Stand and deliver

I've been thinking a lot recently about what it is I'm trying to deliver for my couples, and how I can improve their experience of hiring me as their wedding photographer.

 I think it would be reasonable to say I come from a family where people are important. My grandparents, and great grandparents were very much people-orientated. They helped others, regardless of their own situation. While there wasn't much money on my mother's side of the family while she was growing up, the kitchen was the hub and from the stories I've heard there were always plenty of visitors. Their wealth could be measured by the closeness of friendships they formed and the bonds of strong relationships within the family.

My own parents are people-orientated too. My dad was always more people than money orientated through his work, and actually, he's had a very successful career as a result. He can still remember the names of people he studied with at college, or worked with throughout his career and he's always got a story to tell. It's been interesting growing up with those influences in my life, because it's been made so clear to me how important it is to build good relationships, and that a few good relationships outweigh hundreds of ones where you're just an acquaintance.

I also think about my experiences as a consumer. I think about how I feel when I go into shops what the relationship is like there. About nine years ago, I changed hair salon. I had been going to one hair salon for years, and one day my regular stylist had left, so I had a different stylist. I really didn't like his attitude. He gave me a very distainful look when I arrived; he made comments about my hair which came across as insulting more because of the tone he used; and afterwards I hated his "funky" haircut, which was not what I had asked for. (I should point out, whenever people use the word "funky" to describe my hair, it means its a really bad haircut). So what did we have? Negative facial and body language, curt words combined with a less than friendly tone, and someone who simply didn't listen. I didn't go back. I changed salon immediately, and since then, I go somewhere I genuinely have a good customer experience.  Now, if we were to work that out in monetary terms, if over the space of 9 years (since I changed salons), I actually went every 8 weeks as "recommended", and spent an average of £30, then that works out at £180 a year, or £1620 over the 9 years. That's a lot of money, and all lost by the first salon in the space of a 45 minute negative experience, and gained by my current salon because they know how to make me happy.

My mum bought a new car last weekend, trading in a faithful 16 year old estate for something newer. Actually, the dealership was over an hour's drive north, but some friends had recently been there and bought a car, and came back with such positive stories, that it actually inspired my parents to go there looking for a new car, even though there was a showroom closer to home. Now, it wasn't just a case of handing over the keys, smiling a lot, being a bit friendly. The salesman gave my mum a bouquet of flowers, and a fantastic break-down kit for the car, as well as the shampoo and cleaning set. he was fun, he was pleasant, and where my parents needed a few things done specifically, he was more than happy to help without so much as a deep sigh. It wasn't so much about getting "something", and throwing in lots of extras, but it was all about how special the experience made her feel.

So bringing it back to business. I'm constantly trying to work out, how I can make my couples feel like that.

Even when I started out on my portfolio, I used to send out one print (albeit of my choice) to my couples, as a small wedding gift. I did this because I understand that not all couples actually get round to printing their photos, and I wanted them to have one photo that they could have as a wedding photograph, and have it framed.

I did a survey last year, finding out more about how married couples viewed their wedding photography experiences. I posed the question, that if couples received a disc with the images from their wedding on it, had they printed the pictures afterwards? 9% had printed most or all of the images, 36% of respondees had printed less than half the images from their wedding,  and 9% hadn't printed any of the images at all. I should add for clarity, that 46% of respondees hadn't received a disk at all. This may be because digital photography and burning images to discs is a fairly recent phenomenon. I'd go as far as to suggest digital wedding photography is probably still in it's infancy in terms of what we are probably going to discover over the next few decades.

Getting back to where this began, which is the thinking process. Thinking about how and what makes a good customer experience. And that's why I've been thinking about my 2012 wedding photography package. My aim is to give my couples a really special package, not just full of lovely photos, but also full of good feeling and make it about them. It's that combination of making people feel good, and enjoying their wedding photography and being happy, and focusing (if you'll forgive the pun) on them as people, not just on "wedding photographs". It's what you deliver and how you deliver it that counts. Nothing quite takes the shine off a new purchase like an unpleasant customer experience.

So 2012, I'll be carrying on a few things that my 2011 couples have been happy with.  I've had really positive responses to my DVDs and their presentation boxes, and if you're doing something right, people let you know. However, I'm also planning on bringing in an introductory pack, which will cover all the main things my couples need to consider, for example advice on engagement shoot preparation, photographer's schedules (what, where, when for the wedding day), but also a few extra things, just to make it that little more easier and clearer.

But the question is, what would be the "ideal" package for a couple getting married? if you could add anything to the mix, what would it be? If there were no limitations on getting the experience right, what would make it perfect? What would be the dream scenario? feel free to leave a comment, or to email me directly with any ideas or thoughts.