and the rights of the various components of our leadership. Once again in small groups we did an exercise to solve geometric puzzles without verbal or signed communication - very illuminating. Some groups were totally goal oriented - they wanted to be the first group to complete the task, even if it meant, ahem, stretching the rules. Others were more concerned with following the rules, which slowed the process down. Two people in each group had the task of observing without participating - perhaps the most frustrating job. At least for me! We all, however, discovered almost immediately that the goal of the game could not be achieved without teamwork. The exercises and the insights that Shinn led us through, as well as her observations on the nature and life cycles of organizations, opened up new avenues for discussion for the rest of the convention.

We plan to have a workshop of this sort for every Convention. I strongly recommend that all members make the effort to attend at least this part of upcoming Conventions. We have tentatively planned to hold our next meeting in late-October 1998 in the wine country of Northern California. Start saving your pennies! You will get updates as our plans are firmed up.

Getting down to business: An Executive Committee was selected by the National Board (see Board Action on page 9). As usual, we wanted to do all the projects within our Strategic Plan in one year, and every proposal was greeted with enthusiasm. But reality reared its ugly head in the form of the budget, and the Board worked together to sort out those projects that had little support or could wait for another year from those that enjoyed great support and warrant immediate attention.

Working Groups, Task Forces, Committees - whatever you choose to call them - are the avenue by which these goals and projects are fulfilled. Several were mandated and are waiting to be filled by their respective chairs. A comprehensive list of these committees is on the facing page, and if you think your skills and interests might be of use, please respond. National Board representatives were chosen to serve as liaisons between the committees and the National Board, budget priorities were set, reports were read, proposals and ideas debated, uncomfortable issues dealt with - all in the spirit of common goals and aspirations.

It was altogether a grand weekend of hard work, coupled with great bonhomie and energy for the future. Had a wonderful time, wish you'd been there!

Polly M. Law is an illustrator/gardener/teapot collector

 

 

President's Report to the Board (Abridged)

Nov. 21, 1997 by Polly M. Law

We've come together from all corners of our country to launch our new structure. We will be exploring our new roles and responsibilities, putting shape to our concepts, but mostly we will be focusing on the future. The future, Shakespeare's "undiscovered country," the unmapped territory that we have attempted to limn out in our Strategic Plan. There, we outlined areas of great concern and avenues of growth that offer many opportunities and challenges. We also developed ideas for ways to accomplish these goals. Now comes the hard part - deciding which of these goals we want to achieve in the coming year and then allotting the funds and volunteer efforts necessary. This is the new paradigm for you, the national Board of Directors, to fulfill. You are the conduit through which the hopes and dreams of all our members, our mission, will flow. Together we will draw the map and reach our goals.

It is always good to meet new people along the way, and so it is that we welcome a new Chapter and more than a few new members into the Guild. Without the efforts of Victor Von Salsa, volunteer extraordinaire, we would not be welcoming Portland into our group. Victor, many thanks, and welcome Portland. I want to introduce a theme I will be promoting throughout the coming year. My aim is to get us to think and think hard about what being a Guild member means to us as artists, to us as members of the wider community, and to each of us as individuals. I want to focus on the values that Guild membership promotes, not the value of membership in terms of insurance rates, page rates, telephone discounts, and the like, but the sense of community, of empowerment, of service. I feel that this will help build a more cohesive Guild and that cohesiveness will translate into a stronger Guild. As much of this will appear in the upcoming 30th Anniversary Journal and in the Guild News, I will not repeat it here. But I want you to think about why you are a member of the Guild, to take a step beyond the concerns of the everyday and focus, even if only briefly, on the intangible benefits you derive from your membership and, more importantly, your involvement in the Guild. And I ask you to take these thoughts and at least once, but hopefully more often, in the coming year share them with a nonmember. Insurance rates, telephone deals, discounts fluctuate; there's always a better deal around the corner. The values that we espouse in our mission are rock steady.

Another theme for the coming year that I would like to see realized is education - in the broadest sense. Education of our members, of potential members, of students, of clients, of lawmakers, of contest sponsors. We will consolidate our methods of producing and distributing programs to take the burden off the Chapters of having to produce all their own programs - often duplicating the efforts of other Chapters. We will be more proactive in dealing with contest sponsors, lawmakers, and clients. A major step forward has already been accomplished in the increased production schedule of the Guild News. Kudos are in order for Paul, Marilyn Rose, and especially Susan Davis who cracks the whip on our deadlines and untangles the strangulated prose I send her.

A focus on education and research is mandated by the Strategic Plan, and you need to form and direct an Education and Research Committee, among other projects. Please give serious consideration to applying your formidable energies in this quarter. I would like to thank the members of the out-going Executive Committee: Daniel Abraham, Jonathan Combs, Karen Guancione, Sara Love, Jim Mokarry, Michael Partington, James Schauweker, Carol Schweigert, Simms Taback. They have borne the brunt of the changes in our structure - and borne them in good graces. My thanks also to Paul, Brett, Ammon, Jonathan, Carla, and Shaniqua, our hard-working staff, for helping me these past two years. I look forward to our next term together.

Lastly, I would also like to thank you for allowing me to serve you for another term. I felt it was necessary and fitting that I be here to help launch this new structure and to be the target of the brickbats if and when there are problems. One of the goals I had when we started the Strategic Planning process was to have more than one candidate per office in Guild elections. I want your help in the coming two years to make that a reality. In November 1999, I will be standing before you (and hopefully, many new faces) delivering my Out-going President's speech and looking forward to tackling a list of Guild projects as member #00201700.









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