Finders Fees For Design Work?

[tanyas]

Hi all,

Can anyone provide me with information or a link/resource regarding industry standards/rates for work finders. I am in contact with a rep. from a large printing firm who has been passing me design work. He wants to give me a lot more and would like a commision on each job. He also wants commision on reoccuring jobs, ie financial reports etc. I am also under the impression, he may want commision on ANY work I recieve from a new client that he has sourced for me for a period of time. Obviously we need to negotiate this, (I need a starting point), and would like to be inline with current industry standards.

Any help would be greatly appreciated,

Cheers,

Tanya

[morea]

Welcome to the forum, Tanya.

You could check the Graphic Artists Guild Handbook on Pricing and Ethical guidelines... that would be a good place to start. You can usually find them on eBay pretty cheap, or check your local library.

Maybe somebody here has had experience with this personally and can offer more information. Good luck!

[tanyas]

Thanks Morea :)

[Cyclops]

In ROMANIA the fee for finding jobs goes from 10-20% of the final price (without taxes)

[tanyas]

Thanks Cyclops :)
I was thinking along the same lines. Any ideas on what percentage for reoccurring jobs? Perhaps half that again?

[Cyclops]

I would go for 2-7% for reoccurring jobs

[3howards]

if i liked the person, i'd be fine with 10%. but i'd go somewhere between 5-8%.

[Jeff Fisher LogoMotives]

In 27 years as a designer I have never paid a finder's fee - and NEVER requested one. I've always felt that referrals are a professional courtesy of the industry - not to be demanded or required. I've known of several "finders" situations that have gone REALLY bad as greed and misunderstandings raise their ugly heads. If someone refers a potential client my way I usually send them a handwritten thank you note (mentioning I hope I can return the favor in the near future) and a small gift of some kind. I'm in the design business - not the commission business.

- J.

[LeftBrain Artist]

Hmmm. Jeff is right. Generally, just referring one of our preferred printers or photographers to someone else is expected to be reciprocated by like referrals from the preferred vendor for our services. If you're not in a position to make such referrals or you're not a regular customer of the printer, then I might see a need to pay him a commission or finder's fee - especially if they're actively looking for jobs for you. If you are in fact a regular customer of this printer, I could argue its enough that you continue to buy his services, and recommend him to your clients that buy printing themselves.

In this situation "finders fee" sounds an awful lot like "protection money", or "job security insurance." I bet this guy thinks he's got you over a barrel. Does he?

Getting a finder's fee is something that indicates this guy is in it for the short term, one sided deal - someone interested in a long term, mutually beneficial business relationship wouldn't even be bringing this up. There's too much potential for a finder's fee system to sour a business relationship.