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to go or as platters that can be opened and set up by you (or, more likely, the assistants). Many will be more than happy to prepare their lunchtime-menu sandwiches, cold salads, and fruits and cheeses for you in an attractive manner. A gourmet coffeehouse can provide the coffee (and tea assortment!) and will make sure you have enough cream, sugar, stirrers, and cups to go around. Yes, Starbucks can and does do this, but there are also other options. For early shoots, breakfasts are often fruit, bagels, coffee and tea, Danish, and donuts. Don't skimp and stop at 7-11 or a gas station food mart. Go the distance! It makes a difference, and you are billing for it, as the client expects you to.

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NOTE

A point about Starbucks: They did not start up their business looking to undersell the local coffee shop. Instead, they tripled the price of a cup of coffee by delivering a better customer experience with more choices and amenities and services than anyone else—by a long shot. Clients more often than not have a strong desire for a premium service and are willing to pay a premium for it.

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If the shoot ends and the client suggests getting dinner (or lunch), you should already have a few suggestions about nearby and convenient options. Going so far as to have a faxed copy of the menu is definitely something to make the client remember you—even though some may suggest this is over the top. It would take no more than 10 minutes to do research on the Internet with a Zip code from a guide such as Zagat or a localized guide from the city's newspaper and then print out some menus and have them as a part of your shoot materials.

You should be prepared to pick up the bill, and an approximation of that may well have been in your estimate under "meals" or some variation of that. If not, offer to pick up the bill to make a good impression on the client. This means you should be the first one to reach for the bill when it hits the table or as it is coming to the table. If, as you do, the client says, "Oh, I'll take that," a courteous and sincere, "Are you sure?" will be followed by a "Yes, I'll take it" from the client. Then, it is critical that you accept and not argue about it. Just say thank you.

There is only one circumstance in which it is correct to split the bill, and that is when you are doing an assignment for a government agency or a private company that has a government agency contract. Many contracts stipulate the importance of these things as a part of what a government client or a company representing the government can legally accept, but do what you can to be the magnanimous one. The client(s) will remember it.

Lastly, I would also encourage—especially on big shoots where there are a number of crew members working with you, and also when the client is there—that you have a "wrap dinner." In some instances, you'll want to invite the client, and in other instances you'll want it to just be you and your team.

Deliver When You Say You Will or Sooner

Deadlines. Why is it that so many people have such little regard for deadlines? They're not maybe-lines, if-it's-convenient-lines, or whenever-you-want-lines—a deadline is a deadline. Period. If you can deliver sooner, and especially if it benefits the client, then do so.

For many of our clients, we started with a two-day turnaround, but then clients who had their photographs produced on a Friday wanted them Monday. So we changed that to a 48-business-hour turnaround. That means an assignment completed Friday evening at 9:00 p.m. will be ready by Tuesday evening at 9:00 p.m., which is too late to make an overnight delivery or courier service, so it's usually scheduled to go out Wednesday morning via courier. However, for overnight service we will ensure that the images are done in time for those service pickup times.

Sometimes a client will say, "I need you to rush those images, and I know there are rush charges." That's fine. Sometimes a client will say, "It'd help to have them tomorrow, but we can't afford the rush charges." It's these clients that