What Customers Say vs. What Customers Mean
For the last few days, I've “chasing” 5 customers that currently owe me money. It's a few thousand dollars, some are getting late but not too late. I've heard many excuses and I've noticed that often people say one thing and really mean another.
Don't forget that as a photographer, I'm usually on the lowest ring of the ladder and even sometimes I'm so low, that I'm below ground.
| Customer Says | Customer Means |
|---|---|
| Keep in touch | Don't bug me, but you can place me on your mailing list. Just not too often and no phone call or interruption |
| Keep me on your mailing list | Don't bug me. Stop phoning me. I don't want to receive more than 1 email per month from you. If there's a photo shoot for you, I'll call you, now bug off! |
| It's a 3-way bid | Since you are not our primary choice, you ain't going to get the shoot unless you significantly lower your prices... |
| If you can't do this photo shoot for less, I have somebody else | I'm going to screw you royally and you'll have to say thank you |
| We don't have that much money for this photo shoot, but the next one... | Help me now by significantly lowering your prices and then dream on |
| The boss is cheap | We are already spending all of our money on... so lower your prices |
| Accounting doesn't authorize partial payments in advance | It's too much work for me to arrange it, so forget it |
| It takes 3 people to sign off on your invoice | Eat dirt and you should thank me for giving the photo shoot |
| The check is in the mail | Eat dirt... |