Bazinga, my prices are NOT published. I don't charge the same for a B'day party as I do a small corporate function and I charge more for a large corporate function. My b'd parties include face painting so I always ask how many kids because over 25 kids means it will be longer than an hour so I charge more for more kids. Nothing unethical about charging the same amount for the same thing even when the customer is playing the discount game to decide who he will hire, I'm just making the customer happy, happy, happy. What is unethical & illegal is to charge more based on a racial, cultural or any other reason and NO discount.

Price integrity is extremely important and every effort needs to be made to maintain it. That does not however mean that you have to be totally inflexible in certain situations to gain the business. For instance when someone asks for a discount you might consider a response something like:

"The pricing I quoted you is based on the value I bring to my many customers." "You want your guests to have a memorable experience and remember that you are the one that provided it for them." "So, tell you what, let's do this." "I normally don't ___________________ in this package, but why don't I throw that in at no extra cost to you?"

You need to establish now what value you can add that won't affect your pricing. It might be an hour and a half rather than one hour, or present a special effect, or tie a company product or service to a trick. Again, what could you offer them as sort of an up-grade?? This creates a win-win because your new client feels they negotiated a better deal and you just got a new gig without disturbing your price integrity.

Paddy,

Thanks for clearing that up.

Bazinga!