Hello out
there to all my shutter-bugs!
My name is
Jeannine (or Mommy if you ask my boss) and I am the owner and lead
photographer here at Akelis Studios. In the last several years of
working in corporate owned retail photography I have learned a few
things about making my clients
happy. At the risk of making all of you into my competition, I am
going to share some of the ideas I try to employ at work each day.
While I cannot promise that just these hints will make you into the
next billionaire business man, I can ask that you remember me if they
do.
After
listening to comments from elated and irate customers it became
clear that to achieve truly successful business in this industry
requires the use of three under appreciated facts:
Listen to
Your Mother!
Anyone can tell you that mothers and grandmothers are full of opinions. I have worked with clients from many cultures and even learned a second language to do so, but the fact that they all just had to tell me how they wanted things never changed. They have advice that can range from common nonsense all the way through inspired genius. But you need to listen to them for one simple reason...
Mothers (and fathers) know
their children better than anyone else in the world! They can tell
you about every scraped knee and wiggly tooth; from mothers we learn
what they would like to see from their children, and what they want
from us as photographers. We know that mothers don't want to see the
same faded backdrop that has been used for every childhood picture
since the 1980's.
I personally like to meet with my mothers face-to-face before the shoot so we can discuss their goals. As a mother, I have goals every time I pull out my camera and start to focus in on my own little boy. Sometimes those goals just cannot be met because the child is unable or unwilling to cooperate, but often the goals are something simple for you to achieve. You may need to suggest an alternative if the request is beyond your ability. You also need to communicate with the parent as you go through the session. Ask them to be your assistant, so they feel part of the process and they are more likely to enjoy the outcome. After all, every mother tells her children to play nice with others.
Remember when your mother said that telling lies was bad? I'm repeating it right now. It is better business to admit your limits then to lie just so you land the deal. Please, as responsible photographers and business owners, do not promise something you know you can not produce and never force your client into taking something if you were unable to fulfill the needs of the client. Don't get me wrong, the goal is to make a sale, but make sure that sale is made out of true love for what they are buying. You mother may have “loved” every one of those art class “masterpieces” loaded with glitter dipped macaroni, but clients are not looking to hang your scribble on their fridge in the frame intended for little Susie's class photo.
I can admit to having done the horrible formula shots in my early days and tried to sell them when I really just wanted to apologize for how bed they looked. I also admit days when I sold less than my daily pay. As any business owner can tell you, no employee will last long at that rate; and no customer will bring you repeat business or referrals if you try to force them to take something they do not want.
My own mother and father have a story about taking me to a studio for my newborn photos. I was chipper and awake in the waiting room, and dead to the world by the time they started clicking the shutter. This was back in the days of film, so they could not even get a preview of what they knew were some unsuccessful images. Sure enough, I was dressed in some frilly concoction and propped up into a sitting pose on a solid black velvet drape. My mother still calls those “the dead baby pictures” because they reminded her of the creepy Victorian Era fad of photographing the newly dead so families could display the image in place of an open casket. The photographers did not listen to a single word my mother said that whole session and right there they made the fatal mistake.
Which brings me to my next point...
Everybody Has Bad Days.
All of us are human, we make make mistakes. I remember watching a television show in my primary school days where making mistakes was a good thing. The truth is, we learn from them... Yes, even the big ones.
You can go ahead and apply this theory to pretty much every part of your life. I apply it generously to some of my choices in boyfriend prior to meeting the man who is my husband. At the risk of going into that long string of “I was young and stupid” stories, every one of them helped me get to the point I am at now with the person I feel was absolutely meant to be my life-mate and friend for all eternity.
Anyway, take something good away from every negative. So, you had a client tell you they had a better offer after you cut them a big deal; perhaps that means it is time to do an new evaluation of your prices. You spent a big chunk of cash on a prop that broke on the first shoot; well, after you get a refund from the supplier, maybe you learn to do a bit more product research and listen to customer reviews before jumping on a sale.
I mentioned before that there had been days when my work was... less than stellar. One of the worst might have been in my final corporate job. At the risk of making sure you all think less of me as a professional, I'll share that because it is vital that everyone own up to their mistakes as I did here.
I was just about to hit four months pregnant and fighting my way through “morning-sickness” at 9:00 P.M. in the middle of the holiday rush. That is not meant to be an excuse, but it was most likely the biggest factor in where I went wrong that day. The studio I was lead photographer for booked sittings with pets of any kind in the last two hours. A client came in with her three children and three “assistance dogs” - I use the term in quotes here because not one of the three dogs listened to commands or was in harness – for her booking.
I took them into the secondary studio room to start because the largest room was still in use and managed to get a few good smiles from the kids. At this point one of the dogs was trying to run over to my light-stand and attack the flash each time it fired, just that one thing was grounds for me to dismiss them from the studio for safety, but I let the mother pressure me into continued attempts at a pose that just did not work. Finally, we moved to the largest room. At this point I could use some very colorful language to explain the ways in which the mother spoke to her husband and oldest son about how it was their fault that the dogs were afraid of the flash. Eventually, I called an end to the kerfuffle after one of the dogs knocked into me so hard I almost fell off my stool.
To be blunt, nothing went right in the shoot, and nothing came out. I dutifully allowed them to view the results of their session and the mother used a bit more of her choice adjectives to outline my failure before allowing her husband to accept my offer to set a new appointment for a re-sit at no expense to them. The second sit was completed without dogs and produced some of the best smiles and family shots I had that season.
I admitted fault for not halting the situation sooner. I offered a solution and the client still ended up happy. I also learned where I lacked control. From that point on, I required an assistant for sits that large even though it was normally against studio procedure to have an assistant for human groups under seven people. With the additional “human handler” we could get through the session faster because there were two of us to wrangle the subjects and manage the props. I also learned that some things just can not be helped. The dogs were too much of an issue in that setting so it was unsafe for me and the owners.
That brings me to the final theory...
Band-Aids Are A Fact Of Life!
That is actually a word-for-word quote I stole from a little girl one of my employees did a sitting for in 2010. The photographer was part of my team and I was reviewing her session as part of her training when she told me the story. The girl had a bright colored bandage placed in a spot difficult to hide and her mother kept tugging clothes or moving hands and feet to try and hide it. This young-lady had just about enough and when her mother went to reposition things again after my employee changed her pose she looked up and let out that perfectly quotable quip.
Why is that important? Because there are things we cannot change. I am not going to quote the little prayer for accepting things you cannot change here, but if that would help you, by all means use it. I like to think of it as my young guru said, “Band-Aids are a fact of life.” When little scrapes or boo-boos are there, it is our job as professionals to find a way to make it work without going too over the top.
Remember that I said those bandages were big bright colors? Well, that's part of it too. Own those little imperfections because they could turn out to be an unexpected blessing. You cannot always have sunshine and mid-seventies for that June wedding. But you can be the hero that replaces the bride's bouquet with an umbrella for a classy kiss in the rain. Making the best out of a situation is part of learning to go above and beyond for your clients. When you can do that, you will win their trust and their thanks. You may also find that those accidental images are the ones you like best.
When I was a kid there was a great television show that had a wonderful catch phrase for the main character. The show was The Magic School Bus and fellow fans may remember the words of lovely Miss Frizzle, “Take chances, make mistakes, get messy!” Keep those words in mind, and keep a box of neon Band-aids in your First Aid kit.
