Home · Register · Join Upload & Sell

  

  Previous versions of Elijah's message #13966609 « Lowballing clients »

  

Elijah
Online
Upload & Sell: On
Re: Lowballing clients


glort wrote:

Reading back through this thread is really a bit sad.
People are making rather silly and flawed excuses and arguments to justify what really is their lack of knowledge in business.

IF this were a sales or business forum the position would be so different and no one would be suggesting the clients were tight arses without first asking the qualifying questions to see whether they were or not. None of the detractors did that here. Not one. For those knowledgeable in the basics of sales and business, they would all know that the clients were ready to buy , just saying sign me up in a way that didn't make them look too keen to rush in and throw their legs in the air.

Notice the people that have experience and knowledge in sales and business were united in their position and those that don't had an opposite view. If the discussion was between pro shooters and amateurs, no one would be questioning whom is more qualified in their opposing opinion to be correct yet in this case those without experience are trying to tell those that have they are wrong.
I see a problem in that logic right there.

I really do find it sad people are trying to make far fetched excuses to justify the position the clients were just cheap skates and would have been trouble to assert their position.
This is so much more than an argument of who is right and who is wrong in the discussion, it's very real in the way people are running and in fact hurting their business and income. That goes into real world problems and stresses and the quality of life they are having for themselves and for those that have them, their families.

You can blog your arse off, spend 23 hours a day sucking up and talking sickening sweet drivel on FB, Buy every bit of new equipment the day it comes out and edit every picture pixel by pixel in the impossible dream of making a perfect image BUT, if you can't handle a simple customer objection in the sales process, it's all for nothing and those clients you will get are no where near as smart and clever to choose you as you want to think. You are going to be working your arse off and getting lower returns for your efforts because in reality, the clients you book are more to do with luck than your skill in sales or business.

The attitudes not even the example here show that how being such a great shooter still does not compensate for a lack of business skills and having good work does not stop you from blowing clients away for no good reason.

This isn't another of those intangible discussions of should the cropping of the picture been taken 3mm to the left or which lens is better for covering receptions, in fact there are rules, solution's and practices used every minute of the day in other industries for the same problem.
Having the demonstrated position in those vocations as many have demonstrated here would have you thrown out on your arse for being incompetent even if you were a junior!

And also it's not about whether THESE particular clients were tight arses or not.
So many here have jumped to the automatic conclusion they were, yet not one single person saying that has even asked or suggested qualifying questions that any knowledgeable person in sales or business would automatically suggest to see if they were or not. That one tell tale alone gives the whole game away.

That fact alone makes the "They are tightarse cheapskates" position flawed and undermined because no one of that position has suggested a thing to find out, they just automatically decided they were.
And that alone is a huge problem well beyond these clients. No one knows, they are just jumping to a conclusion based on a lack of knowledge on how to handle the situation correctly and concocting a defense for that in front of their peers.
For the equally lacking in knowledge it may work, for those that know better, it's sad and transparent.

The root of this very unfortunate attitude seems to be a real mix of ignorance and ego...... and that's a very dangerous thing for a one man operation to have if they want to make a decent living and provide for heir families.

Perhaps that isn't the goal of some here. Maybe there is more than I realise that really are just in photography for the ego trip and having a day job to fall back on ( NOT Having a go at the OP specifically although it may well apply) they can indulge themselves in not having to bother to learn how to run a successful stand alone business. That's OK for them but it is not OK or fair to espouse the same unprofessional attitudes and ignorance to others.

And there is another fact here that stating will bruise a few egos and create some indignation in it's truth.
A look at the posting history of a number of people that are arguing the clients were cheap skates shows a VERY strong tendency for those people to post here predominantly in technical discussions about equipment or picture critique. Their interest in this clearly overwhelms any interest in how to run their business successfully or their contribution or participation in those discussions.
Yeah, it took a lot of time to go through a LOT of posts but anyone whom has a nothing better to do and too much time as I have can see and verify that before trying to rebuke it.
It really makes it like a plumber telling a sparkie the best way to run an electrical circuit.

If you never spend any time learning and educating yourself in something, then what the Fk makes you think you are really going to know how to do it well?
I'm sure everyone here would say that you have to study and practice photography to know about and be good at it so similarly, to be good at business would require a lot more than just bumbling through it with no actually time learning or worse still, going on flawed mythical opinion as espoused by those equally lacking in actual knowledge or education on the subject.

No built in features or bit of gear you can get to make you better at business like with equipment you can buy off the shelf so why do those that put Zero or near to it effort into business think they can judge a client and know what their position is when they don't even have the knowledge to ask a single qualifying question to ascertain that?

This isn't about who is right or wrong in a debate, it's about why so many struggle and do it hard in this industry and a significant reason in in the less than favorable position it is and still sinking.

If one is serious about having a successful business, photography or otherwise, you owe it to yourself and those whom may depend on you or just miss you when you are out shooting, to pull your head out of your arse and spend SOME of your time learning how to do what you do, running a business, correctly and efficiently.

If you can't do that, then stick to what you do know like the technical specs of every bit of gear out there that you do spend loads of time researching rather than business or sales that you have never spent a moment educating yourself on and know less about than you even realise.


I'll be honest, I only got to your 3rd paragraph

I have to be SUPER bored to read the rest.

Basically you said I suck at doing business and you're 100% right
While making 85k a year at my day job, I guess I don't care fore losing a lowballing client.
I would've done things way more different had I did photography full time. Case closed!



Mar 18, 2017 at 09:40 PM





  Previous versions of Elijah's message #13966609 « Lowballing clients »

 




This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.