[00:00:00] Can you just send us the raw files? We usually don't do 50% deposits. This will be great exposure. Yes, you guessed it. Today we're talking about client red flags. What are the biggest red flags I see and how can we avoid these client red flags? Before we begin working with these clients, I've worked with over 50 businesses ranging from small shops to large corporations.
I've seen a lot of red flags during the past few years doing product photography.
The other month, I posted all these red flags on Twitter and you guys love them. So today we're really gonna dive into them on this podcast. By the way, if you're new here, my name is Chris Pieta. I teach creative business and run a product photography company.
Welcome to the Creative Biz Launch Podcast, where we talk about how to grow your creative business and scale to six figures, whether you're a photographer, filmmaker, or. You'll find something of value here. I'm talking about client red flags today, but let's take care of something real quick at the start here.
This is not me bashing my clients. I love my clients. They are the reason why my business [00:01:00] exists. They are the life of my business. But every so often you come across a client that is really tough to work with. They micromanage, they pay their invoices. And they have unrealistic expectations. These are clients that we want to avoid, and if we can figure out what red flags to look out for, we'll be able to screen our clients early on and not work with these red flag clients.
Listen until the end of this podcast, and I'll actually teach you how I filter out these clients before they become my clients. Now, with that outta. Let's get into red flag number one. We can find someone cheaper, but we just love your work. Can you give us a discount? Okay. There's a lot to unwrap here. On the surface, it might seem like they're just trying to get the best deal, but they've already admitted that they don't really value your rate.
They're already looking for a discount. They're comparing your rate to that of cheaper photographers. Yes, they do love your work and that is honest, and they acknowledge that it's expensive for them. But they're [00:02:00] also saying that if someone is doing it cheaper, so should you, there's a reason that people do it cheaper because they're not as good as you because they don't provide as much failure as you, but the client doesn't see that here.
When the client begins looking at the numbers and not the value behind your work, that's a red flag. They're concerned about the bottom line here, and they just want the project done for the lowest number possible. They don't care about the results you can bring. They're just concerned about their bottom line here.
They just want the best photographer for the cheapest price. And yes, as a business, this makes total sense. But they also don't understand that cheaper may be less expensive on paper, but they will also get a lower ROI from working with that photographer. An expensive pro photographer can actually increase their sales and help their company tremendously.
Just because someone is cheaper doesn't mean it's the best option for their business right then and there. They might go with that cheaper photographer and then have to go work with a more expensive option later on when that cheaper photographer [00:03:00] couldn't deliver on this. It's okay for clients to ask for a lower rate, but when they start comparing you to cheaper options, this raises a red flag.
Okay. Moving on to number two here. Number two, this one is an instant deal breaker for me. When I hear this red flag, I run the other way right away. What is red flag number two? Red flag number two is when they refuse to pay a 50% deposit. A 50% deposit is standard in photography contracts. Unless you're doing a long-term retainer, a 50% deposit is nongo.
Clients that refuse to pay. This will be a nightmare to work within the long term. This is a red flag you just can't accept. Okay, that was a quick and easy one. Moving on here, client red flag number three. When they say your contract is intense, I've heard of other photographers saying this and have gotten it myself a few times as well.
Even though my contracts are only a two-thirds of a page, this usually means that they haven't really worked with many creative [00:04:00] professionals. They might not be used to contracts. Both of these make working with clients harder and yeah, this isn't an instant deal breaker, but these types of clients will be harder to work with just because they haven't worked with career professionals before.
It's much, much easier to work with experienced clients, so they have an idea of what to expect when working with a professional like you. On the other hand, if they aren't used to contracts, they might be only used to working with inexpensive and unprofessional creatives as well. This also makes things a lot harder for you.
Also, if they're asking you to remove terms from your contract, they are acting a little shady sometimes. This is fine and that you have a lot of terms. That some are negotiable. I've definitely removed a term here and there, but if they're rewriting your whole contract, then this client might not be the best to work with.
Okay, so we've gone through three red flags here. I need to tell you a harsh truth here. If you have zero clients and you're just getting started in photography, videography, or whatever your creative field is, [00:05:00] you're going to have to put up with these red flags. You don't have a choice here. It's much, much better to have a red flag client than no client at all when you're starting out, because any client on your portfolio, any case study, is better than nothing there.
Hopefully your first clients are awesome, but if they aren't, well at least you have that social proof saying that you've worked with clients. Social proof is so important when you're starting out. The more clients you. The easier it is to get that next client. So when you're working with a red flag client at the start, that might suck for a little bit, but remember that that client will help you get better clients later on.
So at the start, you might have to bite the bullet and work with these bad clients. Anyways, let's talk about red flag number four. Red flag number four is, we don't have a budget yet, but we want you to be part of the. . Okay, so I heard this one from one of you guys actually, but wow, they can't bring themselves to [00:06:00] admit what they're actually looking for in this situation.
They just want free work. That's it. And they're trying to paint you as being part of their mission here. If a client tells you this, you can respond by asking for a stake in their company. Be like, yeah, I'd love to be part of this mission. How about a 1% stake in the company in exchange for all the services?
I'll be. At this point, they're gonna backtrack and think of some excuse to try and get that free work out of you. This red flag, I would say it's non-negotiable. Free work is good, but free work only should happen when you're approaching the client with their free work, not when they're going to you asking for free work.
Okay? All right, now red flag number five. This one is really similar. This is actually one my girlfriend, Kayla. A company told her we want to do things organically again here, they just want free work. They're calling it organic content because they don't wanna actually ask you for the free work itself. I think this is a pretty funny way of them [00:07:00] trying to sell this to you.
They try and justify getting people to work for free by calling it organic work, and that's just silly. Like I mentioned, working for free is fine, and I do actually recommend it early on to get your first clients, but when the expectation from the client approaching you as free work, then that is not okay.
Okay. If you have zero clients right now in your niche, you can try something like I offer product photos for food brands, and I've got some great ideas for your company. I'm new to this niche, but I've actually been doing photography for five years now. I'm offering a free base package for you. No string attached.
I'm just trying to bill up my portfolio here. Saying something like this is great because it conveys why you're working for free and it gives them massive value to the client. You still have some credibility here because you've talked about how long you've been doing photography, and the only reason you're offering free work is to get into this new niche, so they trust that you can probably do good work.
There's no risk attached because you're doing it for free. So this is a fantastic [00:08:00] way to land your first clients. Like I said, working for free is good in the beginning of your journey, but only when you're the one approaching the client. Okay, we got two more here, six and seven. These are pretty similar and I want to get into these.
Number six is they can't describe what they're looking for, and number seven, all the photographers they've hired haven't been good. When they say that all the photographers they've hired haven't been here enough, nine times out of 10, that client is a problem, not the photographer. This comes down to them not knowing what they want.
If everyone you meet in the world sucks, chances are it's not the other people. It's you. If all your relationships fail, it's probably your fault. And if all the photographers you hire suck, well, it's probably something wrong with you. These types of clients you definitely want to avoid. I've worked with a few here where they said they don't know what they're looking for and they can't even provide me examples of what they.
There's millions of photographs on the internet. [00:09:00] I'm sure they could pull some things from there to show me what they're looking for. There's a difference between a client giving you creative control versus not knowing what they want. I always ask clients for brands that they would like to emulate.
This gives me an idea of what kind of creative direction I should take for a project. This is usually pretty straightforward for clients to come up with. They'll send me a few photos they like and we shoot, and they're. I once had this client that said he couldn't find any examples that he likes online, and he just knows it in his head what he likes, but he refused to provide me with any images or even descriptions when I was starting this project.
I thought, okay, great. I could just do whatever I want and they're gonna be happy with it. I was very, very wrong here. I thought the assets I came up with were awesome. I created a set of assets for this client that really captured his product in a new light, and the assets were way, way better than what he had on his website already.
I. When I sent the assets over, he was not happy. [00:10:00] I asked him how we could make this right and what direction I could take with the photos, and he just said, I like what I like, and then he refused to provide me with any examples. So this is why it's very important for clients to have some idea of what they want, because while it may seem like they're giving you complete creative control, it might not be that case.
Okay, so how do we screen for red flag clients? This is a really important tactic that we can use so that we only work with the good clients
while part of my client acquisition process is hopping on a discovery call or a sales call. This is a great time for me to learn about the client's needs, what they're looking for, what problems they have, and also screen them to see if they're gonna be a good client to work with. I always ask them a bunch of questions on this call, and one of my favorite questions to ask to screen them is, Why did you stop working with your previous photographer?
That's it. That's the question. Why did you stop working with your previous photographer? Their answer will reveal a lot about what kind of client [00:11:00] they're gonna be. They're either going to rant about how the photographer couldn't get the shoot right after a few reshoots. That is a red flag. If they say the photographer had a long turnaround time, then that's fine.
A lot of photographers have this. That's a great answer. That's not a red flag. You have to listen to how they answer this question. Listen closely and see if it's a problem with themselves or with the photographer. If you identify that it's a problem with themselves, then this is probably a red flag client and you're probably going to wanna move.
This is a really important screening question. Over time, you'll begin to learn which clients will be easy to work with and which will suck. Most of the time, clients are great, but then for the 10% of clients that are tough to work with, it's important to be able to screen them to save yourself from headaches.
Okay, one more thing. What happens if you come across a red flag client and you don't want to work with them, but they wanna work with you while obviously you're not gonna call them a red flag client and just say no. Right there and there. The simplest way I found is to just raise your rates. [00:12:00] You can pick a number.
That will be a point where you'd be fine working with them. Maybe you normally charge a thousand dollars for your base package. Maybe you want to charge 3000 because this is the only number that it'll make it so that it's worth working with this client. Whatever that price is, you tell them that new price and then you'll either get a yes or a no.
If they say yes, well you might have a red flag client, but you're gonna make a lot of money off this client and it'll be worth the headache. Or they'll say no, and you'll just go back to finding a different client.
Either way here, it's going to be a win-win for you. That's all I got today. Remember, most of your clients will be fantastic. This is where the 80 20 rule applies, right? 80% of your clients will be wonderful, 20% might be hard to work with, and then those 20% will probably take up 80% of your time. So bear that in.
My name is Chris Pieta. This is the Crib Biz Launch Podcast. If you have a spare 15 seconds, please rate it on whatever podcast [00:13:00] platform. Just dreaming us on. It will really help us share this message with more and more people. All right, I will see you next time. All.
