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When all is said and done, the happiest client in the world isn’t worth it if you’ve been damaged or diminished in some way. This won’t happen if you protect the contract language that protects you. That’s exactly what your contract is for.
Sooner or later, one of your photography clients will want to make changes to your contract for services. The changes you’re willing to make are up to you. Minor changes that don’t burden or jeopardize either party are usually harmless. Ultimately, you decide how to run your business.
Keep in mind, however, that the point of the contract isn’t just to list who owes whom for what and how much when. These details manage the expectations of both the client and the photographer, but there’s more to it than that. A properly drafted contract protects both parties as well. It also lays out methods for dealing with issues that come up along the way.
There are two main reasons not to change your contract. The first is to maintain control of the job you’re hired to do. The second is to maintain protection in the event something goes wrong. Any parts of your contract that affect your control or protection should not be changed.
Avoid change to clauses that:
Maintain control over
- The work product
- The fees
- The schedule
Provide protection for
- Your person
- Your business
- Your right to revenue
Control
The point of your business is to provide certain products and services for a fee. There’s nothing worse that looking back on a completed project that didn’t end the way you expected it to. Unless it’s being in the middle of one and already knowing it’s not turning out like you’d originally hoped. Considering that hope is not a reliable business strategy, you need a properly constructed contract instead.
To maintain control, you should safeguard all parts of your contract that deal with the work product, fees, or schedule.
The Work Product
You’re being hired to provide certain services and products. The offer is yours. What you provide, how you do so, and when are up to you. Unlike other creative business, the client has little say over the final product, as long as it matches what the client should have reasonably expected. They explain what you are hired to produce, but leave it in your hands to do so. (Commercial photography has obviously different criteria, but we’re keeping this discussion to consumer-as-user photography since this is the type most young businesses offer.)
Your portfolio is an example of what your client should expect. This is why presenting the right portfolio images is critical. Be sure that the style and quality of your portfolio selections are the same your client will receive. If you spent a season editing in light, airy tones of blue-green, but now prefer rustic sepia tones, last season’s images need to disappear. Make it clear to your client what you offer. Accepting that offer is acceptance of the style and quality you have presented. If they want another style, they should hire another photographer.
Control over your work product includes your choice of poses, scenes, and subjects. It’s customary to go over this during the client consultation. For events such as weddings, a pretty standard set of photos is expected. It’s one thing to make a list of the people and things that are important to the client and to build your shot sheet around these. It’s quite another for your client to hand over their Pinterest mood board and demand that you duplicate every frame.
The Fees
This really is self explanatory. You should know better than anyone how much each client is worth. You know your expenses, the amount of work involved, and how much money you need to make to be profitable. Your website, storefront, or any other business presence is not a used car lot. Potential clients shouldn’t feel they can step in and begin haggling over the best deal. You can offer an alternative service in the client’s price range, or tailor services to their budget. That is not the same thing as reducing your fees. Cut the photos, never your price.
The Schedule
Time is money. Photography assignments are booked on a calendar. None of your obligations exist in isolation. All the days of the calendar must work together. A single contracted job affects many dates. Due dates for contracts, retainers, and payments. Work dates for consultations, photography, and presentation of the finished product. A single rescheduled client has a ripple effect throughout every other client. Your policies should take all this into consideration, so when a client wants to make a change, you are prepared to accept or reject the request. Don’t feel forced into losing control of your schedule.
Your schedule also includes time management of your workflow. Remember you must control the work product. You can’t separate that from the workflow needed to edit, present, and deliver the finished photos. If you have a set time in your contract, it’s there for a reason, especially if you’re handling multiple clients at a time. If you allow three weeks before client previews are ready, it doesn’t matter how anxious and persistent your client is, don’t reduce the time. If you are genuinely willing and able to deliver sooner, charge a premium. While this may not discourage your client from requesting more changes, it signals a boundary. It also reminds you that your time has value.
I’ve seen several photographers get tied in knots once they start exchanging out services because something in the client’s circumstances changed. Maybe that engagement session will get lost in the rush of wedding planning and their client wants extra bridal portraits instead. But the day’s schedule doesn’t allow for this so now their bride wants another call on the photographer’s time. Or a refund. In one fell swoop, the photographer has lost control of the work product, the schedule, and the fees all in one.
Protection
Running a business is filled with risk. As a photographer, market changes, increased competition, reduced demand, and circumstances outside your control are all risks you can’t do too much about. The great irony of business is that every time you take on a client, you take on a whole new bundle of risk.
While you can’t possibly protect against every potential thing that could go wrong, your contract should have specific built in protections to reduce your exposure.
To maximize protection, resist changes to clauses that provide for you personally, your business, or your right to revenue.
Your person
Self protection isn’t difficult to understand. You’ll probably have limited knowledge of the people you’ll work with and around. You may work in unfamiliar places. Wedding guests who have celebrated with a bit too much alcohol are a fact of life. People can be uncooperative, obnoxious, or even dangerous. A contract that stipulates a “safe work environment” allows you to remove yourself from the situation. At the very least, it sets up a method to alert someone to the problem and get a remedy so you can continue your work.
Your business
Unhappy clients happen. Most of the time you can work it out. Sometimes you manage to land Clientzilla and they’re only too happy to take their unhappiness out on you to the fullest. Anti-disparagement clauses are designed to keep your client from intentionally damaging your reputation.
Clauses that protect you from things outside your control should never be removed. Inclement weather, third party liability, and acts of God are not your responsibility.
Your right to revenue
Maintaining control of your fees does little good if you don’t also protect fees you’re owed but haven’t received when your contract falls apart. It’s important to have clear language explaining exactly what refunds, if any, the client is entitled to. If you provide for additional liquidated damages from your client, removing this defeats its purpose. You’re only adding insult to injury.
If you include services that are complementary, that doesn’t mean you’re just out of luck if your client cancels. Even though you are legally entitled to be paid for any services you performed, it’s a good idea to state the value of this service and that it becomes payable on termination. If your client objects to these clauses, remind them the plan is to complete the contract, not cancel it. Still, things don’t always go to plan. You will have invested plenty of time and expense into serving your client long before the contract is complete. If it must be cancelled for some reason, that time and expense needs to be compensated.
Protect your protection
While the services you perform are pretty standard between clients, the clients themselves are all different. They’ll have different needs, concerns, and circumstances. Working with your clients during the planning phase will shape a contract for the benefit of both parties.
When all is said and done, the happiest client in the world isn’t worth it if you’ve been damaged or diminished in some way. This won’t happen if you protect the contract language that protects you. That’s exactly what your contract is for.