Running a small business is no easy task. It's messy and thrilling, and terrifying all at the same time. But no matter what, it's definitely a journey worth taking. As a mom of two littles, I know the daily struggles, and I'm here to walk this journey with you. If you're ready to feel empowered, encouraged and on fire for the things you truly love, then you're in the right place. I'm Rebecca Rice, a pizza loving hot chocolate drinking family photographer and educator. And this is the business Journey podcast.
Hello, friends, welcome back to the business Journey podcast. In today's episode, we're talking all about how to set boundaries, healthy boundaries, with difficult clients. It's one of those topics that is super fun to chat through or to experience yourself. But as we're, you know, headed into busy season, it's bound to happen, especially the more that you start booking, you're gonna have one or two just really difficult clients, it just happens every year. And so I'm hoping to be able to, like equip you with some tools to be able to use when that happens. And I don't say if because you know, I've been in this industry long enough to know that people are people, and it's gonna happen at some point. And so the more prepared you are to handle difficult clients, then the better off you're going to end up being. Because we all know it's the worst. If you've ever had to deal with difficult clients, I feel like your first one is always the worst, because you feel so helpless, and you don't know what to do, and you kind of start panicking. And my goal for you is to kind of help alleviate some of that talking through some experiences that you know, I've dealt with. And hopefully, we'll be able to help yours go smoother, when it does happen. Before we get too far, I wanted to let you know about a brand new free class that we have just for you guys. That's all about how to double your photography revenue this year. And it is going to walk through all kinds of things from a little bit of business basics, not much, but mostly business marketing, and how to get in front of more clients, because at the end of the day, pretty pictures will only get you so far. And if you really want to scale up your photography business, you're gonna have to learn a solid marketing strategy. And so in this free class, I walk through what that looks like and how you can do that in your business. And so you can check that out, it's linked in the show notes are brand new business class, so you can go sign up for that today. Now, let's get into what to do when you're having to deal with difficult clients how to set healthy boundaries, and just be able to like walk out of it gracefully. So some examples of some difficult clients that I've dealt with in the past my team has dealt with in the past could be things like a client is wanting their photos way sooner than you promised or that's in your contract. I remember one time we had a client who didn't read her contract. I mean, we had our turnaround time listed in like four or five different places. And I remember it was getting closer to like the holidays. And the closer you get to the holidays, the more crazy people get just a warning. And so as we got closer to the holidays, she was meeting to you know, get her photos to be able to order holiday cards and things like that, which I totally understand. But she booked her session really last minute. And so it was really close to I can't remember if it was right up close to Thanksgiving. I think it was like days, it hadn't been days before Thanksgiving. And she was livid that she didn't have her photos within 24 hours, like what I don't understand. And so she ended up calling one of my team members, because this was the session that associate had done. So she was calling one of my team members just going off super mad. She sent several emails, it got to the point that I called her and I was like, hey, because I think at that point, my team had given her my phone number. And so she left me this really long, nasty message just terrible about how unprofessional we were and she couldn't believe that we didn't have her she'd ever photos and blah, blah, blah. And she demanded. I mean, this had to have been like three or four days after session, mind you the week of Thanksgiving. So she was demanding that we send her photos within 24 hours, blah, blah, blah. I couldn't believe it. I was like what is wrong with people? And so I ended up calling her back and she did didn't answer. And so I left her a voicemail basically saying, like, Hey, I hear you, you're feeling really stressed that it's close to holiday cards, and you know, you're needing to get them ordered. And I totally understand. Our turnaround time is two weeks, it's listed on the contract that you signed the invoice that you paid our initial contact whenever we are first messaging you. And several emails, you know, we, we literally haven't listed so many places, our two week turnaround time. And typically we get photos back within one week. But because it was the week of Thanksgiving, we were extending it to the full two weeks. But either way, we were still going to get photos back in time before the two week deadline that we had promised. And so I basically said, and I listed out all those things, I said, Yeah, your turnaround time is listed here and here and here and here. And we will not be getting your photos back within 24 hours, you can expect to receive them on such and such date, we're really excited to show them to you, I think you're gonna love them. And you know, hope you have a great day. That was all I could do. Because clearly we were not in the wrong in any way. She was calling us during a holiday. I don't think it was on Thanksgiving. But it was definitely the week of Thanksgiving. When my team it takes the week off just to you know, be with their families and enjoy family time and things like that. And it was just ridiculous. And so that was one of many kind of crazy people that we've dealt with. We've also had people, it could be simple as clients constantly texting you asking for updates, it could be clients that are super, super picky about their gallery, that you deliver a gallery that is very consistent with your work that it looks great. And they're wanting all these other edits and tweaks and maybe they want them to look thinner. And they want you to go back and see if you have such and such shot and things like that to the point where it's like overboard. It's not fun dealing with clients. And some people can just be so rude about it. Like It'd be one thing if they were asking really nicely and stuff like that. But some people are just brutal. And so I want to give you a few like really practical things that you can do, you'll notice that, you know, I did some of these in that interaction with that woman on the phone call. But some ways that you can hopefully alleviate some of that stress for yourself, because it is stressful when you know, especially if you're like a people pleaser, and you don't like people being upset with you, then it can be really, really hard or you don't like confrontation, having to be able to set healthy boundaries to protect yourself, because some people just have very unrealistic expectations and things like that. So the first tip that I would give for how to set healthy boundaries with difficult clients is first and foremost, to stay professional, and kind. And I think the emphasis needs to be on kind because when somebody is coming at you, it can be really easy to like match their energy and get all riled up and you know all the things, especially if you don't mind confrontation, then it for sure can be easy to do that. But it's so so important that anytime that you're dealing with any sort of client that seems upset, then you have to stay kind and don't let them walk all over you. That doesn't mean be super, you know permissive and things like that. But you can be kind in the tone that you're using in the words that you're using and the way that you're speaking to them. Because kindness goes a long way. And even if they don't appreciate the kindness, you can know in your own heart that you handled it well and with grace. And so you really want to stay professional and kind. Another thing you want to keep in mind is when somebody is really upset about something, it's always best to handle things on the phone. So if you can get them on the phone, where you know, text cannot be misconstrued things like that, that's great. If that makes you super uncomfortable and anxious and all the things that's okay. Or maybe you'd prefer to have a lot of things in writing, which I totally understand that as well. I
think there's definitely a time and place for that than doing so over email is probably the best solution there. But still staying kind of in your correspondence so that they have no ammunition to be able to say that you were rude and disrespectful and whatnot. So understanding that we're going to stay kind and professional and respectful. A big thing that you can do is whenever somebody is being difficult, again, whether they're mad about something or they're just being really picky or they're asking for things beyond what you provide, then the next thing I would say is to refer to your contract. This is why it's so so important to have a solid contract that was written by an attorney that has things in there to protect you so that you can lean on that contract when you know things are kind of up In the air, and you don't know client is trying to push boundaries and things like that, you can always refer back to your contract. So in that phone call that I had with that woman, I was able to tell her like, hey, the contract that you signed, literally says our turnaround time is two weeks, you put an initial next to that, like, we literally have a spot where we say, I understand that I will receive my photos within two weeks, like she initialed it. And so that's definitely her fault for not reading what she signed. But because it was in the contract as able to refer back to that, I refer back to my contract a lot when it comes to editing, where, you know, if somebody asks me to make them look thinner, I tell them like, listen, like I do not edit anything that's not going to be gone on its own within a week or two. And so obviously, if a kid has like a big scrape on their face, or something of that nature, like sure, I will edit that out. But I'm not going to alter somebody's body that is like just naturally the way that they are, I believe that every body is beautiful and deserves to be captured. And if they're uncomfortable in their body, I'm not going to be the one to alter their body and asking for photos that are not included in the gallery, I also have a spot in my contract where I specifically say they cannot ask for specific photos because I hold the right to which photos I choose to include in the gallery. And typically, if there's a photo that that is not in the gallery, there's a reason it's not in the gallery, it didn't turn out the way that I thought or the posing was not flattering, or whatever, because I tend to try a lot of different things. And sometimes they work and sometimes they don't. And if a pose is not flattering to my client, I'm not going to include in the gallery, if somebody has their eyes closed, or it's blurry or whatever, it's not my best representation of my work, it's not going in the gallery. And so some of those I intentionally leave out. But I'm protected in my contract by saying that they cannot ask for specific images like I hold the right to include whatever images I want to in their final gallery. Now occasionally, if it's like a shot that I know that we took that I know turned out, of course, like I'll go look and I'm a human, sometimes we make mistakes and culling. And I will, you know, obviously go through and if it is a photo that turned out just fine, then I'll get it edited and added to the gallery. But most of the time, there's a reason that I left it out. And so that's the you know, the kind of thing that I refer back to my contract for. So if you don't have a contract, I mentioned this in our last episode, if you don't have a contract that's written by an attorney, that will hold up in court, if something were to ever happen, just a very small chance, but still you want to be protected and you want to have something to be able to refer back to that is actually solid, then I highly suggest getting a investing in a contract that was written by an attorney, you don't want to use one of those like free contracts you find on the internet, not great. So if you need a contract, you don't have one that's written by an attorney, that's legit. I do have one available in my shop that you can go check out. And you know that one was written by an attorney, it was written specifically for family photographers, it's the very contract I use in my own business. So you can go check that out. Okay, so stay professional and kind refer to your contract. The third thing I have is to give a yes with a boundary. This is something that I learned many years ago from Amy and Jordan Deimos, they are so great at this at giving a yes with a boundary we want to try to be as accommodating as possible, but we need to set healthy boundaries. And so let's say there's some kind of special edit that mom wants made maybe I don't know if it's like she wants face swaps, or she wants like something on her dress edited or whatever. I don't know usually I'll edit like dress things just included but let's say there's something extenuating like they want a car removed from the background and you're like in a busy city or something like that. I don't I don't know what it could be but uh yes with a boundary could be yes, I would love to help edit a few you know some of those for you go ahead and choose three images from your gallery and I will get those specially edited for you because you know, it's something that's outside of my normal scope. But so you're giving a guest but the boundary is I'm not going to do it for every single photo in your gallery pick your three favorites and I will do those so that's a good kind of find a middle ground for something like that. The yes with the boundary for the crazy lady on the phone that I was talking to you know it was yes, we are so excited to get your photos to boundary you'll get them on such and such date like within your contracted two weeks like we agreed that yes is pointing to the positive of we're so excited. You are gonna get your gallery. Oh my gosh, you're gonna love them. boundary, here's the date when we're going to send them. So that does help kind of alleviate some of the, I don't know, tension or whatnot. Yeah, so the boundary does well, the next tip that I have is try your hardest with difficult clients not to burn bridges. Like I said earlier, it can be really easy to like match the energy of somebody. And I'm just a huge believer that it's always best to not be the person that is just burning bridges to the ground, right. Because if we can make something right, for a client, I've had clients in the past where we had some kind of run in, they were being difficult about something, but we were able to find some kind of resolution. And because we didn't burn the bridge, they ended up booking photo sessions with me, you know, in the future, and it turned out just fine. And So had I match their energy and burn the bridge, you know, I would have lost a client for ever have, right? There are also some clients that like threatened to just leave terrible reviews, and blah, blah, blah, like it can get really messy. So when you can try not to burn bridges. But I understand that sometimes, like there's nothing that you can do to make them happy, right? There's been occasional times and you'll experience this, the more that you shoot, you will have like a very few handful of people that are just going to be so mad about something that you as a photographer are in the right, like they're in the wrong for what they're mad about, they have some kind of unrealistic expectation. And they're just really, really mad, and they want to leave bad reviews and whatever. If all else fails, what I would suggest is offering a full refund, and delete their gallery, like just tell them, You know what, it sounds like, it doesn't matter what I say, you're not going to be happy with the solution. Here's your refund, I'm deactivating your gallery. And at that point, just move on we my team jokes, we have what we call a do not fly list, where it's literally a list of people that were like, Nope, they're blacklisted, we are not booking these people. Again, the list is very small, but it exists because we have a handful of clients that have just been so so terrible, and like hateful to us. And it was really clear that there was nothing that we could do to come up with a resolution. And so it ended up like if all else fails, we went ahead offered the refund or gave the refund, sometimes they were mad about it. And we just said, Hey, we have processed your refund, you're gonna get it and we deactivate the gallery. At that point, we do block on all social media, like we don't want them seeing our Facebook ads, we don't want them seeing anything, just our normal posts, because sometimes people can go crazy and start just like totally bad mouthing and commenting on everything that you post and whatever harassing, we don't want to deal with it. So at that point, when it's just clear that there's not going to be a resolution, refund, deactivate the gallery, and we just block on all social media and add them to the Do Not book list. And so from there, that's it, we're not going to deal with it anymore. And like I said, that's like the extreme, we have a very short list of people that that's actually happened with. So don't panic thinking like,
oh my gosh, what did I get myself into? It's very rare, it's not going to happen. Often, most of the time, there's some kind of resolution that can be found in the previous steps of just being professional and kind referring to your contract and giving some kind of Yes, with a boundary. If there's something that we can do to appease them, we're going to try to do that. There's some people that are in the camp of like, no, don't ever ever refund, stick with your guns, you know, whatever. But if that person is going to be happier, at the end of the day, like truly happier just receiving the refund, like we'd rather just do that and kind of help save from like the negative review or the bad mouthing to all their friends or whatever. Like, at the end of the day, we're just trying to make it right. And if we truly were at fault, look, we will own up to that, like it is what it is that happens. We're all human. But in the event that we were we're not in the wrong and the client just has unrealistic expectations. We're going to try everything we can to find some kind of solution. But if all else fails, refund and just walk away and be done. So I don't say that to scare you. I hope this doesn't scare you. Hopefully this gives you some an episode at least like refer back to one day when you do have a difficult client that comes your way that you are like I don't know what to do. I don't know how to respond to this person. The gallery looks great. I don't know why they're upset, you know, things like that. Then hopefully this episode gives you some like really practical things to be able to lean on and to use in your conversation with them. But if you take nothing from it, stay kind like kindness goes a really, really long way. And I would say probably 90% of our difficult clients when we remain kind in our interactions. with them, then we're able to find a solution. And you know, we can move on and it's okay. And things are fine. It doesn't have to escalate and go crazy and whatnot, just by staying kind most of the time, not always, but most of the time, that's enough to kind of resolve the situation. So I hope this episode is helpful for you, again, not one of those that's like super fun and uplifting, necessarily. But it's, I think, a really important conversation that is helpful just from somebody that has had the years of experience to maybe somebody that hasn't. And if you're listening, and you have not dealt with a difficult client like that yet, or maybe you have and you like, didn't know how to process it or handle it. Hopefully, this episode is helpful in getting you prepared for the next time that something like that happens. And like I said, they're few and far between, it's not going to happen all the time. But they're going to come up. And so when they do, now you're prepared, you're equipped, at least with some things in your arsenal to kind of help smooth things over. So if you ever, like encounter a situation that you really have no idea what to do, my biggest suggestion is to make a post in our student community on Facebook. And if you're not a part and you're a student in any of our courses, you can go and that link is linked at the top of all of our courses. So you can go join there, make a post in the student group and ask like, what do I do, and usually people are really good at helping out for like, how to word things and things like that. I know, it just usually helps to have like some kind of little sounding board when dealing with stuff like that. But there we go. Not super fun, but really, really practical episode that I hope you find helpful. And I am excited for your fall season. It's gonna go so well. Hopefully you won't have to use this episode at all. That would be great. But just in case you do, it's here for you to refer back to So with that, we'll go ahead and close out for today and I'll see you back next time with another episode. Bye guys.
