Do you hate confrontation?

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Does this sound familiar?

A mother-in-law told her cake-decorating daughter-in-law that her friend wanted her signature cake for £50.

The decorator told her MIL that her cakes started from £60 since the friend had only £50 in mind.

The next thing that happens?

The mother-in-law informs the cake decorator that she has £50 in cash for the cake. No other discussion. Just that the money is here.

What should the cake decorator do?

For starters, she needs a proper conversation directly with her customer.

Selling cakes via a third party is not good. Miscommunication will always happen.

Now considering the smallest most basic cake in the decorator's specialty flavour starts at £60 then that is the size and the simplicity the customer would get. And she owes a balance.

But a phone call directly with the customer would iron out the miscommunication. Stop the customer's ideas beyond her budget and ensure she is satisfied. She might not want to pay the excess. In this case, this was an enquiry and not a firm order.

Communication is key. And it can't be done via a third party successfully.

People hate asking for money for something they enjoy doing. But at the end of the day, the order needs firming up. The details writing out and agreed upon. Just because cash has been left with a third party doesn't mean the order is done and dusted.

I'd have a conversation, saying we received your "deposit" of £50. We need to discuss the size and finer details and get to the final price, whether they want delivery etc.

I would reiterate that MIL should have stated my prices start from... and not given the illusion that the cake would cost just £50. You could tell her that x number of cupcakes are possible for her price. Give her an option and a choice. So that you weren't out of pocket on ingredients or your time.

But get the miscommunication cleared up and all the professional details you need before ever starting the cake. Plus most importantly agree the price plus the date due to be paid.

It is super important to stand your ground on your prices - and get them correct in the first place.

After all, if you undercharge by say £20 on 5 cakes weekly, this represents £5,200 loss over a year. And that is a lot of lost income.

Keep an eye out - as we are currently working on a new product to help with cake pricing and talking to customers. It seems to be the biggest challenge that our cake decorators face and means the biggest potential loss of funds too.