My biggest client is a multi-national conglomerate. They do lots of meetings and shows, but we have traditionally only done the really high end ones. Things like their shareowners meeting, and their big awards dinners... They decided that perhaps we should do some of the slightly smaller meetings that they spend less money on... To this I say, great!... Problem is, they want the same end result they get for lots of money... So we do what we do, and work things out so we can get the prices down, through recycling other shows scenery, and using only in stock lighting, etc... This is where the insanity begins...
They decide at the last second, that they need another room... That's another ball room folks... That means another show basically... But hey, we can deal with that, it was the ballroom right next to where we were, and we could get it at the same time...So I worked out a crew, and a rough schedule in my mind, so we could do it all in one 10 hour day... Possibly 11, but most likely 10... Now get this... They didn't just add the room, they added intelligent lighting... We don't really do that, but no problem, I can get the gear, and a programmer, and all will be well... Oh, and they want custom gobos for the moving lights... Ok... I'll have them produced overnight, and fed-ex them in from Texas for an insane amount of money....
So we roll in with two trucks, plus a truck of subrental gear, and... oh wait, they forgot to mention, we can't get in the second ballroom until 6pm... It is now 8am on load in day when they remember to tell me this... What the hell are these people thinking?... They wanted it cheaper... Then they added an entire extra event room, plus some expensive lighting, and then they screw my schedule... They are going to scream bloody murder when they get the labor bill for me having to keep half the crew for an additional 6 hours to do the second room... Somehow I am not going to feel too bad... I don't know if they'll use me on their "smaller" events in the future... While I'd love to say I don't care, they do a lot of them, and they could be made nicely profitable, but I have to wonder if it would really be worth the headache that those events seems to produce...
"Know when to hold them. Know when to fold them."
Clients like that make my head explode. You are much more practicle than I to even worry about the loss.
I look at the aggrivation, extra expense, sock it to them and then if they walk - their loss. Most of the time, if they walk they find out they're screwed 'cause no one will tolerate that for long and end up coming back for the quality and the honesty. If they don't you didn't lose money, you gained peace of mind and a kept from losing any more profit.
Posted by: Tammi at June 23, 2004 01:35 AM