How to Solve Problems Before They Happen
My favorite way to problem solve is to problem solve before there is an actual problem. Here’s how to do it.
It’s no secret that communication is key to success in any type of relationship.
Over my years as a photographer I have learned this same lesson over and over and over:
WHAT SEEMS LIKE COMMON KNOWLEDGE TO YOU, IS NOT COMMON KNOWLEDGE TO YOUR CLIENTS.
You cannot assume that they will think about any thing the same way that you do. You have to guide and direct them through every stage ESPECIALLY if you are shooting weddings.
Think about it.
You have been to dozens of weddings, seen the ins and outs, dealt with every type of vendor, walked through every possible itinerary scenario….but for your clients this is their first time doing a wedding. This is likely their first time hiring a photographer, signing a photo contract, and dealing with wedding vendors.
You’ll find yourself answering the exact same questions over and over and over…. because this is every clients ‘ first experience and beginners have a lot of the same questions.
Sometimes, if the bride has older siblings that have been married, her mom has probably walked through the process once or twice, which can be helpful if they had a good professional photographer—but it could also be even harder to work with a client who has previous experience with another photographer who may have done things differently from you and your business.
so. it’s up to you to anticipate potential problems and frustrations and work them out in advance.
CONTRACTS
A major way to communicate to your client is through your agreement. My contract gets longer every time I encounter a new problem. At this point I feel like “I’ve seen it all”, but every once in a while I get a new creative client who gives me a new line in my contract.
PRO TIP: Have your clients initial next to policies that often get violated in your agreement. In my agreement, some of the things I have clients initial next to are: hours I’m available to respond to messages, payment procedures, and shoot procedures.
Your contract is primarily there for protection (more about contracts coming soon to a photo tips post), but they are also your most comprehensive communication to your clients.
Unfortunately, even with adding “initial here” into your contract, you will still get a large majority of your clients who sign without reading.
Which is why you get so many questions even though they are covered in their contract. Heres what I like to do to help hand-hold my clients through the process so we can both function successfully.
1) Have a refresher text or conversation
Before a shoot and after a shoot, send a friendly, colloquial text that more or less says what your contract says about shoots. Same thing for wedding days .
An example of before a shoot:
Hey! So excited to see you tomorrow, I’ll see you at ________ place at ______time! Just a reminder that your payment is due at the time of the shoot tomorrow, so if you are able to have that ready that will be perfect!
example for after the shoot (I usually just say something as we are wrapping up, but if you forget to mention anything, or if it’s their wedding day so you aren’t discussing things with them as they exit go ahead and text):
Hope you guys had fun, I loved getting to shoot with you! Watch for your photos to come in _____amount of days, and if you need them earlier we can totally do that, there’s just a rush fee!
Sometimes my before shoot texts are extremely detailed, especially for bridals I’ll send a list of things they should bring, suggest what they should wear to get their hair and makeup done, and make a plan for how to do a first look!
Basically as an overarching rule, just try to remember anything a client has done that they could have done a better way, and then kindly offer your sage advice to future clients.
Another example of guiding your clients away from potential disappointment;
As your bride or client is planning, this is her first rodeo but it is not yours. You know what vendors are awesome, you know the way weddings work, share your knowledge!! They will be so grateful! One major way brides and other clients can make a mistake is in the timeline of everything.
I usually try to get an idea of their plans towards the beginning of booking because sometimes I have insight they don’t have.
Winter brides are a classic case of this. Everyone forgets that it is dark at 5pm in December…. so if your bride thinks she is going to take group photos after the ceremony at 6, you may want to explain to her that you can absolutely make that happen with speedlights, but she will probably like her group photos better if they take place during daylight hours. This is your chance to say “You don’t have to listen to me at all, this is your day and we will make any itinerary that you want work, but just FYI…..” because every time I say that the response is “OH MY GOSH I didn’t even think of that, thanks so much, we’ll plan the times differently”.
I’ve been speaking a lot to wedding photographers in this but even if you are working commercially— some commercial clients are new to hiring photographer’s too! I’ve worked with multiple start ups who don’t know about copyrights with images and I have to explain to them the difference between personal use rights and owning the images (and the price difference involved)
Essentially, the summary of this is just to try to guess what the questions will be or what the frustrations will be before they become a frustration and COMMUNICATE COMMUNICATE COMMUNICATE!
It is safe to say that it never hurts to keep your clients informed. Even if it seems like something they would already know, don’t assume they know because chances are they don’t and they won’t until you tell them!