Author Topic: Do You Ever Turn Away PITA Prospective Clients? (Read 5792 times)

PaulieWalnuts · « **on:** February 24, 2014, 22:48 »

PITA = Pain In The A$$. You know the kind. They send you an email and after reading it you immediately think "if I accept them as a client I'm going to lose money". What do you do with them?

sweetgirll · « **Reply #1 on:** February 24, 2014, 23:21 »

What type of client? the ones who try to get you doing stuff for half of the price?

elvinstar · « **Reply #2 on:** February 25, 2014, 00:43 »

One of the main reasons that I work for myself is that my sanity is not for sale.

Also, keep in mind that you are NOT going to give the same level of service to a PITA that you will to a nice client, and you've created a scenario where someone may be out there talking about that poor service.

You aren't doing anyone favors working with people that you don't like.

stockphotoeurope · « **Reply #3 on:** February 25, 2014, 12:09 »

As a photographer, I am doing stock exactly to avoid dealing with clients.

In my other job (architect), trying to avoid troublesome clients is my second occupation. The first one being trying to get paid by troublesome clients that I wasn't able to screen out.

Setting a payment schedule and asking to be paid at least partly in advance usually works to weed out the worst of the lot.

farbled · « **Reply #4 on:** February 25, 2014, 14:44 »

Quote from: stockphotoeurope on February 25, 2014, 12:09

As a photographer, I am doing stock exactly to avoid dealing with clients.

+1
I love being my own boss when it comes to choosing my photos, subjects, etc.

EmberMike · « **Reply #5 on:** February 25, 2014, 16:40 »

Quote

Do You Ever Turn Away PITA Prospective Clients?

Every day.

Seriously, every freaking day.

I have a theory that no one should say "yes" to a new client more than 10% of the time. Really there are that few clients out there worth the time and effort.

Currently I'm saying "no" to new clients 100% of the time. I even put a note on my website to let people know I'm not taking new work. But of course that doesn't stop people from still asking.

cidepix · « **Reply #6 on:** February 25, 2014, 16:46 »

Quote from: PaulieWalnuts on February 24, 2014, 22:48

PITA = Pain In The A$$. You know the kind. They send you an email and after reading it you immediately think "if I accept them as a client I'm going to lose money". What do you do with them?

all the time..

I turn them away even if they pay well.. If I sense that a customer is going to cause me headaches, I make sure he/she gets no chance for it..

shotupdave · « **Reply #7 on:** February 25, 2014, 17:13 »

Quote from: PaulieWalnuts on February 24, 2014, 22:48

PITA = Pain In The A$$. You know the kind. They send you an email and after reading it you immediately think "if I accept them as a client I'm going to lose money". What do you do with them?

While in the computer business I had people come in that I knew that they were going to be trouble. They usually were the ones that would have their computers infected by viruses or malware.

cascoly · « **Reply #8 on:** February 25, 2014, 21:11 »

Quote from: shotupdave on February 25, 2014, 17:13

Quote from: PaulieWalnuts on February 24, 2014, 22:48
PITA = Pain In The A$$. You know the kind. They send you an email and after reading it you immediately think "if I accept them as a client I'm going to lose money". What do you do with them?

While in the computer business I had people come in that I knew that they were going to be trouble. They usually were the ones that would have their computers infected by viruses or malware.

they were also the ones who wanted a fixed price and inevitably wouldn't know what was required before, during or after the coding was done. so i'd set a high hourly rate, with frequent payments as the project moved along

Goofy · « **Reply #9 on:** February 25, 2014, 21:38 »

Quote from: PaulieWalnuts on February 24, 2014, 22:48

PITA = Pain In The A$$. You know the kind. They send you an email and after reading it you immediately think "if I accept them as a client I'm going to lose money". What do you do with them?

We have this guy at work who thinks he is the best photographer in the world - brags about his D800e (don't forget to mention the 'e' part on his camera) thus I send him all the PITA clients as possible. It's funny to listen to the PITA's complain that he charged them $75 for the 2 hour session and some even ask for their money back

PaulieWalnuts · « **Reply #10 on:** February 25, 2014, 22:05 »

Quote from: sweetgirll on February 24, 2014, 23:21

What type of client? the ones who try to get you doing stuff for half of the price?

Any kind of prospective client that after they contact you you immediately know from past experience that it just isn't going to go well.

Maybe they start off by asking for a ridiculous discount where you make almost no money. Or they want stuff for free and suggest that you'll more than make that up in the new business they bring you. Or they ask want you invest a ton of your time for them to spend very little money with you. Really any situation you know is going to end most likely unprofitable or with so many problems that it's not worth your time.

Carl · « **Reply #11 on:** February 26, 2014, 06:26 »

Life is too short to deal with PITA clients, so I stick with stock, and I'm beginning to branch out to fine art. The stress of dealing with such clients makes life even shorter! I've been without clients for so long that now I'm spoiled, and I don't want any (with a few exceptions here & there). Now that I'm older, with more life behind me than ahead of me, I only do what I enjoy doing. I wish I had begun doing that a lot earlier than I did.

stockphotoeurope · « **Reply #12 on:** February 26, 2014, 06:40 »

Quote from: PaulieWalnuts on February 25, 2014, 22:05

[...] they [...] want stuff for free and suggest that you'll more than make that up in the new business they bring you.

This is what 90% of my clients say, showing very little originality by the way.
And my usual reply is "Why would I want to do new business with you if you are not paying me this time in first place?"

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Author Topic: Do You Ever Turn Away PITA Prospective Clients? (Read 5792 times)

PaulieWalnuts

sweetgirll

elvinstar

stockphotoeurope

farbled

EmberMike

cidepix

shotupdave

cascoly

Goofy

PaulieWalnuts

Carl

stockphotoeurope

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