Wedding clients want to reduce number of hours they hired me for

[pavl_kay]

<p>Hello,</p>

<p>I've been in the business for four years now and have had a few odd requests and situations here and there. However, today I was blind-sided by a deceptively simple request, and I'm divided on how to handle it.</p>

<p>A couple had initially hired me for 8 hours of service in 2014 for their 2015 wedding. In 2015, the couple requested that I cancel the arrangement because a death in the family caused them to cancel their wedding plans. The initial agreement was nullified, and their retainer was kept as credit for future service. In January, they re-hired me for 8 hours of service for their June 2016 wedding. Today, I receive a request to reduce their coverage by two hours to a total of 6 hours of service because they decided to have a shorter wedding.</p>

<p>To be perfectly honest, I don't want to honour this request because it would mean a loss of $640. Furthermore, it puts me below the minimum commission I have now established for weekend weddings, which is $2,500 for the 2016 season. My contract does not contain a protocol for reducing an agreed-upon level of service.</p>

<p>How would you handle such a request? Options I've considered:</p>

<ol>

<li>Say no. I'll honour their request to be there for six hours, but still expect payment for the eight hours in the agreement.</li>

<li>Say no, but offer them the equivalent of two hours—$640—as print or album credits.</li>

<li>Say yes, forget that we had an <strong>agreement</strong>, and reduce their outstanding balance by $640. It's good customer service, right...?</li>

</ol>

<p>How have you dealt with such requests in the past? If you're partial to recommending option three, or something similar, what would you do if, theoretically, every client started demanding a reduction in service? Such requests would create a significant gap between expected versus real income.</p>

<p>I look forward to your responses. Thanks in advance!</p>

[William Michael]

<p>Whatever path you choose I am not partial to you saying, "No". Perhaps that's just your writing style, but often writing style mimics oral style - so my first advice is to reserve the word "No" for for very special business occasions.</p>

<p>The second point is much depends <strong>less upon what is written in the contract</strong> apropos <em>"contract does not contain a protocol for reducing an agreed-upon level of service"</em>, but rather <strong>more depends on what is written and advertised in your Offer of Services</strong> now and more importantly when it was taken up by the Clients in January.</p>

<p>Specifically, my view is if a Photography Business chooses to offer <strong>Wedding Coverage based upon TIME</strong> and (as in your case) <strong>the Business requires a minimum engagement</strong>, (especially for Friday Saturday and Sunday) then it is critical to have as an Offer of Service something like these Offers of Service:</p>

<p>> Up to 6 hours coverage: $X<br /> > Up to 8 hours coverage; $Y<br /> > Up to 10 hours coverage $Z<br /> any addition coverage beyond 10 hours is charged at a rate of $A per quarter hour or part thereof</p>

<p>or</p>

<p>> Up to 4 hours coverage: $W<br /> > Up to 6 hours coverage: $X<br /> > Up to 8 hours coverage: $Ｙ<br /> > Up to10 hours coverage: $Ｚ<br /> ＮＢ On Friday, Saturday and Sunday - Ｍinimum 8 hour and longer coverage ONLY are available.<br /> <br /> In the first example the "Up to" covers the contingency you require. (that is it covers me, where I work - you might need different words - get contract law advice on that)</p>

<p>In the second it is clear that you do offer 4 hour and 6 hour coverage, but on the three days specified the minimum is 8 hours.</p>

<p><strong>How did you advertise the Offer of Services to this Client - and how are you advertising the Offer now ?</strong></p>

<p>WW</p>

[pavl_kay]

<p>William,<br>

Thanks for taking the time to reply.<br>

My website currently lists my base fee as "up to 6 hours" of service (and listed this since January 1), which works out to the aforementioned minimum commission of $2,500. Because this particular couple cancelled their first agreement and signed the second one, and because my pricing structure had changed in the year between signing the first and second contract, I simply laid everything out as one charge (the original subtotal) and assigned it the number of hours they had initially ordered. They agreed to this and signed the contract.<br>

This is a screen cap of the service and fee portion of the agreement: <img src="http://blog.pavelkounine.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Screen-Shot-2016-03-08-at-5.27.41-PM.png" alt="" /><br>

To be honest, I believe that the contract would agree with me if I were to push back. My real concern and the reason I took to this forum is to figure out a fair (and tactful) way of handling this request.</p>

<p>Should I comply with their request? If so, should I do this for every such request I may receive in the future, whether it crosses below my minimum threshold for service or not? What is the point of agreeing to order X amount of hours if it can be changed at a whim, anyway?<br>

Should I push back and advise them that I cannot honour their request?<br>

Should I attempt to reach a compromise, either via application of the equivalent fees towards product or service credits?</p>

[AzDavid]

<p>William W offers very sound advice. And it looks like you've already figured out that it's a good idea to charge a minimum commission ($2,500) for "up to six hours." That will protect you from future customers who sign agreements and decide they only need you for, say, four or five hours. <br>

All that said, I would approach the couple and have a conversation. They seem reasonable in that they allowed you to keep nearly $800 as a retainer fee. You could spell out your situation to them as you did in your forum posting here. See what they say. It's possible that they don't realize the financial hit you face by the reduction from 8 to 6 hours. Again, I agree with William W and would hold off on trotting out the "No" unless you decide you really can't work for these people.<br>

Also, can you re-book that same date with a higher paying client? If not, it's always better to stick with the customer you've got rather than risk not making any money that night.<br>

Finally, it's entirely possible that if you find a way to work with these people they will reflect upon that once the dust from the wedding settles. They will realize how many hoops they made you jump through and yet you still came through for them and provided wonderful photographs of their important occasion. These are the customers you want telling everyone else in the world what a great guy you turned out to be. It's possible you will reap big rewards through their referrals to other family and friends. <br>

Hope this helps. Good luck!</p>

[pavl_kay]

<p>David,<br>

I have a difficult time understanding this preoccupation with the "up to" x hours phrasing. Is it not a moot point considering that the established agreement has a defined period? All things considered, I'm prepared to act in a way that is of greatest benefit to my business, regardless of whether I miss out on the $640, which in the grand scheme of things is nothing.<br>

As for their "reasonable" agreement to my retainer: is $800 unusually high? I've raised it since then to 30% of the total or $1000, whichever is greater. Whenever I see photographers mention $200-300 retainers, I cringe because those numbers have absolutely no teeth. Clients have to have skin in the game to play; otherwise, they could find someone who will shoot their wedding for more than a couple hundred dollars less, cancel with you, and still have net savings. Perhaps this can be chalked up to differences in regional conventions? I'm located in Toronto and this seems typical.<br>

Thanks,</p>

 

[Hector Javkin]

<p>Look at it from the perspective of your clients: they had to postpone the wedding because of a family tragedy; they were committed to a photographer who (quite reasonably) raised his rates with the new year. They are trying to get close to what they had budgeted by reducing the number of hours you work. It's not fair to you, but if you go through with this job, and somehow get them to pay for eight hours, the family may be resentful, and give a negative view to any guests who ask about you.</p>

<p>I fear that pushing for what you should be paid on this particular job may hurt you later on. Your rule about not going below a certain price has a fatal flaw: you are your own boss and have the power to break it. Unless you have another job waiting for you on that particular weekend, you could do what your clients ask, and explain that you are making an exception this one time because of their unusual circumstances. Then do an amazing job for them at the wedding.</p>

 

[pavl_kay]

Hector, thanks for your comment.

 

Please note that per the original

agreement, the couple was charged at

their original rates. My 2016 price

increase has had no effect on our

January agreement, which is set to my

2014 rates.

 

I'll treat this experience as a

teachable moment and adjust all copy

on my website and terms in my

agreement to ensure that there is no

further uncertainty about how to treat

this in the future.

 

For now, I'll offer them a compromise

that maintains the current financial

obligations. If I sense any

resistance, I'll make an exception and

discount the time.

 

Thanks for the help! :-)

[William Michael]

<p>Thanks for replying with the additional information.</p>

<p>I think the charges section of the agreement could have been better presented. It is possible, by only referring to the charges section that the Clients think that it is a reasonable request to ask to drop the number of hours from 8 to 6. I am not considering as the main aspect what is "enforceable" or "contractually legally correct", I am considering what they think is "ok to ask for".</p>

<p>In your position, my response would be face to face or a telephone conversation, followed by the necessary paperwork.</p>

<p>I would outline that the agreement does NOT allow for a reduction of hours which are booked, but in this particular case and only because of the unique circumstance of the way the charges section is presented, I would be happy to continue with the PRESENT AGREEMENT and you will prepare an updated Service and Fees portion of that agreement to reflect a CREDIT towards Albums and Prints. (And if I thought that it would benefit I would explain the charges section was originally constructed out of simplicity).</p>

<p>Now that will probably work fine, provided you are fairly sure that they will order Albums and Prints or other addition stuff and you think that they understand basic business. If however you think that they are on a budget and that is what is driving the issue - and will not order anything else from you, then it is probably good to be firmer with something like, "I am sorry but our agreement does not allow for a change of hours booked, however to solve your problem and to address your change in plans, I will apply a credit equivalent to two hours shooting time towards Albums Prints and other Services and I will add that as an addendum to our previous agreement." <br /> <br /> In either case, I think it is important that the words used, must outline that they have changed their plans apropos the duration of the Wedding and that you will be flexible to adapt to that change in their plans.</p>

<p>*</p>

<p>On some other points which have been raised:</p>

<blockquote>

<p>"They seem reasonable in that they allowed you to keep nearly $800 as a retainer fee."</p>

</blockquote>

<p>They might be reasonable, they might not: but the point is the retainer might have been stipulate non refundable and if so then it should be the Photographer who is given the credit of "reasonable" as a result of their allowing the retainer to be allocated to services/supply at a later date. The exact details were not described so it is not possible,to conclude that the clients are reasonable nor that they "allowed" the retainer to be kept.</p>

<p>*</p>

<blockquote>

<p>"You could spell out your situation to them as you did in your forum posting here. See what they say. It's possible that they don't realize the financial hit you face by the reduction from 8 to 6 hours."</p>

</blockquote>

<p>I think that is not a good idea. No Client needs to know or wants to know your business's financial details.</p>

<p>*</p>

<blockquote>

<p>"Also, can you re-book that same date with a higher paying client? If not, it's always better to stick with the customer you've got rather than risk not making any money that night."</p>

</blockquote>

<p>Sticking with this existing Client does not necessarily mean that the Photographer will "make money". <strong>Turnover</strong> which is all monies <strong>taken</strong> into a business, is not the same as <strong>Net Profit</strong>, which is the final amount of money that the Business "<strong>makes</strong>".</p>

<p>*</p>

<blockquote>

<p>"These are the customers you want telling everyone else in the world what a great guy you turned out to be."</p>

</blockquote>

<p>The Photographer might already be a "great guy" in the opinion of these clients. On the other hand these Clients might be excessively unreasonable - there are many possible permutations nothing was disclosed describing these points.<br /> *</p>

<blockquote>

<p>"They are trying to get close to what they had budgeted by reducing the number of hours you work."</p>

</blockquote>

<p>That's not what was described - the Clients changed their plans from the original booking, it was not disclosed whether or not it was a budget driven decision only that the Clients are now having a shorter Wedding - but yes that is a possibility that the decision is budget driven and if so, then that is potentially a red flag and due consideration should be taken about that possibility as to whether one might continue with an amendment to the existing agreement, or not.</p>

<p>*</p>

<blockquote>

<p>How have you dealt with such requests in the past?</p>

</blockquote>

<p>I have had, only once, a similar original situation. I tried to find the thread, as I described it here before as a response to a similar question.</p>

<p>In my situation I refunded the Client's deposit/booking fee (it was described in the contract as "non-refundable" - therefore I didn't have to refund it). I considered supplying the Client a Credit Note to use for a future booking.</p>

<p>My rationale at the time was to release any additional burden from the Client during the time of grieving. (I recall it was one of the Mums who had died suddenly), and that the best way to do that was to refund everything and start from scratch should they continue with their plan later. I considered the possibility that they would not get married.</p>

<p>In detail - I immediately sent a personal Letter of Condolence and a <em>separate</em> business letter with a refund cheque; the business letter diplomatically and stated the refund was outside our contractual arrangement and entirely our choice. A couple of month later we sent another business letter outlining that we noted that the refund cheque had been presented and paid and encouraged the Clients to consider the lead time necessary to re-book our services especially if their new date was in the high season or on a popular day of the week.</p>

<p>The above is neither a comment nor criticism on the choices outlined above, where a retainer was retained and later carried forward, but merely answering the question that was asked.<br /> <br /> <br /> WW</p>

[tony_clark]

I will start by stating that I've only shot six wedding back when I started my career back in '94. I am a Commercial

Photographer and I have a minimum fee in order to stay in business, time is very low on factors considered in pricing

projects. I would go with your Option 1 and tell them that you have quoted them your lowest priced package and cannot

beat that price no matter the time spent with them. Otherwise, they can apply the money toward another shoot.

[pavl_kay]

Thanks everyone. I appreciate your

contributions.