Raffle prize win - what would you do

[ihaircut101]

Writing this without saying which side I am, would be interested in knowing who you think is 'right'.

Jill won a raffle prize of a cut and blow dry at a new salon owned by Mary. When Jill attended to claim her prize she also booked in for a root tint, which she expected to pay for.

During their session Mary mentioned business was not so good and she thought it partly due to her website content. Jill told her that her business was website marketing and offered to take a look at Mary's website, which she did. Jill made a lot of suggestions, she rewrote some of the content and suggested mary implement an online booking facility. Mary was very happy with the changes and as a thank you waived the cost of the colour.

About a month later, Mary contacted Jill and asked her to set up the online booking system, Jill was agreeable to take this on and explained her fees. Mary was taken aback at being asked to pay as felt as she had waived the cost of the hair dye treatment, that should cover the cost of the website work.

What do you think? Should Jill charge for this extra work? If yes, would it be ok for Mary to ask Jill to now pay for the colour treatment she had?

I think Mary’s very cheeky to expect the free work. There was an exchange the first time around - a free root tint for the advice and rewriting content. She can’t come back later and expect more to be done for free.

Mary seems to be forgetting that she offered a hair service as a raffle prize. So Jill was doing something extra by doing a bit of consulting work on Mary’s website. And instead of paying Jill, Mary waived the fee for doing an extra over and above the raffle prize.

Mary is wrong.

The story is quite one sided and it was obvious you were Jill because of the detailed explanation if your website suggestions.

It's difficult to say as I don't know how many hours you spent helping on the website and also I'm unsure how long the extra work would take.

If it's a quick task up to 2 hours I would do it. If not, I would ask for like a voucher for the hair saloon let's say.

Whatever you decide to do, good luck! I hate these confrontational situations so I hope you manage to handle it well and keep good relationship with Mary. :)

Depends on the conversation, was it clearly communicated to Mary that it would be an extra charge for the booking system being added or was Mary under the impression that was included when Jill said one should be added?

Jill's initial work was 'paid for' by the free tint. Of course any additional work is chargeable!

Unless Jill gets further free hair services - of an equivalent value - to her own website services. But that would be Jill's choice.

It appears to me that Mary is probably being a total CF, but is there any chance that she misunderstood your suggestion to implement an online booking system as an offer to do so?

"Jill made a lot of suggestions, she rewrote some of the content and suggested mary implement an online booking facility."

OP don't do it. Don't give in to Mary - you'll be making a rod for your own back. Because Mary may well be someone to help you friend network, but I bet she will also be telling everyone that you will help them with their IT stuff for free.

Explain to Mary how much time is involved in setting up a booking system. Reduce your rates by 10% - 20% if necessary, but do NOT give her a freebie.

Also relevant - did Mary do a decent cut, tint and blow dry? Would you ever go back to Mary to get your barnet done? Because Mary is also now thinking you are HER customer. It could all get so very tricky if you involve yourself more in a 'friendly' way. You run a business. She runs a business. If you want her as a friend you may be better of keeping it all separate. And going to another hairdresser...

So in light of the above then, what did "Mary" actually say? Because all we know so far is that Mary was "taken aback" to discover that the additional work to her website required further payment.

Thus, without knowing exactly "taken aback" means in context, it's impossible to get an accurate measure of the situation. At one end of the scale Mary may have said "Oh, ok", and at the other she could be in the process of making a doll named Jill & sticking pins into it as I type.

Added to which, I'm intrigued to know where the comment about Jill having had the cut & blow dry for free (even though it was a raffle prize) comes into the equation - c'mon "Jill", did Mary mention this, or are you 2nd guessing her thought process?

Jill needs to consider whether she likes Marty's hair services and whether she could do the website for free in exchange for further hair treatments

I think we can all agree that this hasn't worked so far. 😆😆😆

Yanbu. The raffle prize was dead money as soon as she offered it.

The free tint was a swap for the free Web work.

You repky to say you wish you could waive the cost but you're also struggling as a new business so let's wipe the slate clean on quid pro quos on business swaps and go for a drink next Friday.

I guess Mary is a bit of a CF. However I read it as Jill offered to have a look at the website as a favour and Mary then decided to waive the cost of the colour. If Mary had still charged for the colour, would Jill then be happy if at a later date Mary said, please help with setting something up for me in return for a free colour?

Suspect the cost of implementing a booking system far outweighs the cost of a root tint. And she didn’t just look at the website. She gave suggestions and rewrote content.

For those asking about Mary's actual words she did say that she was very disappointed I was suggesting she pay, as I did get a totally free hair do. She wasn't angry or shouting (which is why I used the word 'miffed'). But it was clear she didn't think she should pay.

Just to add a bit of background, I previously worked for a company where I felt very undervalued and that work I did on projects was not recognised (others took credit) so decided to set up on my own so that I could have autonomy and know my work would be valued. So this is why I feel a bit torn with Mary. I was just wondering if I was being unreasonable given my past experience ?

But thank you all for your replies. I agree I must put boundaries (and clear pricing structure) in place and be more business like.

I really think you ought to set up a proper pricing structure together. All the services you are giving each other have prices, so it isn't that hard to work out how much you are giving each other. Or do it by time like 1 hour's hair treatment = 1 hour's website development. Although that might not work because I guess the hair treatments have fairly large equipment cost, whereas web development won't have any.

But you didn’t get a free haircut.

The haircut was a prize, and the tint in lieu of website advice.

Given what you've said about your background I can't believe you were torn at all on this! Value yourself and your work and charge her the going rate. Any less and you're doing yourself a massive disservice.

Well in light of this, I would say step away and keep away.

"Mary" is not coming across too well in this, in terms of her business acumen and her understanding of her actions. She really, really needs to understand her motivation for donating to the raffle, and she cannot for her own sanity project onto others that she gave a free cut and blow.

She didn't.

What she did was to donate to a local cause. Trouble is, she doesn't understand this, and she doesn't understand her "why" factor. There should be only one of three reasons (or indeed both) for a small business donating to a local raffle:

One, to support the cause.

Two, to win new business, and to up-sell her services while she was at it.

Three, to get rid of something they don't want.

We have no idea here about the first point, but on the second point it was clear that she succeeded, as you went to her salon for the first time, to claim the very prize that took you there, and you upgraded to a colour process too. This is exactly how it's meant to work, except that going forward you're supposed to be so delighted with your treatment that you'll tell everyone about it and hopefully will return for more.

Mary had all of this in buckets. The moment she realised that you were going to charge for the services she wanted you to provide, is the moment she should have absolutely stopped speaking and accepted that no matter what, she was going to have to pay or else not have those services. End. Of. Story.

But she didn't, at least based on what you've said. She went on to say how disappointed she is. At that point, you -as the golden customer who was thrilled with your Barnett Fair and all that she'd done to it & was going to tell everyone how much so- will have decided that none of this is worth the hassle. So Mary screwed herself over at that point...if she is so blind as not to see that she's not lost a "free" haircut but has in fact lost all the rewards she was liable to reap as a result of her initial investment, there's no hope for her.

And you - as a service provider- need to look out for people like this as they won't be easy to work for. FWIW, you've been lucky that Mary has shown you what she'll be like as client.

Excellent summary, @Thedayb4youcame . Jill's tale shows that the Marys of this world just do not understand how to run a business or manage clients.

For those asking about Mary's actual words she did say that she was very disappointed I was suggesting she pay, as I did get a totally free hair do. She wasn't angry or shouting (which is why I used the word 'miffed'). But it was clear she didn't think she should pay.

That doesn't really answer the question of what you discussed at the time though, is it possible Mary assumed that because you recommended the booking system in that conversation that she assumed you would have included it as part of your 'deal'.

It really doesn't matter who is right and wrong, as you both have a different take on it, it's about managing customers expectations so they are crystal clear on what they are getting for an agreed price and time frame. If you think there was room for misunderstanding in your conversation it is up to you to remedy that. If you think she is chancing it and trying to get you to agree to something you absolutely didn't agree on or talk about then you can be firm.

The interesting thing here is you may have these issues like this going forward for a while, if you've spent so long feeling/being undervalued it is a hard habit to break, you will automatically come at it from a stance of 'they are doing me a favour by using my services, I should try to help them as much as possible'. What you need to do is realise that you have a professional service to offer and it is worth what you charge for it, anyone who doesn't think that just politely decline, because they will never be happy, even if you did it for free.

For those asking about Mary's actual words she did say that she was very disappointed I was suggesting she pay, as I did get a totally free hair do

And that's the attitude right there; you didn't "pay" for the work except via a raffle ticket so she expects you to reimburse her somehow

In future she'd do better not to "donate" this kind of thing, but of course that's a matter for her

Have you ever met anyone running their own business that you admired?

A mentor in your situation could be life changing as would a professional life coach, specialising in self employed people.

These people could really help you build self confidence and help you strengthen your boundaries as you grow your business.

CF's are everywhere, learning to deal with them calmly and firmly is a great life skill.

if You want to stay friends could you say it will take me X hours to do so I can’t do it for free (and explain your business model) but you could trade for some free hair cuts or something?