Dannydoyle you read right. But you may as well forget about getting those gigs as the market is sewn up by jumping frogs and jack stephens from south africa. Sometimes a magicbunny member can get a gig for royalty but it will have to be through one of these channels.

Who would want them at that rate?

Having owned a booking agency, a basic fact is that most good magicians (professionally booked) make more money and more money per gig than most recording artists. From there, I'll leave it up to you. (Remember that booking agents are not in it for their health.) Some of my successful magician friends began in the recording industry and/or were successful recording artists who migrated to magic. (Stage names serve a purpose!)

There are things that you can do to really enhance your value to corporate clientele. One is to have executive experience and an earned MBA. It is not rare for corporate clients to pay as much or more for the marketing intelligence report after a trade show as they did for the visible showroom/lounge magic.

They certainly will pay extra for the capacity to walk and chew gum with authority.

I never price by the hour for anything but consulting.

Remember that even portable toilets are $125/each/day, name tags $1/each, hotel water $2/person, parking spaces $3-10/day, etc. If you have more to offer, sell it and charge for it.

Corporate clients are not shy about prices but they are investors and not just consumers out spending.

Bob Sanders
Magic By Sander

I just raised my rates

Bob,

Thanks for the great advice! I've heard from many people that charging by the hour is a bad strategy, and am beginning to agree. If you are doing something such as trolling magic, does your pricing structure typically reflect the number of people who will be there at the event? In other words, do you charge by the head? Also, I just graduated college with a B.S. in Mathematics. Do you think that going the additional two years to get an M.B.A. would be worth it? Can you truly charge more for corporate clients?

Thanks in advance for your response!

I charge a flat rate for the first hour, and an appreciably lower rate for the second and third.

I do not oversell, ie. if there are oly 50 persons there, I will not accept 3 hours. I will suggest 1 hour only, and be satisfied with my initial drop ($325.00 for the first hour) This is for close-up.

Blair Marshall
"ShaZzam!"

Kevin,

Thank you for the vote of confidence.

In terms of charging per head, it has some logic. However, I only do that at the “excessive” end of things. First I get my fee. Then, an over ride on paid admissions beyond an agreed level. It allows you to participate in good turnouts but keeps the promoter from getting soaked if the house isn’t full.

This question dealt with corporate employers. The concept of "paid admissions" is inappropriate. It is not in the same league with birthday parties and restaurant magic. The rules are different. The per/head pricing has a totally different meaning. Entertaining large corporate customers and prospects is fishing for big fish! Imagine selling soap, coffee, irons, and etc. to a major hotel chain or paper bags to a major fast food chain. One order can be worth tens of millions. Corporations that brag about the money saved by not going after the better qualified prospects don’t survive. I recall once in the mid-west receiving more for a brief show at a cocktail party than I charge for a two hour theater show. I was paid by a feed supplier to a major meat producer to make his birthday unique. The crowd was very select and relatively small. However, I was paid well over $200 a head. It was still a bargain. (What is the profit on a train load of animal feed? And daily? For a year?)

In corporate magic, behavior is often only wise or foolish in terms of results. Investing money is a behavior. Measures like per/head, per/hour, and per/trick are not appropriate in corporate magic. Cost isn’t value. Smart business men and women know that very well. They are results oriented.

Look for the value to the client.

Bob Sanders
Magic By Sander