Best Business Practices for Photographers [40]
Anticipation
Trepidation
Inspection
Fulfillment
Evaluation
Let's look at those closer.
Anticipation
A prospective client is anticipating that you can deliver, based upon your marketing materials—portfolio, website, business card, presentation in person, phone skills, and the appearance of your contract. Based upon this, they book you.
Trepidation
Depending upon how you did in the anticipation phase, the degree of trepidation can vary. Were you a Yellow Pages or search engine find or a referral from a trusted source, or had they used you in the past? Even so, there is a period where the client is worried about the quality of the end result, even when you are a repeat vendor for them.
Inspection
During the shoot and afterwards, they look through your results, contemplating the circumstances that went into the shoot and thus, the results. Was it a rainy day when the shoot called for blue skies, but you had to shoot anyway? Was the model late? Were the VIPs that were the cornerstone of the event absent, and so the client-handshaking with a VIP is missing from the event images? Or, did everything go smoothly, and the client has the highest of expectations after the fact relative to their expectations beforehand?
Fulfillment
Did you deliver as promised? Are they satisfied with the results? Is their client satisfied with the results? Did what you do meet—or better yet, exceed—expectations? You should always strive for a "That photographer sure exceeded my expectations" response. You need to win over even the most critical of clients, so they may become your staunchest advocates.
Evaluation
Would they hire you again? Would they casually recommend you to a colleague? Would they enthusiastically recommend you to a colleague? Or, in the best of scenarios, without provocation, would they go onto their listserv and shout your name from the treetops: "Boy, I just finished this shoot with John Harrington, and if you ever need a photographer, he should be on the top of your list of people to call!" Wouldn't it be great to have an evangelist like that? They do exist. Have you experienced it yet?
Take a piece of paper, print out those five words, and place them in a prominent place near your desk. By understanding the phases of a client experience, you can ensure that you are firing on all cylinders and meeting and exceeding expectations in each phase.
Chapter 5 Working with Reps, Assistants, Employees, and Contractors: The Pitfalls and Benefits
During the early years of my business, it was just me. Not only was I a sole proprietor in the IRS's eyes, I was the sole worker. I was my own IT department, accounting department, new business department, shipping department, and—oh, right, creative department. It got to the point where I could not be in two places at once—creating photographs and sending invoices, planning a shoot and sending estimates. It really became too much. When I began considering bringing on some help, I kept thinking, "Ten dollars times eight hours, times five days a week, times fifty-two weeks a year equals how much?!" I didn't see that I had that amount of "extra" revenue to be able to pay for the extra set of hands. For so long I struggled with this, and I ended up hiring a niece during her summer months between her college studies. I saw this as a way to get my feet wet in having someone help me out. The problems arose come September, when I found myself being far less productive as she returned to school. I looked forward to Christmas break, when she would return for a few weeks—that was my personal Christmas present, and one that gave me the insight that I really needed some help around the office. (When I say "office," what I'm really saying is the second bedroom of my three-bedroom home. The master bedroom was for my wife and me, the larger bedroom in our row house on Capitol Hill was my office, and the smaller one was for our dogs.)
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NOTE
In case you're curious, the answer to the math equation about the cost of