How to gently let someone know that they're working with incompetent vendors

R

randomname

Well-known member
So, my production company recently got an editing gig putting together about 50 presentations from a conference. I'm not entirely sure why the original videographers who shot the conference aren't doing it, but what I do know is that they are absolutely terrible at their jobs. The footage looks terrible, it's all incredibly shaky, and the audio is a huge mess. I was worried that our new client would blame all of the problems on us, but then I went back through their archives, and all of their videos are that poor of quality. They aren't cheapskates, as they had no issues with our rates, so I can't for the life of me figure out why they haven't hired someone better, other than that they just don't know any better. Does anyone have some good advice for how to talk to someone about switching to a more competent production company for shooting (read: us)?
 
Honesty is typically the best policy, but sometimes that crappy videographer might be the client's brother or cousin! haha

Difficult to say... maybe instead of mentioning how terrible the other company is, find a way to get the client to give you a shot at just one video. Knock it out of the park and I'd say let them come to their own conclusions. If they don't notice a difference, then they get the quality they deserve. :-P
 
That was my guess, I figured I would casually ask why they didn't have the people who shot it edit it and as long as it doesn't seem like some personal connection, just send over some of our work and ask if they'd like to talk about using us in the future.
 
I have long criticised the internal videos at my workplace. The videos don't need to be good for their purposes but there is also no reason for them being as bad as they were. Well, after a couple of years of this they told me to put my money where my mouth is and I shot one of their videos for them. Nothing special, just HVX with proper framing and good sound from a lav. The equipment drew a lot of interest and with the sense of occasion of a 'proper' shoot raised the bar on everyone's performance. Did a straight forward no frills edit to remove all the boring bits and make the speakers look more confident than they actually were, slapping power point grabs over any fluffs and removing all the umms and ahhs.

They were all blown away. They didn't know the difference until it was shown to them.

I'm only a hobbyist but it doesn't take much to raise the bar. Now I'm splitting my duties between my regular job and internal media presentations 2-3 days a month. Best of both worlds and I bet my pay rate is higher than anyone else at my level.

The current project is much as you describe. They want me to edit together a package of interviews from staff nationwide. It will be the opening video of the CEOs roadshow tour around the country. It will be seen by probably 15,000 people or so. They couldn't send me around to do it and insisted on doing the interviews on smartphones using whoever was available, for me to edit and 'do my magic'. They actually bothered to come to me and ask my advice before they started. Once they've seen the difference they get a taste for it.

I made sure they understood that I am reluctant to put out anything bad because I'm trying to sell myself here and came up with an idiot proof single page cheat sheet that provided six tips that would at least improve the quality of these videos in the circumstances. Well some didn't read it and some did and anyone can see the difference. Everyone that needs to think well of me thinks more highly of me now than ever because I demonstrated exactly where I am in the equation. So my advice would be don't be personal or attack the existing shooter. Show them the difference as a sales pitch. They are business people. They will understand you pitching for more business and if you can show your credentials they will consider it.
 
Ask questions first ie, "why did you choose this production company?" or as someone suggested, "why didn't you have them edit it?" and "what did you think of the end result"

from there, just present your stuff ie "I think we may be able to offer you a much better service and quality, and would love to earn your business. You can take a look at our work here ---"

and of course, you know, work your own magic into that as for as how to present but thats the approach I'd take
 
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