I get so aggravated by people who call all excited, asking if I can do something, then you never hear from them again. What really aggravates me is that I have sent follow up emails and phone calls, sometimes leaving pricing info, sometimes emailing sketches of my ideas, and they simply don't answer. Why can't they just say "Oh, thanks, but we decided to go with someone else." Why is that so difficult?

Someone emailed asking about a 3D tiger face for a Bengal's fan. I emailed a pic of how it would be done, since she didn't want a sheet cake. Never heard back from her. My scary sweet 16....sketched and scanned an idea into the computer and emailed it to her after giving her pricing info....never heard back, even after I follow up called her.

I guess I was overpricing myself, but still.....why can't they just say they chose someone else? Yep!!! Whining. But it bugs me.

you should NEVER give your sketches out...those are YOUR ideas.

I have had brides, back when I did wedding cakes, take my designs and had other bakers ( family members ) do them.

Karateka - It would be nice if they would at least tell us 'It's out of my price range, I went with someone else'. But of course, it's awkward for them, too.

RisqueBusiness - I never thought of other people stealing my designs from sketches. I like to do sketches for my customers, it helps "hook" them. How do you proceed without them?

how about if you have THEM come to you, in person, you talk about some ideas, and then they give you a big fat deposit to "hold" their idea? I think if they see there is a NON-REFUNDABLE deposit once your ideas are given out, they are much much less likely to cancel on you. You're dealing with THEIR money at this point.

If I was in a position to be sketching designs (don't have that kind of client base yet) I would not give them out. If I needed to give a price and had to do a rough sketch (for me) to calculate that would be one thing.

If after giving a client a price, they wanted to "see" what it would look like, I would charge a design consulation fee. Say.....$30.00. They could keep a copy of the sketch, with copyright info printed across it like a watermark, after I got the contract signed and secured a deposit.

But that is just my two cents!

I don't mind doing sketches for people, but they do NOT get to keep them. I show them and they are my property, no one elses. I haven't had my ideas stolen yet. I also do not let people borrow my photos. If they want their mother or friend to see them, they must come with.

I would agree about not giving the sketches to potential customers unless a good faith deposit was received. If they're serious about working with you they shouldn't mind the deposit, or should understand not getting the sketch.

I have had people pull similar stunts on me. They take up a lot of my time and then say they'll get back to me or can I hold the date while they think about it. I usually never hear from them again. This even happened with my husband's cousin. They wanted a high dollar cake free, I offered a very nice discount and then I found out from his mother that they can't afford my work. I still never heard back from them and they got married yesterday (the 21st).

I have even had people tell me that the colors would not look right in their scrapbooks because they weren't a perfect match to the napkins, plates, etc.!

Some people are just numb-skulls. At least you're not alone in your dealings with people. Apparently, it's a rampant problem.

Good luck.

Michele

That's dumb about the matching for the scrapbooks. My mom made a big deal about everything in my wedding last year over how it would look in the pictures. I mean, I wanted decent pictures, but I wasn't basing the whole wedding on it. Give me a break!

Sketches are a really tricky area - all the cakes I do are my own design and the vast majority of my business takes place over email as clients are a too far away just to call by. So I email them sketches of my ideas. I haven't had, as far as I know, anyone use my sketch to get someone else to do the cake - but I can see it could be a problem. The sketches themselves take ages and I'm disappointed if someone decides not to go with me after I've worked on sketches. I can't see myself feeling comfortable with asking for money for sketches. What to do?

As for pepole deciding not to go with me. I generally email after about two weeks to ask if they've decided to continue with the order or not. I'm very pleasant about it explaining that I'm happy either way, wish them luck for their event and ask if they could just let me know so I can free up that date for another booking. They have always replied - even if it's just with a crappy 'Oh, I thought I'd told you...' At least I know!

I haven't had the sketch thing come up yet. But I did have someone ask if I could do the volkswagon car cake in my photos but like a jeep. I said yes. (it serves 6, small but still a 3-d cake)

She proceeded to tell me that she wanted it to give to the jeep dealership for doing the work on her car so cheap and giving her a great deal.

I told her it would be an expensive cake and she sounded very surprised so I asked her her budget. She said she didn't know. I told her to figure out her budget and call me back and I would let her know what I could do for that amount.

Haven't heard back about it. But what I want to know is who is going to give ME a present for giving HER a deal on a cake for the jeep dealership who gave her a deal, LOL?

I think I might have to start with the design fee. I'm not at all creative, so if I come up with a good idea, I'd like to keep it. I also had a woman asking about a cake for her daughter who is going into the navy. I sketched a tiered cake version and a sheet cake version, offering her different pricing options. Once I emailed the sketches I got an email saying the girls grandma wanted to make the cake and she couldn't say no. I was a little upset, but at least she told me.

Right now I've got a bride coming in to town who wants (another) tasting. I told her I'd have to make the cake ahead and freeze it since I have a wedding to do the weekend she's here. Of course, she hasn't let me know.