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How to politely decline a client?


shaca

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I have a client that is negotiating rates that want to receive copyright (and not pay a fee so I've agreed to giving them unlimited image usage however they now want to have a copy right collaboration agreement), receive all the raw images after the photoshoot on the day. Not only this I have discounted my shoot time rate by 10% for them, as it is apparently well beyond their budget and now they don't want to pay for the images but still receive them. I'm not the best person putting into words how to politely say no to this job. Any advice on what's the best way to go about this and how to say no?
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What Paul said. Just politely apologize about giving them an inaccurate proposal and send a proposal that will remedy any headache they are causing. Let me say this again (from the other thread) make sure your contract states they must sign it and pay 50% upfront before scheduling. This really does help remove the sketchy clients

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One other thought, there's a reason why our brains recognize red flags, if things sound crazy now experience tells us the actual production won't get any easier nor will certain client's last minute requests and change orders magically stop because the production has started.

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My Architectual Photography:

Architectural-Cinematographer.com

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This particular question is but another example that highlights why I would not make a good candidate to give advice on running a photography business. Matter of fact, my responses to the majority of questions posed in these forums rarely agree with the response that is generally accepted as being "proper" or "correct."
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hahahaha Hoof it all depends on where you are n how many times its happened to you.

 

In my neck of the woods we arent generally polite or proper when dealing with nut busters. After a while you can smell m coming.

So it all comes down commitments and the letter of the contract... no change orders without negotiating in the contract... and there is a hefty price to pay. That puts an end to "can you just do me one favor?"

 

Its business.

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The more you say, the less people listen.
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hahahaha Hoof it all depends on where you are n how many times its happened to you.

 

In my neck of the woods we arent generally polite or proper when dealing with nut busters. After a while you can smell m coming.

So it all comes down commitments and the letter of the contract... no change orders without negotiating in the contract... and there is a hefty price to pay. That puts an end to "can you just do me one favor?"

 

Its business.

 

10-4 on "It's business." The responses in here can apply in just about any business, not only photography. It interests me to read what experienced photographers recommend for a response and why that response would be fair. I'm not a photographer and don't even deal with the general public at work, so when it comes to photography I have no idea what the generally accepted business practice is and don't automatically think about referring back to the contract. My default response to a lot of questions is pretty much "Tell that SOB to kiss your a$$" instead of the more gentle "Politely decline and move on." Same result but totally different approach.

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You're referring to this: LINK TO OTHER CONVERSATION

 

Assuming that you are still "negotiating" (i.e. there has not been an offer and acceptance and/or have not signed any contract), then I'd write something quite similar to what ed farmer suggested.

 

Personally, I would not use the words "I am sorry", in a negotiation stage, but I would simply indicate that their "requests" are beyond the scope of what the business can provide.

 

Be aware that the phrase "Thank you for your interest", is a closed sentence and in most cases give the indication that you are not available to do business in any case - that might be what you want indicate, I don't know.

 

WW

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