Steve Weinrebe's Mode Studio

I was in a conversation the other day about good customers and bad customers, and was reminded of an old saying of mine. I’d like to share this insight with young photographers. This adage has proven true time and again for me, and for many other self-employed individuals I’ve met over the years.

Good customers won’t haggle, they will treat you well, and pay on time.

Bad customers will pay you the least, work you the hardest, and take the longest to pay.

Clearly you want to avoid bad customers like the plague, and devote yourself to the good customers. Knowing the second part of the above adage may help you steer clear of a lot of customers and jobs that will only cause you grief and gray hairs.

Put another way, one good customer is worth ten bad customers. These days a lot of people want to haggle, but there is a difference between a good offer and a bad offer. Good offers often have positive outcomes, and give an opening for countering with, “OK, I’ll do it for that if you give me a check on the day of completion.” Bad offers will begin with something like, “Do it for half, and I’ll give you a Purchase Order payable in 30 days.” 30 days is code for 45 to 90 days, lots of phone calls from you to the client’s Accounts Payable department, and the fear you may never get paid (which sometimes happens).

Posted by Steve Weinrebe