This is similar to the free image use issue. I get tons of tour information requests via email every week. The Truly Interested normally ask next to nothing except for a date availability, and they usually pay right away.

The Wanting to Suck You Dry for Free typically promise to book and astronomical amount of time, then ask for a complete run down on where, when, how, specific settings, a complete review of their gear, etc.

I reply: Thank you for your inquiry. Here is an example picture of what I am doing. You too can do this with my help. To reserve your tour date click here to Paypal tuition and we can begin with your instruction.

No surprise I rarely hear back from them.

I get the same emails, and I happily reply with the information requested, and hope they will either join my tour, now, or later., part of providing a respectable service.

Steve - not for nothin' but I wouldn't reply back either with an arrogant response like that. You are providing a service and there are a lot of people who are very detail oriented and want to know the details. I fail to see how them asking you for more information is akin to asking a photographer for free images. Perhaps there is something I am missing, but you can't honestly expect everyone to say they want to do a workshop with you and give you a large sum of $$ without any questions asked.

Steve, I get more than 5 safari inquiries per day, and I have found a better way of replying: I use Textexpander. Textexpander on the Mac allows me to create thoughtful responses to different questions, and I save them as snippets. These snippets all add up to a long, well thought email that only takes me a few seconds to put together.

We are in the service industry, and as much as it drives us nuts to reply to a zillion questions, it does buy us goodwill from our customers to reply with good and thoughtful information. It doesn't mean we have to spend hours doing it.

My approach is very similar to Andy's with the exception that I don't use Textexpander. As I see it, those who book a private tour with me are placing a hell of a lot of faith (and money) in my talent as a guide. I'm not the only person in Moab who offers guided photography tours and a potential client could just as easily book with another guide. So, when I receive emails with lots of questions, I answer them graciously. Every time. Some times they book with me, other times they don't. Even if they don't book this time, they may do so at some point in the future if I take the time and consideration to respond fully to their query.

The one area where I do draw the line is when people email me and flat out ask me where/when they should shoot. I respond to them with a canned response advising that I offer private guided photo tours with a link to my website for more information. I also provide them with a link to my e-book, "The Essential Guide to Photographing Arches National Park", as an alternative to those who don't need a guide but do need some basic information. I won't just dole out a whole bunch of hard won local knowledge for nothing, though.

Hope this is helpful.

Steve, I am a bit confused by the title of this thread. Do these people want to take your tour for free, or are they just asking for detailed information about your tour?

It doesn't seem unreasonable for someone to want to know a lot of details about a tour they are thinking of taking. If I were planning to take a tour, I would spend months intensely researching all of the tours I had an interest in. Only after many, many, many hours of communication with people from all of the different tours, would I finally choose the one I believed to be the very best. How else would I know that the tour I'm spending my hard-earned money on was indeed the very, very best available?

Consider all of the time people spend researching camera bodies and lenses before they finally make a decision and buy one. Think of all of the hours they spend reading reviews, reading specs, and calling / emailing other photographers with questions about their equipment. Why would they not put forth the same effort when researching which photo tour to take?

The greatest thing about being a tour guide IS the people. I never dreamed so many cool folks with my interests existed in the world. I have never had so much fun in my life. My clients are from all over the world, so in many respects they teach ME.

What I mean by Take my Tour Free is folks getting as much technical/ location info as possible from me with long detailed inquiries over many months and many emails. After a while it becomes obvious they are feigning intent of ever actually paying for a tour.

When I was a rookie tour guy, I spent hours with these folks for months. Fortunately these folks are few and far between.

My lament cuts across all sales positions. If you have never been in sales, you may think expecting somebody to buy after spending hours demonstrating things is rude and arrogant.

Local camera stores have this same issue now with the advent of the internet. Folks come in and grill the salespeople for hours, tinker with things, take notes, and go home and buy it off the internet to beat the tax and get a lower price. That is definitely poor form.

Steve,

Maybe they want to take your tours for free so this way they feel like they are getting what they paid for

Sorry could not resist...

Good one, Bro!