Payment Ethics

Having just read Kris Malandruccolo's article in EventDV magazine, "Show Me The Money" I'd like to offer a different viewpoint: It is not social acceptable to pay for services in advance which are carried out out over a period of time. One of the consumer advocate's main warnings is never to pay for anything 100% in advance. I contend that our industry should not be exempt from that rule.

I like to think of myself as an artist but in a fiscal sense we are much like contractors. We are shopped, questioned, our past work is inspected, our referrals are taken into consideration and hopefully we are chosen. Our services are then retained with a payment. We then complete the contracted service in steps much like a contractor we may hire to work on our home. First we shoot, then we edit and then we deliver. A contractor will buy supplies and proceed through the construction phase on a schedule. When their work is completed and approved they get paid the remainder of what is owed to them. But unlike every other field that has this similar workflow event videographers seem to believe that they should have the entire contracted amount before they have done any work at all.

One justification used for getting paid in advance is the everyone-else-does-so-why-shouldn't-I argument , but that doesn't hold up to scrutiny, and this is why - nearly all other event vendors are 'day-of' service providers, meaning that at the end of the event their job is done. They have a right to get paid in advance. Nearly all event videographers, on the other hand, don't deliver their product until it is edited. As much as 80% of the time necessary to produce an event video is dedicated to post-production activities. (See ‘What Goes Into Creating an Event Video?’ for details) Should the product not live up to expectations, have serious faults or not be delivered in a timely manner the consumer is left powerless. They have no recourse. They have no bargaining power. There is no doubt that most videographers, whether they are asking for full payment upfront or not, will make every effort to assure that their past clients are referral-spewing ambassadors for their companies. But during the sales process the fact is not lost on the consumer that the videographer is under no obligation to make things right should anything go wrong. As a consumer I would never allow myself into that position and I don’t ask my clients to either.

What can we do to protect ourselves and still have a 'normal' (read: financially safe for both parties) business relationship with our clients? Most importantly - trust your clients. Building a trustworthy and respectful relationship needs to start with us. Trust endears trust. Develop a policy by which you'll allow them see the video before they pay the final balance, be it in your office, at their home or with a watermarked preview copy that has been delivered to them. The adoption of this practice can have only beneficial and positive effects on our industry. As it stands a company can deliver an inferior product and still retain 100% of the payments. This leave the consumer disgruntled and the company is allowed to continue supplying a poor product. Were there a balance to be paid upon approval of the product that company would either be forced to improve the quality or their product or go out of business, both of which would serve to strengthen our image in the bridal marketplace.

There is also a deeper psychological side to this debate, one that deals with our own self-perceptions and doubts. Many of us put our hearts and souls into what we do. The programs can become the focus of our self-judgement. By leaving a balance due upon approval we open ourselves up to criticism. In this way asking for payment in advance might be seen as a sign of insecurity. We need to transcend that mindset and be more responsive to what the consumer wants. By taking their suggestions for adjustments or changes and listening to their comments about what may or may have been included we learn how to craft a product that is more in tune with what the consumer wants and expects. We should realize that it is time to show that we, as an industry, have matured and have confidence in our abilities and the emotional and historical value of our product.