Are you Comfortable or Too Comfortable With Your Clients?

By: Tracey Manailescu

Recently I was shopping with one of my clients for his tuxedo and his six groomsmen’s suits. Mom, Dad, Grandma, Grandpa, the Bride-to-be, his best man, and two groomsmen filled out our awesome little group at the store. The staff came up to the Bride-to-be and I, and asked who Mom was.  We said that is the Groom’s mom.  She turned to the Bride-to-be and said, “Wow.  I feel sorry for you. She would drive me crazy!” Well, the Bride-to-be and I stood there with our mouths open for a couple of seconds, then the Bride-to-be turned to me and shook her head to just let it go. I immediately changed the subject and we moved long. Whoa!!! Remember, we were there to spend quite a bit of money on the Groom and his six groomsmen.

We decided not to mention this incident to the Groom.  You can bet your sweet patootie that I will never recommend bringing another client there. Ever! I also will be making a call to the store’s Manager once the wedding is over.

Another event that comes to mind was at a conference. One of the staff (a key staff for the event), who happened to be running the registration desk was openly gossiping and complaining about an attendee who was just at the desk a few moments before. This was in front of others waiting in line. This same person was later falling over drunk at a scheduled activity at the same event. Unbelievable!

For me, both of these incidents are inexcusable. Where is their professionalism? These are both people who are being paid or put in a position of authority related to overseeing clients.

There is a HUGE difference when you are slated in a role set out as a person in charge. We have produced several conferences, led FAM trips, run WPIC classes, and have seen a lot from attendees over the years.

One of the craziest experiences as a Conference Producer was when one of our attendees decided to try to change our schedule of events so that another attendee could squeeze in their vow renewals in front of all of us. Somehow they thought this was going to fly by us, and all would be groovy.  Wait, what?  At that same conference, two other attendees tried to change the order in which photos were being taken.  They tried to shuffle our scheduled HUGE group photo event (that was a part of the Conference) to a later time, so that they could get a private photo shoot ahead of our group one. They did all of this behind our backs with yelling at the Photography Department to try to sway them.  Thank goodness, they called us right away to let us know what was going on.