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Just because you have rights and can go after people with a stick, is that really how you want to spend your time? The energy and sleep you lose on a single client can be better spent on the next two clients who will be less drama combined.
Anyone who has never had a client from hell should really count their blessings. They have no idea how fortunate they are. Most of the topics brought to discussion groups involve problems with clients and customers. We live in fear of the almighty axiom that “The customer is always right.” This is especially true in the social media age, where your reputation can be dented or destroyed by the flick of a few keystrokes.
But what happens when the customer is not right? When we bend over backwards and still no joy? When our spidey sense tingles during contract negotiations? Is it ever okay to fire a client?
Long before running a photography business, I worked in another industry (internet development old school style) and the day finally came when I learned that I must “fire” clients. The first time broke my heart, I felt like a failure, I got all the “customer is always right” advice, etc etc. And yes, that advice included “you own the copyright, if they abuse your contract, you can beat them with a stick blahblahblah”
The first time I invoked the DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) on someone who moved their website without payment was terrifying. But I lived. The next time was easier and by the third time I learned to say NO to clients before we even got to the proposal stage.
Just because you have rights and can go after people with a stick, is that really how you want to spend your time? The energy and sleep you lose on a single client can be better spent on the next two clients who will be less drama combined.
We’ve all heard “pick your battles” and we know that doing so leads to a quiet life. The problem is when someone brings the battle to us, and we have to choose whether we carry on the fight, or throw in the towel. It’s one thing to see the problem coming, read the red flags correctly, and politely decline the job. It’s another once the project is underway and we start to hit the potholes in the road. One or two are to be expected, but if they tend to get wider, deeper, and more frequent, we start to understand that it’s probably because the road is littered with landmines and it’s only a matter of time before we step on one.
This is where very clear preparation pays off in a way that the client’s check never could. With a properly constructed contract, and very clear terms and expectations outlined, you can plan for the worst. This means building in what amounts to an irreconcilable differences clause that allows you to fire the client – or for the client to fire you – and each party know exactly what the consequences are. If your client is causing an ulcer and you know exactly how many dollars and cents it costs you, and exactly what point in the work you could break, you are in a much better position to make the problem go away.
Otherwise, both you and the client might be stuck in a loveless relationship until the bitter end. The client might be just as miserable as you, but their goal is to make you more miserable than they. The only way this situation ends well is to end. Just end. Period.
At some point in this unhappy situation, we realize that we probably should have seen this coming. There were warning signs that we ignored. We rationalized them away at the time, thinking that once we adequately educated the client, things would calm down. Maybe the bride was just stressing about how much planning was involved. Maybe the children would be better behaved during the actual photography sitting than during the meeting to sell the family on your services. Maybe the cousin that “is a photographer, too” will stop being mentioned after the third or fourth conversation you have with your client.
Consider the fishing analogy. The longer we fish, the hungrier we get, the more difficult it is to toss back the undersized fish. The harder it is to get a prospect, the longer we have to wait, the harder it is to toss the prospect back. The scarcity mindset tells us we may not get another prospect in a while. This mental trick gets us into all sorts of worse problems. We make decisions that we know in our gut are just plain trouble. We cut our prices, we offer extras, we accept that we are being treated poorly.
We can stop this at any time.
But the prospect will be angry. They will tell everyone terrible things about me. I can’t afford to have my reputation damaged. I can’t afford to turn down a client!
What you can’t afford is the time, tears, and energy that will be sucked out of your life as a result of a nightmare client.
Your prospect will move on, find another photographer, and make them miserable instead. Meanwhile, you’ve spent the time and energy on finding your next client, on taking photographs with pride, on enjoying your profession.
Saying no can not only make life easier, it can make you a better businessperson. That’s what you are doing, after all. You’re not just taking photographs. You are running a business.
As the person running the business, it’s up to you to come up with the answer to everything. Sometimes, the best answer is “no”.