The Quote Truth: How to know you are getting an honest bid.

It can certainly be a grueling process to go shopping for the best bid on a project if you don't already have an established relationship with a video production company. It can also be intimidating if you have never dealt with any video production companies before at all. But when it comes down to trying to find the right production company for you I can tell you the single most important pitfall to avoid and one that seems to be remarkably common.

If the production company doesn't ask you a lot of questions about the details of your project before they give you a price, then the price that they give you is meaningless. I can promise you this.

Each and every project is different. If you haven't told me anything about your project yet, I can not even begin to fathom what the price tag attached to it will be. If you need one camera set up on a tripod at the back of the room to film a seminar, that is completely different from a broadcast commercial shoot involving actors, multiple locations, and a full crew.

As a production company, if all that you, the customer, has told me is "I would like to make a video", I am obligated to ask you a series of questions in order to give you an honest, accurate price. Anyone that jumps to give you a number without fully understanding what your project is and what you would like it to accomplish is just throwing out a number that they think you will like in order to secure the project. Ultimately I would be very, very surprised if that number ends up being anywhere near the final cost once the project is done.

If you get a lot of questions when someone is building a budget for your project, you know they are actually taking your specific needs into consideration. If they don't ask any questions, how can they possibly know what you and your project need?