Don’t be a Gumby!

What, pray tell, is a Gumby?

I just made this up, but I’m gonna keep on using it. A Gumby is a person who bends.

Specific examples of being a Gumby:

Waiving a session fee because the client doesn’t have the money at the moment in order to book their session with you.

Giving free items because the client can’t afford you

Giving discounts because the client complains about your prices

Shooting during days/hours you prefer to not to because your client can’t make it during any other day or time.

Bending your policies just this once.

Arranging special pricing for a service that was not on your pricing menu because you decided it wasn’t a service you wanted to provide in the first place.

Arranging special pricing because of promises of additional future business.

Deviating from any policy or pricing for anything but a super-special client who has already proven their loyalty to you.

I recently had a conversation with a photographer who was asking for advice about a situation where a client walked out of his office in tears because she was upset that a portrait she wanted was $100 and she felt that was higher than she wanted to spend. The photographer in question was torn over this situation and was considering just giving the client the print she wanted.

My objective advice was to refrain from giving away the print.

First of all, I believe that giving away your work sends a message to your clients that you don’t value your work. And if YOU don’t value it, why in the heck would they?

Secondly, giving away the print would have sent the message that a few tears is all it takes to get free stuff. I think this client would employ that tactic in the future, as well, and this photographer would have created a PITA client of his very own. It’s bad enough that we get them off the street, don’t start creating them.

Thirdly, I think this client would probably pass the word to her friends that they should use this photographer and then complain about the prices so that they can get free stuff, too.

Why in the heck would we just give something to someone because we felt bad for them?

I don’t go in a boutique shop at the mall and cry because I can’t afford the $169 jeans that are really cute. OK, well maybe I do, but the sales clerk certainly doesn’t feel bad for me and put the jeans in a bag for free and send me on my merry little way. That would just be stupid.

So why do photographers seriously contemplate doing a similarly stupid thing?

Awhile back, I sat in a board meeting of a non-profit organization and listened in horrified amusement as a letter was read from a disgruntled former organization member. The member was not renewing their membership and stipulated why. We weren’t doing anything wrong, we just changed and improved a facet of the organization and this member was not fond of the change. Because of this letter, a motion was made and passed the re-introduced the phased-out component back into the organization’s operations. Because of ONE person. I later wondered how many other times this organization jumped because of one person.

How often do YOU jump for one person?

If you have an occasional person trying to get you to change your policies, please resist, Do not be a Gumby. Your policies are in place for a reason.

Equally important are your prices. Remember setting those? Remember what a pain in the ass it was to figure out your pricing and all of your packages and collections? You kept working on them and giving them to other people to critique until they were tired of giving you input and just wanted you to be done with it, already. You got everything perfectly the way you wanted it and your “happy price” was set.

And now, someone comes along and whines a little bit and you’re handing out discounts and bonuses all over the place.

Give me a freaking break.

Grow a backbone and stick to your policies and your prices. You are running a business, not a charity.