Clients and Professionalism

I have one client I'll swear by, come hell or high water. I do just one thing for them in a year and the money I get from them is just about okay. No great shakes. But the professionalism they display makes it all worth my while.

The client is Sun-N-Sand Hotel and I have been emceeing their in-house New Year bash for the last three years. The deal goes like clockwork. About a month before the event I'm called to meet the F & B Manager and asked to submit my quote. That done, about 15 days before the event I'm given a Work Order. No one in the organisation tries to prove their ability to write scripts or organise games. The event itself goes smoothly because the Hotel has everything organised and I don't have to put out fires at the last minute because some manager was trying to cover his arse and screwed up the programme in the bargain. About a week after the event, I'm given my cheque.

Contrast that with my latest experience with a corporate (let's call it XYZ). I was contacted to write a script, direct (rank amateurs drawn from the company pool) and stage a skit for this company that wanted to 'make a hit' with its American counterpart, whose representatives would be attending the programme. So I duly quoted, bearing in mind the amount of work I'd have to put in. Said company then began a game of "I'm not available to discuss this."

Sure enough, about a week after I'd quoted, I got a call from ANOTHER entity, saying there was a requirement for a script and direction of a skit to be staged by employees of a company. I was told the budget is Rs. x, said x being about 1/6th what I had quoted.

Mama didn't raise no fools, and I bluntly asked if XYZ was the company in question, to get a flustered "Yes" in reply.

Wakey-wakey, you silly corporates. You can't shop around in a one-horse town.

Deepak