Types of clients

I believe there are two types of clients—Educated and uneducated. I am not talking about how bright the client is or how many degrees they might have. For example, when hiring me, I am talking about their experience working with photographers.

Sometimes, clients will have naive, impracticable, or inappropriate expectations. Most of the time, this is done with clients who need more experience hiring photographers.

I generally have little communication problems with those who hire photographers regularly because they are better at communicating their needs, and we establish a solid paper trail together.

The first place the client relationship needs to be corrected is often in communication. When dissatisfaction about something from the client arises, the best thing you can do is look at the paperwork.

A written contract is best for helping resolve these disputes. The second best to a written contract is written documentation that could be as simple as emails. 

Even with a written contract, the one thing plaguing client relationships is more planning. The better the planning, the better the results and satisfaction for all involved.

With the ability to scout a location and walk through the assignment, it is possible to anticipate all the needs that might arise.

How do you know you have a problem?

Your client will need to tell you about a problem so you can fix it. Sadly, I have found that in my career, many people will never tell you there’s a problem. They don’t hire you again.

If no one ever tells you, there is a good chance your personality turns them off, and they don’t want to fix the situation. I advise seeking counseling; it will be worth every penny you spend knowing how to stop certain behaviors from undermining your career.

If you are lucky and get a customer complaint, this is good for you. Often, this means people think you need to know so you can both correct this and continue to work with them, or they think you need to know so you can avoid this in the future—either way, you see no problem that needs to be addressed.

How to handle the conflict

Listen—the best tool you have is the ability to listen. Listening is not just being quiet. Good listening requires you to respond appropriately to the comments.

Apologize—A genuine apology lets the customer understand that they have been heard and understood. This should be carefully worded. If you don’t feel that you have done anything wrong, then be sure to convey regret for the other person’s experience due to what you did. This is assuming it was unintended. Apologizing for the effect this caused doesn’t mean you will resolve. Be sure you take responsibility for the impact you caused, or it will not be sincerely taken.

Take Action—After apologizing for what has taken place to cause this problem, move on to letting them know you want to correct the problem. You can say, “Obviously, what we have done is very upsetting to you, and you need to know that I am going to get to the bottom of this.”

Take the emotion out—Now that you have expressed your concern with emotion, the next phase is exploring the facts. This is where you are just getting the facts of the situation. Often, clients may state what is wrong and how this complicates their ability to solve the problem they brought you on to help. Remember, sometimes they have already concluded that this is not fixable, and you have wasted their time. The tendency is to fix things quickly, but be sure you fully understand what they think is wrong at this stage. Once you have all the facts laid out, restate them in your own words and ask if everything is correct. It would be best to put it into your own words because it will help them know you heard them and understand.

Empathy and not sympathy—Focus on actions and not words. You need to come to the client with ideas and not problems. Remember, time is money, so don’t waste theirs or yours.

Patience—It is best to stop after getting all the facts and tell them you need time to process if required. “Do you mind if I take a few minutes to see what I/we can do? I will call you back with our ideas in the morning,” this is one way to give you time to process all that you have discovered.

Deliver on your promise—The genuine apology you started with entails a resolution. It would be best if you delivered on this promise to be sincere and complete. Without this, you will undermine your reputation and brand as not trustworthy. 

Fire the client

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2a8TRSgzZY]
When clients have naive, impracticable, or inappropriate expectations, it is time to fire them. Sometimes, ending a relationship with a client is better than making your life miserable.

Here are some things I know I have and other photographers have let their clients go:

Slow or no payment—I have had a few clients where the company policy was to be slow paying, and then I have had clients that had such severe ADD that they regularly forgot to pass along my invoice to the accounts payable department. Use this paragraph with your invoicing to avoid this problem:

Administrative Fee – We are now building into the invoice the cost to repeatedly follow up with accounts payable departments on past due invoices and float the payment cost to our vendors, which requires 30 days’ payment. This fee is approximately 15% of the total invoice. If payment is made within 30 days, you may deduct this amount. A notation will be made to this effect on the invoice.

Lack of boundaries—You have a client that expects to own you 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Sometimes, clients do not respect that you have other clients and a personal life. To avoid this, put the times you are available in your contract.

Challenging to work with—They are just tricky to work with. Maybe they tell off-color jokes. Try to say politely but firmly that you don’t appreciate the off-color jokes. You may not get a positive response at first, but you may. You’ll also benefit from speaking your mind and at least getting the message out there for everyone’s consideration.

Poor Time Management—The client has trouble keeping appointments or is constantly late. This can become a problem when it starts to affect your bottom line. You have trouble getting things from the client that you need to complete a job. Be sure your contract spells out that missing deadlines or whatever you need from them that there is some penalty. The problem you are trying to address is doing work and delayed payment due to the client dragging out a project. You can put the full payment into the contract by a specific date if the delay is due to the client missing something.

Unwilling to accept price increases—Over time, your prices need to go up due to increased living costs and other expenses. When the client is reluctant to adjust their budget, you must let them go; you cannot afford to work for them.