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Whenever you choose not to enforce one of your contract rights, that’s called a waiver. Because your rights usually have price tags attached, each time you waive one of those rights, you’re losing money. The person who coined the phrase “Nice guys finish last” was probably the victim of one too many waivers.
Every good contract has some language in it about waivers. Oddly enough, it’s sometimes called Non-Waiver. Back in my real estate days, I took great care to explain this paragraph to my tenants.
“What this means is that I can choose not to enforce something on Monday. But that doesn’t mean I won’t come down like a hammer if you try the same thing on Tuesday.”
Everyone laughed. The message, however, was serious. And understood.
Think about how many tiny stipulations there are in a typical photography contract. Times, dates, fees, locations, everything down to the work product itself. Changes to these stipulations may be forbidden, like changing the fees or the type of photos to be taken. Other details may allow for changes but because the flow of the contract is disturbed, those changes require a fee.
Rescheduling. Changing locations. Adding or removing subjects. Not only do these changes need to be provided for, the very time it takes you to deal with the inquiry and change is time taken away from other things. That time has value.
It’s bad enough when you know about these changes in advance, what about the client who misses an appointment, or who wants to reschedule because something “comes up”? Or something goes wrong, like a missed payment, and your client’s explanation is she “misunderstood”.
Are you a victim or a volunteer?
Most of us have been there at least once. Everything is nice and friendly and we want to keep it that way. We like the client, the client seems to like us, and we’re more interested in protecting our ultimate payday than in being meter maids. So we give them a little grace. No harm done.
And then the rescheduled date comes around and still no photos, for whatever reason. Or maybe it’s something else we let slide. Sooner or later we see the straw floating toward us, headed for the camel’s back.
Now we’re torn. We know the client is taking advantage, whether it’s intentional or not. We know we are partly to blame because the old saying is true: What you tolerate, you perpetuate. If we take up for ourselves now, we’ll look like a bully. Or worse, like a dunce, because we’re now admitting we’ve been abused. We feel mistreated but also feel guilty for feeling mistreated. Stuck in this loop of frustration and shame, we’re now headed for anger, but we’re not sure if we’re more angry at the client or ourselves.
This can stop at any time.
Hammer time
To quote that famous ’80’s icon, it’s “Hammer time!”
Monday has come and gone. You can’t do anything about that. But Tuesday is here and you are perfectly within your rights to come down like a hammer.
Okay, so you don’t have to be the heavy and start reeling off chapter and verse. One of my pet peeves is people who feel the need to start a conversation “As per our contract…”. You can make your point professionally and politely and still get yourself across.
“As you know, I’ve made several adjustments to our agreement as a courtesy. I understand that life happens. But every change has a ripple through my business. Any changes going forward will have the appropriate fee applied. I’m sure you understand.”
Then mean it. If the client wants a change, and you’re willing to do it, cheerfully agree and send over an addendum and invoice.
“Just get that right back to me and I’ll make a note of the adjustments.”
Like any contract, change orders should have a drop dead date, otherwise nothing changes. Your business can not operate in eternal limbo. You live by your calendar, which means your client must live by it, too.
Start in charge, stay in charge
Reschedules aren’t the only soft spots where you’re giving up fees. Take a good look at your contracts. Make sure that any point you’re willing to alter has an appropriate fee. This may or may not deter a client from wanting changes, but at least they can decide if they want that change badly enough to pay for it.
At the very least, it maintains you as the professional in control. That control includes your schedule, your reputation, and everyone’s expectations. It also means control over your bottom line.